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FeaturedResurrection on 287
When I drive by
my broken down heart—
though jaded and cynical
by all accounts—
is filled with brutal
longing.Read more Resurrection on 287 -
FeaturedAnything & Everything
this Jesus
offers his torn open body to Thomas:
like a drink of living water;
like a mother with a milk-stained shirt,
and an open wound,
and a bleeding body
coming for the crying child
in the dark of night with this
reassurance, this one truth:
I would do anything.
Read more Anything & Everything -
Featuredthe difference
I think I know now
how the disciples felt
as they watched the backs
of Judas and Jesus
amidst the clutch
of Roman spears.Read more the difference -
FeaturedOn Muscle Memory, Grief & the Rhythms that ground us
The first thing I noticed was that the locks turned the opposite way; and not just on the back or the front doors. Even the bathroom doors were a reverse arrangement of what I was used to at the place I still thought of as “home.”Read more On Muscle Memory, Grief & the Rhythms that ground us
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Featuredwhat about spring?
“what about spring?”
they ask him“in our hands
we have some seeds
and the fallow fields have held
their curling breath all winter long.Read more what about spring? -
FeaturedNote to my empath-self in times of tragedy
“You’re too sensitive.”
something I grew up hearing
(what felt like daily)
my tears were tiny but mighty traitors,
my tender heart— a bitter enemy.Read more Note to my empath-self in times of tragedy -
FeaturedThe Grief of Eve
I think often of the grief of Eve giving birth to two sons only for one to kill the other. I imagine she wished she herself had died before she had seen such evil. I imagine she thought often about the promised Son— the one who would come to crush the head of that lying… Read more
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Featuredthe Ache
it’s Ash Wednesday, and the ache is everywhere.
even in the ashes in the atmosphere—Read more the Ache -
Featuredwhile it is still dark
before golden light crests the hill behind my house,
I see a dozen small sparrows hopping through the shallow snow
in the predawn dark of my backyard. Read more while it is still dark -
Featuredlet me hope like dandelions
let me hope like dandelions—
obtrusive and resilient, resistant to a fault.Read more let me hope like dandelions -
Featured(I must have missed) Dancing
I want to find
my way back
to the girl
whose lust for life
made her splash
in rain puddlesRead more (I must have missed) Dancing -
FeaturedGlory’s Overshadowing
Look there!
Through the trees
Glory’s overshadowing
covers those living
under the shadow of death— Read more Glory’s Overshadowing -
Featuredlet me be/ your breath
grow in me—
all that is
new & tender
the unseen seems
more real with each
fluttering sign
of presence.
Read more let me be/ your breath -
FeaturedWhy do you seek the Living among the Dead?
Around the fire pit last night I kept thinking that if the disciples had actually had time to prepare his body properly on Friday, they would not have been back at the tomb on Sunday. How it must have irked them to leave his body less than prepared for a proper burial! How it must have burned, and felt like a betryal. Like the last thing from common decency. Yet, this was the very avenue by which they were to discover his resurrection. Read more Why do you seek the Living among the Dead?
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FeaturedAll we have left
I wonder if the disciples felt the same way. After they had laid his broken body in the grave where they thought he would stay. Which one of them took it upon themselves to open up his traveling pack? Did they find his extra tunic, the comb for his beard, his fishing lures and knife? Must this not have seemed a far cry from the inheritance he had promised to them? Read more All we have left
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FeaturedThe Table
I didn’t know
what you meant
by “kingdom”
the words
felt foreign &
meaningless
in my mouth.Read more The Table -
FeaturedFor the days it’s hard to breathe—
When my lungs
are burning
for breath
I close my eyes
& think about
the wedding feast.Read more For the days it’s hard to breathe— -
FeaturedCleanse this temple too
How many tables
have you toppled this year?
How many images did we imagine
were worthy of you,
but we see now are rotted,
rusted with all the rest
of our earthly treasures?Read more Cleanse this temple too -
FeaturedAbandoned Places
Maybe the reason these places pull me in is because I’m so hesitant to ever believe that there’s nothing left worth saving. Maybe it’s because I don’t want anyone to think that about me. Perhaps I feel a kinship to these lonesome and broken down places; perhaps its the Imago Dei in me longing to bring order and dominion to every lost and abandoned place. Perhaps it’s because I know my heart can’t take any more abandonment myself. Read more Abandoned Places
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FeaturedThe Anvil
Loss is like
an anvil
sitting silent
on my chest.
The only noise comes
when I try
to breathe.Read more The Anvil -
FeaturedWhere I’ve been
This year God began to teach me how to breathe on my own; with the breath that he breathes into my lungs. Breath that has allowed this year to be a year of incredible creativity; a year of pushing the boundaries of who I thought I was, and what I thought I was meant to do. Read more Where I’ve been
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FeaturedHow Grief leads the way to Deeper Peace and Greater Clarity
God’s Kingdom is here, and it is also coming. Every broken thing will be restored. The dead in Christ are only the seeds waiting for the proper time to grow into a new and fuller life. Our King is here; and He is coming. Read more How Grief leads the way to Deeper Peace and Greater Clarity
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FeaturedHis hand beneath my chin
It dawned on me that this is how God parents us; he uses his tools to make good and beautiful things, but the tools are often loud and scary sounding. But he never chides us for being afraid—he understands that we are, one of the reasons that the encouragement “do not be afraid” is one of the most common in scripture. He tells us that there is nothing to fear, that he is in control, yet he also holds us securely until we actually believe that it’s true. Read more His hand beneath my chin
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FeaturedWhat is being lost
So much can feel like it is being taken away right now; but what if all that I am losing are the false places from which I pretended to be self-sufficient? My dirty wells are being tarred over.Read more What is being lost
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FeaturedClearing Space for what looks like Death
As I write this, it’s the “Time of Corona”— a season of global fear and pandemic, and my words have gotten jammed in my throat. The chaos of the present moment keeps getting to me, no matter how I feel I have my feet securely under me one moment, the next I hear something else—another… Read more
Letters to the Wilderness Wanderer
Whether you are walking through an especially difficult season of suffering, or just walking through the mundane aches and pains of life lived in a fallen world—this letter is for you. We are wanderers in this wilderness so often; and it can feel like we are drifting and directionless, but that couldn’t be further from … Read more Letters to the Wilderness Wanderer
The Rock & a Holy Place Podcast
When the hammer of suffering keeps falling it can feel like you are stuck between a rock and a hard place; but what if that rock actually holds within it a means of provision? What if that hard place is actually holy? On The Rock and a Holy Place Podcast Sheila Adkins and Grace Kelley engage in meaningful conversations in an effort to explore what it means to see suffering as a place where God is not only present, but active. Read more The Rock & a Holy Place Podcast
Meet Grace
Hi. I’m Grace Kelley. And no my parents didn’t name me for the actress, I actually married into the Kelley part nearly eleven years ago when I married my high school sweet heart Willy. Since then we’ve had five, kids including a set of boy/girl twins born this past July. We have weathered many hardships … Read more Meet Grace
Grace Kelley 