When a storm passes through, our attention is often drawn to the leaves. The branches bending in the wind. The visible damage left behind. The things we can immediately see. But the storm is rarely testing the leaves. It is testing the roots. The leaves may tell us how strong the wind was. The roots…
Category: pains
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…
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…
Willow Sands
For a long time, much of my writing has lived in the quiet spaces of reflection and prayer. Books like The Quiet Life, Resting on the Wings of God, and Borrowed Prayers were written from those quiet places — the moments when we pause, listen, and notice the small things that shape our lives. But…
Threnique
There are some kinds of grief that don’t announce themselves. They don’t cry loudly or demand attention. They don’t collapse you to the floor. They simply settle in—so softly that, over time, you forget they’re there at all. Threnique. Carrying grief so quietly that even you forget it’s there, until something small brings it back….
365 Days
There’s something about that number that feels both ordinary and overwhelming. A year. A calendar. A full circle around the sun. And yet… when you really sit with it, it becomes something else entirely. 365 chances. 365 mornings to wake up and try again. 365 days to love someone well. To speak gently. To show…
Charina.Writes 