With God, it isn’t who you were that matters; it’s who you are becoming.

By God's design, I believe our hearts and minds are shaped by Story. It's how we learn. It's how we make sense of the world. Characters, situations, moral consequences are all around us.

Wherever you are spiritually, whatever you have been through emotionally, you are already wrapped in the Lord’s embrace. Held by nail-scarred hands. Enfolded in the arms of One who believes in you, supports you, treasures you, and loves you.

Laughing together heartily at the same thing forms an instant bond.

The head thinks, the hands labor, but it's the heart that laughs.

For me, laughter is how we take a much needed break from the heartache, such that when we turn to face it again, it has by some miracle grown smaller in size and intensity, yet not disappeared altogether.

Fun is temporary at best; it's risky, even dangerous, at worst. Joy, on the other hand, was mystery I couldn't seem to decipher.