Have you been trying to stuff your anger? How’s that going? I’m guessing it’s not working very well. That’s because the part of you holding anger deserves your attention. It has something important to tell you. Anger is not your enemy. It’s not a “bad” or “negative” emotion, although that’s probably what you’ve heard. Nerdy neuroscience alert! We have seven affective (emotional) circuits in our brain, and anger is one of them. We are hard-wired (a.k.a. created by God) to feel anger. Anger gives us the energy to take action when something is not okay. And there’s a LOT that’s --->

Why do we talk so much about love but often fail to be loving? God is love. God so loved the world… Love one another as I have loved you. Love the Lord your God… Love your neighbor as yourself.* At our best, Christians are known for our love. As I write this, wildfires are consuming vast acres of forest in my home state of Oregon. We have been housebound for days due to extremely toxic air quality. Along with other local churches, my church opened the doors to the homeless in our community to protect them from exposure to --->

I’m a little obsessed with this flower. Isn’t it beautiful? I was so excited to find it. After the discipline of writing and editing, it was a relief to shift attention to the book cover. Working with color and shapes felt like being on the playground compared to months of staring at my black and white manuscript. BTB – Before the Book – my primary creative outlet was oil painting. (The process of learning to paint as an adult with zero artistic background is the subject for another post!) My favorite part of painting is playing with color. But I --->