Blog - Page 4 of 7 - LUTHERWOMAN

A Season to Bloom, A Season to Grow

Spring flowers blooming is one of the most welcome sights after a long winter! There are so many phrases that we hear about blooming. “Late bloomer” was one from years ago if a child took a little more time to learn how to walk, talk, or read. Today you may be more likely to see a post on social media of two plants talking back and forth. Usually one looks forlorn about the other blooming first or differently and the first one replies by saying something like, “We’re different plants, Silly.” Another popular mantra you might have heard is, “Bloom where you're planted.” But what does it mean to bloom?

In our world one could argue that to bloom would

Feeling God’s Peace Living with Chronic Pain

My own journey with chronic pain started when I was around fourteen. I started to notice my back would feel stiff and sore if I stood for longer than a half hour or sat in certain positions, like in the car. But I brushed it off. I honestly didn’t know that having back pain was out of the ordinary - it was just so common for me. As a junior in high school, I learned that my back pain was NOT normal… it was caused by severe scoliosis.

Even after major surgery to correct my curve, the pain continued. I can’t remember a day since then that I haven’t experienced pain and discomfort in my spine which often spreads to my hips as well. Over the years, I’ve grappled with accepting that

It’s So Hard, But It’s Worth It

It's so hard, but it's worth it.

Getting your late sleeper up on time, or interrupting your early riser's Sunday morning fun.

Asking your little ones to go get dressed to get out the door, when they really just want to stay in their pjs. "It's the weekend!"

It's so hard, but it’s worth it.

Taking your kids somewhere they don't necessarily want to be.

Expecting little ones to sit quietly for an hour

A Lifestyle of Doing Transformed into a Lifestyle of Being

“What do you want to be when you grow up?”

It’s one of the first questions people ask us as little children. Truth be told, it doesn’t seem to matter very much what the answer is. Teacher? Doctor? Dinosaur hunter? The important thing seems to be that, even at three or four years old, we are already figuring out who we are as individuals and forging our paths into adulthood. As we age, we are met with advice to find ourselves, and if we try that for a while we might start to categorize ourselves. We might be free spirits, or businesswomen, or life-long learners, or homemakers. We start throwing our enneagram type and our horoscope into the mix, desperately trying to sort out and define what

Prayer: God’s Power and Blessing vs Stubborn Notions of Self-sufficiency

What comes to mind when you hear people talk about the power of prayer?

Maybe you’re all in–”Amen, sister!”

Maybe you internally roll your eyes a bit.

Or maybe you just kind of shrug your shoulders, indifferent. Prayer is akin to writing in a journal for you–beneficial, maybe even therapeutic, but your prayers are vague and with little expectation.

I fell into this last category until very recently. As background, I grew up with a mother who was a true prayer warrior, beating back the power of

A Wrestling Match of Worries

I’m normally a great sleeper (sorry to all you insomniacs out there!). I’ve gotten to the point where I get sleepy at an embarrassingly early time, at times competing with my own kids’ bedtime routines, but I need my sleep, dang it! Once I’m down, I can usually stay down for the night, a robust 6-8 hours, depending on the day’s schedule. That is, unless something wakes me (preschooler needing to go to the bathroom, preteen waking with a coughing fit, highschooler needing his middle of the night bowl of cereal fix…), at which point I’m wide awake.

And this is when the wrestling happens. Just me and my mind…Will I be able to get back to sleep?

Socials Sabbatical

It was time. I could sense myself getting overwhelmed in life. To the point that I’d turned to mindless scrolling to curb the overwhelming feelings I was having.

Sometimes when I have too much on my plate I can’t pick a starting point. Or, I start everything on my list and end up in bigger chaos. This past November, we had a lot going on with interviewing for future jobs post-seminary (my husband is a 4th year student). We were in a busy time of year with homeschooling and Jason’s class load being heavy, in addition to our outside meetings.

I just started to feel the pressure of the pile-on. So, I

Detangling my Self-worth from the Flaws I Loathe in the Mirror

Even now, eleven years later, I can still remember the first time a boy pointed out a pimple on my face. We were standing in the lunch line and he mentioned it. That’s it. He just pointed it out and turned back around after I made a face at him, eyes burning with tears. To him it was a simple observation, but to me it was the soul-crushing realization that other people could see my flaws that I tried to keep far away from the daylight. That moment started a years-long battle against my skin, and even my own identity.

At first, it seemed I might just get a few pimples like some of my friends. Pimples that you’d notice, but that would go away within a few days. I reasoned

I live in two worlds: when I am dieting and when I am waiting to diet again.

A few years ago in grad school, I was taking a course that reflected on embodied theology. Embodied theology recognizes that our faith is not just a part of our life, but encompasses our entire being. This theology grows out of the recognition that when Jesus rose from the dead, He still bore the scars of His crucifixion. The professor was talking about how we will be reunited with our bodies in Heaven, and suddenly, I felt tears start to fall. He spoke up, “Allie, what are your thoughts on this?” and I replied, “but I don’t want my body in Heaven, I thought Heaven was supposed to be perfect.”

Have you ever felt this way? Burdened by a body

From Grief to Remembrance: The Decades-Long Journey to Finding Peace After Pregnancy Loss

Caitlyn Michelle…It’s been 22 years since we met the baby girl we never got to know. We never saw her smile or heard her laugh. We never got to experience the little personality emerging in toddlerhood and through the elementary years. We never got to hear about future hopes and dreams or see her life’s goals come to fruition.

She came into this world too soon, her little body not yet ready to sustain life outside the safety of my womb. Caitlyn was our first—prayed for and rejoiced over—and the loss hit hard.

I wept and cried out to the Lord. There were so