Annie: Has forgiveness been an issue at all in this trial? Lisa: Forgiveness, has never really been an issue for us. We know and believe in our hearts that this was purely an accident. It has always been our hearts desire to let the kids involved and families know that we love them, we know they are hurting and we hold no angry or ill feelings towards any of them. We can’t go back and change time, but we can show God’s love to others and not harbor anger or bitterness to Read More
Interview with Lisa Clymer Johnson: Part 2
Annie: Tell us about a specific way God spoke to you in the eye of this storm: Lisa: It was a Sunday a week after the accident. Ross and my younger boys were at church and I was the one to stay with Xavier at the hospital. We had just experienced the worst week of our entire lives. His Internal Cranium Pressure numbers that measure the swelling in the brain were lowering which was a good sign. So on this particular Sunday, I walked into that hospital feeling the presence of God with me and Read More
Interview with Lisa Clymer Johnson: Part 1
I want to welcome someone really special to the blog today. Back in the 1990's, God brought Ross and Lisa Johnson to our church to serve as youth leaders. Lisa loved on me and therefore had a big impact on me as I navigated adolescence. What I remember most about Lisa from those years is her SMILE. She was always smiling. Always. Two years ago, Lisa and her family experienced trauma that no one was expecting. I've been following their story from a distance, but recently felt compelled to Read More
A No-Good, Very Bad, Good Friday
I decided to repost this blog from a few years ago since I've talked recently about rebuke/correction on here. As you can see, it's been quite the theme for a few years! Thankfully, God has not given up on me and I know He has done a work to soften my heart. I am a work in progress, and He is not finished with any of us! *** Last Friday, there were some words exchanged in our home that led me to lock myself in the bathroom and get on my knees. (Deep breath for those of you who thought being a Read More
Heart Month
Our family was living in Iceland as missionaries when my biggest fear collided with reality: something was wrong with our baby. The twenty-week ultrasound revealed that only half of her heart was developing. In the months following this, questions began to emerge in my heart. Was God just? Was God good? I had always believed He was, but for the first time I really questioned it. I prayed for a miraculous healing and tried to have faith that He would actually do it (in case that was the missing Read More
Prayers for Our New President
Today is going to be long. Our newsfeed will be full of hot emotions and opinions. There are many things that COULD be expressed...but what if we didn't? What if we--instead--directed our energy to prayer? I posted this the morning after the election, and think it's worth repeating: The Bible instructs us to pray for our leaders (I Tim 2:1-4), and never before have I felt such an urgency to do so. We need to pray for President Trump on many levels: *Pray for him to draw near to Read More
Receiving Reproof: Part 2
In my last post, we talked about everyone’s favorite topic: receiving reproof. I mean, who doesn’t love a hard conversation where someone sees something in our actions, words or character that needs to be corrected? Seriously…listening to someone’s reproof is one of the hardest things for me. Harder still is giving it. Unfortunately for us (and our weak flesh), we are commanded to give correction as well as receive it. “Do not reprove a scoffer, or he will hate you; reprove a wise man, and Read More
Receiving Reproof (part 1)
I can remember clearly where I was standing the first time it happened. I was engaged, and we were standing outside my fiance’s dorm room on a cold spring day. He was talking in a very serious voice, one that I hadn’t yet heard. I had done something wrong, and he was correcting me. I started to argue and defend my position and he responded by quoting a proverb. Whoever loves discipline loves knowledge, but he who hates reproof is stupid. (Proverbs 12:1 ESV) Thankfully, he didn’t use that Read More
Introduction: Receiving Reproof
My ten-year-old to me: "You said this was NOT going to hurt us, but you lied." Last month, I took them to get their flu shots and I guess I was being a little too optimistic. "What I was trying to communicate was that what I was about to do to you guys was NOT HARMFUL. It was good. It's a good thing to get a flu shot and protect you against the flu during cold and flu season." "Well, it still hurt." Her arms were crossed and so was her face. "It hurt you in the moment, but it will Read More
Garman Year in Review: 2016
Well, what to say about 2016? The beginning of this year, it felt like our family had reached a new level of crazy. Maybe it was the ages of the kids and all their activities, or homeschooling a middle schooler and a preschooler, or finishing the book…or all of it combined. At one point in the year my nine year old informed me, “Mom, The tooth fairy hasn’t given me any money for the LAST THREE TEETH I’ve lost.” I also learned that when you forget to clip your children’s toenails for a few Read More
- « Previous Page
- 1
- 2
- 3
- 4
- 5
- …
- 44
- Next Page »
“Remember He is the artist and you are only the picture. You can’t see it. So quietly submit to be painted” -CS Lewis