Fall has always been my favorite season. Perhaps because I didn’t grow up with it. I grew up in the Philippines, where the seasons don’t change quite the way they do here. We don’t have that familiar autumn when the green slowly gives way to gold, orange, and red. The trees don’t put on one…
Category: family
The Greatest Fumble
I came across a thought recently that made me pause: The biggest fumble doesn’t come as a bag. It comes as a person. And the more I thought about it, the more I realized how easily we can misunderstand what a blessing looks like. Sometimes we imagine God’s favor arriving as something obvious. An opportunity. A…
Loving Like Christ
I recently came across a question that stayed with me: What does it really look like to love your wife like Christ? My first thought was my father. I don’t know if my father ever thought about marriage in those theological terms. I don’t remember him talking about what it meant to love a wife…
Not Mine to Carry
There are things in life that hurt us in ways we never expected. Sometimes it is something someone did. Sometimes it is something they failed to do. Sometimes it is a loss, a disappointment, an unanswered prayer, a relationship that changed, an opportunity that disappeared, or simply the painful realization that life did not turn…
The Life That Didn’t Happen
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…
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…
Charina.Writes 