This chapter is a collection of writings that were born out of many difficult seasons of my life. The exhaustion of motherhood, the weight of raising a family, the struggle to find my breath after grief knocked the wind out of me. I share my search for hope and beauty in spite of, and often…
Tag: journaling
Chapter 1 of My Book, The Sacred Everyday: A Search for the Exquisite Beauty of an Ordinary Life (A Read-Aloud)
Today I am brimming over with emotion. I cannot hold these words in any longer. In this special edition of the podcast, I am reading aloud the first chapter of my new book, The Sacred Everyday: A Search for the Exquisite Beauty of an Ordinary Life. The book has not yet been published (I talk…
Translating the Heart: A Personal Journaling Retreat
Most of the time, I do not even know what I think or feel until I write it out. I have often thought that journaling is a way of taking thoughts captive, and once you see thoughts on paper, you can see them for what they are—truth or lies, something to hold onto, or something…
Open Journal: Heidi’s Birth Journal
Because I have eight children, people often assume that I just breeze my way through pregnancy and birth and that it is no big deal to me by now. If you have been with me any amount of time, you probably already know how life-changing every one of these births have been for me. How…
Walk Through My Journal
I started this journal last May, the day Haven was born. My first entry is a prayer of gratitude, written in the hospital hours after that sweet baby was placed in my arms. Journaling is the way I pray, the way I process my life, the way I move from fear or discontentment into a…
The Journaling Circle
Dear Friends, You are warmly invited to The Journaling Circle, a kindred gathering for inspiration and conversation over tea (or coffee or hot chocolate, etc.!) and open journals. We will be meeting on Zoom on the first and third Mondays in February, March, and April at 3:00 p.m. (EST) to venture into my course, Innermost…
Journaling: Where Do I Begin? (Podcast #23)
Have you always wanted to keep a journal but haven’t known where to start? Maybe you have a stack of journals that you started and never finished. Maybe you are a journaler who is currently uninspired. If so I hope you will find this podcast a jumpstart to a transformative journaling practice. Journaling is the…
An Invitation For You
Dear friends, I have been daydreaming about sitting in a cafe, sipping coffee with a group of kindred friends with open journals on the table, talking about life and working through ideas that are just under the surface. It hit me a couple of weeks ago that I have the power to actually make this…
Rhythms: Making Space for Beauty in Everyday Life (Podcast #22)
Life doesn’t slow down. Every day there is an inexhaustible to-do list waiting for me. There are needs and questions pressing in–about homeschool, health, children’s needs, creative projects, this house, community, adventure, prayers and plans for the future… One thing I have learned in my life is that I have to create rhythms for myself…
Choosing a Life of Celebration (Podcast #20)
The choice is always before us: A life of desperation or a life of celebration. In today’s podcast, I invite you to celebrate your life and to celebrate with me as I look back over this incredible last year. I am truly overflowing with gratitude as I remember the love and faithfulness of God in…
A Place of Peace (The Sacred Everyday Retreats)
Dear friends, I have just rounded the corner on my 10th year of blogging. A decade literally flew by in a blur of having babies and raising children, recording albums, making thousands of meals, filling hundreds of journals, waking up at 4 a.m. to write and find my peace in the midst of all the…
I Stand in This Breath of My Life
I am alive. I’m trying to let that sink in. I inherited the unfinished sketchbook of a beloved art professor who passed away last spring. Flipping through the pages this morning, I see how alike we are in our interactions with the blank pages–line drawings, quotation marks surrounding deep theological ideas and questions, to-do lists,…