This post is part of a new project that I’m working on. Visit Jess Alston’s website to learn more about the Dig Deep Podcast. I do this thing (often) where I'm late. A friend in my Dig Deep group shared this week that she was running so late that morning, trying to coax her egg casserole into [...]
This post is part of a new project that I’m working on. Visit Jess Alston’s website to learn more about the Dig Deep Podcast. I have a confession: there's this song by Zach Williams called Chain Breaker, and the chorus starts with, "If you've got pain, He's a pain taker." Sometimes, when I'm alone and angry and [...]
This post is part of a new project that I’m working on. Visit Jess Alston’s website to learn more about the Dig Deep Podcast. I arrived late and sat in the back pew at my best friend's wedding. Really, I shouldn't have even received an invitation after all the hurtful words I spewed at her one dark [...]
This post is part of a new project that I’m working on. Visit Jess Alston’s website to learn more about the Dig Deep Podcast. I’m not the one to naturally ask, “Can I get you anything else?” I’ve learned and practiced a bit over the years, a little spit-shine technique to show just a dash of hospitality [...]
This post is part of a new project that I’m working on. Visit Jess Alston’s website to learn more about the Dig Deep Podcast. My trip to Italy felt like my Cheryl Strayed and Reese Witherspoon Wild journey (the book and the movie), pushing my body in ways that I didn’t know I could handle. One day [...]
This post is part of a new project that I’m working on. Visit Jess Alston’s website to learn more about the Dig Deep Podcast. Someone asked me recently to tell them my top three qualities: creative, thoughtful, and then I couldn’t think of a third one, so I said I was funny. I should probably tell you [...]
This post is part of a new project that I’m working on. Visit Jess Alston’s website to learn more about the Dig Deep Podcast. I’m officially the least qualified person to write this post. For the last six months, I’ve been praying for something pretty specific. It felt like an eternity of hearing silence mixed with static. [...]
This post is part of a new project that I’m working on. Visit Jess Alston’s website to learn more about the Dig Deep Podcast. “Become what you contemplate.” ― Ashley's Mirror (also wisdom brought home from a seminary class trip to Italy) Here’s what I want to say to you (with a bold confidence): I would not [...]
This post is part of a new project that I’m working on. Visit Jess Alston’s website to learn more about the Dig Deep Podcast. “Mercy is radical kindness. Mercy means offering or being offered aid in desperate straits. Mercy is not deserved. It involves absolving the unabsolvable, forgiving the unforgiveable.” ― Anne Lamott, Hallelujah Anyway: Rediscovering Mercy [...]
This post is part of a new project that I'm working on. Visit Jess Alston's website to learn more about the Dig Deep Podcast. A few years ago, I participated as an assistant (i.e., hand me that weird-shaped thing that looks like it might do something useful) for the world's longest bathroom renovation project in [...]
