“And yet, when you look back over the previous chapters, can’t you see what a good story it has been? How many times, by all human reasoning, there was no escape? And yet, here you are… How help has always come. In ways you didn’t expect. When you were too tired to go on, when…
Living With Questions (Podcast #60)
Often, I find myself so overwhelmed by finding answers to big questions that I am paralyzed. I lose sight of the beauty of my real, present-tense life, and I anxiously search for answers to questions that are just not ready to be answered yet. This episode is a gentle nudge to remind myself (and maybe…
Drowning in Voices (Podcast #59)
The average person scrolls 2.5 hours a day, thumbing through 10-15 posts per minute. At the end of the day, that is over 2000 voices that are speaking into our lives daily. We are losing a connection to our own inner voices, to our own thoughts, feelings, hopes, dreams, and desires. And we are losing…
This is Not a Textbook Life: Living a life of hope, grace, and vision (Podcast #58)
It is good to have a plan, to hold a vision in our hearts, and to walk forward into that with faith. But walking with God means we must hold onto these visions loosely and allow him to tell the story as he envisions it. This is not a textbook life. We have access to…
Creative Family Culture: Interview with My Daughter, Rosanna Chester
I am delighted to share this interview with my lovely 17-year-old daughter, Rosanna. Rosie is a singer-songwriter, and she has so many insightful things to say about creativity and inspiration, life in a big family, making time to do the things you love, and more. I am betting this will be your favorite episode of…
Dealing With Voices (Trading This World’s Anxiety for God’s Peace)
I go through seasons where I have a constant stream of negative thoughts go through my mind. Fear, anxiety, bitterness, and regret can be hard to overcome, but God desires us to live and move in the direction of hope and peace. In this episode, I share some of the ways he has helped me…
Time as an Element of Beauty (Podcast #55)
My heart is overflowing today with God’s goodness. I have been looking back and reflecting on the last nine months, how he has brought me through so much that seemed impossible. While I have been sitting and feeding the baby, I have been reading over things I’ve written over the last nine months–my journals, weekly…
Birth and the Bravest Version of Myself (Podcast #54)
God has used birth like nothing else in my life to get my attention, to draw me close to Him, to help me surrender deeply to the life that I know He has called me to, despite my own fears and feelings of overwhelm and inadequacy. In this episode, 4 weeks away from my 9th…
Cast Your Cares (Podcast #53)
Today’s episode is for anyone who wakes up in the middle of the night with questions that don’t have answers. If you are struggling with fears of what might happen, or wrestling with thoughts of if only things had happened differently, pull up a chair and let’s talk about finding God in this moment, the…
Pallie Mae’s Little Handmade Things
Hello, friends. I wanted to announce that my daughter, Paloma, is opening a little online shop of her lovely handmade dolls and accessories. Paloma is 14 years old, and has a gift for making everything she touches beautiful. She is constantly drawing and sewing, making little tiny things out of clay and yarn, and she…
Certain Faith in Uncertain Times (Podcast #52)
What does it look like to have faith even when the answers are unclear, when there are problems that don’t resolve, when you don’t know how you are going to make it through? In this episode, I am talking about living with certain faith, even in the midst of uncertain times. I hope it is…
Holding On and Letting Go (Podcast #51)
I find that one of the greatest lessons that motherhood is teaching me is how to hold onto the things that I desperately love while also learning, little by little, to let these things go. In this episode, I share what this looks like for me in this season of eight children, ages 2-15, with…