Labor Day. I cannot believe that it is here already. As a “summer girl,” I hate to see the season coming to an end. Even now, I can hear my friend, Sharon, saying, “Time to put away those white capris until after Memorial Day.” Even though I’ll keep wearing white capris and my sandals far into October, I have to admit, a change of season is coming. Being an election year, Labor Day is traditionally when Americans begin to really focus on campaigns and elections. If

The other day I was doing one of my least favorite jobs: painting door trim. I was very careful not to get any paint on the walls or mess up the project. Still, I'm a messy painter, and by the time the job was finished, my hands and arms were covered in splatters of paint. (I even got some in my hair, but that's a whole other story.) Scrubbing as hard as I could with soap and water, I thought I got all of the paint off. Only when I went outside to take a rest and enjoy

A few weeks ago, I spent some time at a pool with a friend and her kids. It was one of the best days of my summer. Even though I couldn’t actually swim because I’m allergic to chlorine, I thoroughly enjoyed watching her children splash around in the water and have a blast. One of the highlights of the day came when her little girl started learning to jump in the water from the pool's edge. Dressed in a swimming vest and floaters, she’d jump off the edge and into

““One of the best things about being an adult is that you get to choose the life you live.” I was reminded of this truth when a one day “mental health day” trip to the beach took an unexpected turn. My brother, Jamie, has a neurological disability that twists his foot. He lives in constant pain and cannot walk on unstable surfaces like sand. However, a few years ago, we found a place at our favorite beach where you could drive on the sand to go fishing. Even though we

It should have been an easy project—take out a bathtub unit and replace it with a shower unit. Because of Jamie’s disability, he was no longer able to step over the bathtub. Realizing that our old tub unit was almost twenty years old, we figured we got our money’s worth from it and hired a contractor to make the switch. Yes, I knew it was going to be a huge mess. Centered right in the middle of our home, I knew a project like this would spread dirt and drywall dust all

As we wrap up our discussion of holiness, Adessa shares a humorous and personal story of her own struggle to avoid compromise and walk in holiness. While it’s a struggle for us all, it’s also a victory we can all achieve. To Read More About Overcoming Compromise and Doing Whatever It Takes to Follow Jesus: