Kyria

That Present Bird

I attribute two things to keeping me faithful in college: Madeleine L'Engle and the Holy Spirit. At the time, if you would have asked me why I was still a Christian, I would have probably just attributed my continued belief to my friend Madeleine (as I liked to call her). The Holy Spirit was, to me, a mystery. I believed that God created and sustained, that Jesus saved and redeemed, but the Holy Spirit ...

Related Topics: Help, divine, Holy Spirit, Spirituality, Theology, Trinity

The Limbo Dance

In the 60s, my parents would have cookouts on our California lanai patio with after-dinner "make your own entertainment." Included in the line-up was my father playing his guitar (ala the Kingston Trio), toddler kids spinning hula hoops, and everyone trying to do the new dance called the limbo.

The limbo worked like this. Two volunteers would hold either side of a long bar at about waist's height. ...

Related Topics: frustration, Growth, spiritual, Trusting God, Waiting

Redefining God as Father

My father took things from me. After filling a supper plate for myself, sometimes my father would take it. Just as I was salivating at the smell of fried chicken or bean soup, he'd require me to give it up. And he stole my innocence when I was four, when he took me out to the half-picked cornfield in the big Nash and molested me.

I grew up on an Illinois farm where I learned to can corn, pluck chickens, ...

Related Topics: Abuse, Deception, Father God, Fathers, God, trustworthiness of, Hurts, Trust

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Close Encounters with a Snake

Last night my daughter, Molly, and I had a close encounter with a snake. I'll spare you the details. Suffice it to say he was huge and just inches from my arm when I saw him, sang opera, kicked myself in the back of the head trying to get away, then spent half an hour hyperventilating and reliving it in my mind. For the next several months I'll imagine snakes everywhere I look. I won't set foot outside ...

Related Topics: Bible Study, Fear, God's Word, Strength

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Where's God in My Loneliness?

It was one month to the day after my six-month-old daughter, Hope, had died of a rare metabolic disorder. Heading out alone on a business trip, I thought getting away and being busy might actually alleviate my grief. But instead, sadness traveled with me. That night in my hotel room, I desperately wanted someone to remember Hope with me.

I did what most people do when they feel lonely—I reached ...

Related Topics: Loneliness, Trusting God

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Out of Darkness

It's one of the most surprising conversions to Christianity in recent times. No one expected vampire novelist Anne Rice, whose 26 supernatural thrillers, historical novels, and erotica books have sold more than 75 million copies, to darken the door of a church, much less write about Jesus.

Rice, born in 1941 with the unlikely name of Howard Allen O'Brien (after her father), was raised as a devout Catholic, ...

Related Topics: Creativity, Culture, Current Events, Imagination

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'My Name Is Snake'

"My name is Snake," the young man growled when I called him into my office. His appearance certainly did justice to the nickname. He had a mass of black hair hanging to his shoulders, metal studs in his eyebrows, and rattlesnake tattoos slithering up his forearms. He was wearing ripped jeans and chunky motorcycle boots, and on his black T-shirt was a grisly skull with rattlers poised to strike from ...

Related Topics: Acceptance, Judging others, unconditional love

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Great Question: When is it okay to leave a church?

When is it okay, even healthy, to leave a church? I'm struggling at my church, but I've attended it for a long time and feel guilty about possibly looking for another congregation.

I applaud you for even pondering this question. All too often God's people switch loyalties from one church to another with the same amount of deliberation they give to what kind of fast food they'll eat for lunch! Yet choosing ...

Related Topics: Changing Churches, Church involvement, Church Search, Cliques

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What I'm Learning About ... Resting in God

Does God wish I'd get sick too? I thought as I held my daughter.

Jaana has never been a clingy child. Even as an infant, she didn't like to be held a lot. She loved her crib and her personal space. She doesn't snuggle much; she won't fall asleep on my shoulder when I hold her. It's just not who she is. As much as I've hated that, I've come to accept her for her, and absorb those clingy moments when ...

Related Topics: Comfort, Comfort, God's, God's Love, Rest

Surviving Stuck

"Shoot," I said under my breath as I slid my daughter off my hip, jiggled the fishing pole into a better position, and maneuvered the stroller out of the way. I gave the bathroom door another hard shove with my shoulder. Nothing. "What a perfect end to this summer," I huffed. "Babygirl, looks like we're stuck in the loo."

My three-year-old daughter, Greta, looked up at me with a bit of panic, and my ...