Grace Kelley

Cultivating Margin in the Midst of Hardship

I used to think margins were a luxury for the very, very rich. I thought that if someone felt good enough about their work done in the main hours of anything, to cultivate spaces in between it all, then they must have been rich indeed. Or maybe they really just had money seeping out their ears while they slept on the couch after a movie marathon, and that was how they could justify the rest. It is as ridiculous as it sounds.

by Grace Kelley

For when you feel misunderstood

My chest aches. Tears blur the words of the page and my throat feels like I’m being strangled.I wonder what they think of me. Do they think I am weeping for my own suffering? What would they think if they knew that the primary reason I was weeping at church this morning was not for me, but for someone else?

by Grace Kelley

Scatter those seeds

Sometimes the pain of it all feels like a heavy weight. Like cotton in your brain. Like you can’t see or hear. Or breathe. Sorrows weigh us down; they make us limp. When I was nine, I twisted my ankle after doing a roundoff of a balance beam in gymnastics class. I had to wrap […]

by Grace Kelley

The Gift of Presence

Ann Voskamp once shared on her blog about what it means to minister to those who have suffered so deeply, that is seems like there is nothing you could possibly say or do. She spoke about listening to the stories—about making eye contact—and then she used the phrase that has become a part of my […]

by Grace Kelley

Waiting in the Wilderness

The wilderness can be a lonely place, but it’s often here that God changes us to be more who he is calling us to be, and he never leaves us alone.

by Grace Kelley

Spring is coming

It’s been seven weeks since Ellie’s last flare up, and while part of me is still waiting for the other shoe to drop, the other part of me is daring to hope that this may be the spring that we have been waiting for.

by Grace Kelley

Our Story

Then the voice—so familiar and yet so startling: “Are you ready to tell Our Story?”

It caught me like a lover’s indiscreet kiss. It sent shivers down my spine. I’m not sure if I was even ready then—but I am now Jesus.

by Grace Kelley

Better Gifts

“Do you want me to be happy?” She demanded. We were out on a girls shopping run, and I had allowed my daughter to pick a couple things from the dollar section; a unicorn page with heart gel stickers, and a stack of unicorn note cards. But it wasn’t enough. Each and every thing she […]

by Grace Kelley

When all is unknown, and nothing feels comforting

It feels like a full fledged onslaught. The battle for my mind is raging every moment that I am present to my actual feelings and thoughts; and if I’m not present, then I’m just plain numb. We heard these words of doubt last week: “I’m stumped.” From a doctor, especially your child’s doctor, those are […]

by Grace Kelley

The blank Page; a New Years Eve Reflection

If the blank page of the New Year both delights and terrifies you, take heart! The answer may be harder, and simpler, than you think.