I think one of the quietest thieves of joy is comparison. Not the kind where we compare ourselves to other people. The kind where we compare our lives to the lives we imagine we could have lived. It happens more often than we realize. We wonder what would have happened if we had made a…
Category: family
Before We Talk About Submission
There are certain verses in Scripture that seem to attract more attention than others. Ephesians 5 is one of them. Mention marriage, and it is often only a matter of time before someone brings up the words: “Wives, submit to your husbands.” Yet the older I get, the more I find myself drawn not to…
Coffee With My Father
This morning, as I sat quietly with my coffee, I found myself thinking about prayers. Not the prayers I am praying today. But the ones I prayed years ago. The ones whispered through tears. The ones spoken from places of uncertainty. The ones I wasn’t sure God was listening to. As I sat there, it…
Don’t Lose Yourself
There will come a time in all of our lives when someone hurts us. Perhaps more than once. Perhaps more deeply than we ever thought possible. We will experience disappointment. Betrayal. Disrespect. Broken trust. Words that cannot be taken back. Silences that speak louder than words ever could. And if we live long enough, we…
What Makes a Piece of Writing?
I sometimes wonder what makes a piece of writing truly resonate with people. Is it the writer? The intention behind it? The heart poured into it? Or is it simply the words themselves? At first, it seems obvious to say that writing is made of words. After all, words are what we see on the…
What Makes a Good Father and Husband?
I have often wondered what makes a good father. And what makes a good husband. The answers seem obvious at first. A provider. A protector. A leader. A man who works hard and takes care of his family. All of those things matter. Yet as I grow older, I find myself wondering if they tell…
The Slow Drift
There was a time when I thought broken relationships were mostly caused by the obvious heartbreaks.. The affairs. The lies. The abandonment. The harsh words that could never be taken back. But the longer I live, the more I realize that many relationships do not fall apart because of one catastrophic event. They unravel through…
Empathy: A Blessing or A Burden?
Is empathy a blessing or a burden?Maybe both. I have always believed that empathy is one of the quietest gifts a person can carry. Not loud. Not attention-seeking. Just quietly present in the way someone notices small changes in your voice, the heaviness behind your smile, or the silence you are trying so hard to…
My Father’s Kind of Love
There are memories that don’t fade with time… they soften, they settle, they become part of how you see the world. Monday will mark five years since my father passed. Five years… and yet, there are days he still feels close enough to reach. Not in grand moments, but in the quiet ones—how I notice…
Misplaced?
There are moments when something simple lands with unexpected weight. You are not bothering the right people. It sounds almost too easy—like something that could be brushed aside. But when it settles, it reveals something many of us quietly carry: the fear of being “too much,” too needy, too present, too honest. So we shrink….
Charina.Writes 