Annie B Garman

Motherhood, Mayhem, & The Meaning of Life

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Good Friday and My Really Bad One

A few months ago on a 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 pastor/pastor's wife meant being immune from these kinds of things...). The details are muddy, but I'm sure it involved being challenged by my husband, my pride getting dealt a good blow, and feeling offended. I was nursing the wound with tender, loving care when I remembered my prayer from that morning, Read More

The Day Colby Told Our Church to Stop Tithing

"What do you think would happen if I told our church to stop tithing?" I stopped what I was doing and looked over at Colby who was preparing for Sunday's message at the kitchen table. "Well, I'm not sure..." I responded, feeling both a level of pride in my scholarly pastor-husband who was parsing Old Testament Law...and a fear that I would soon need to start applying for a part-time job. "I mean, tithing was an Old Testament command given to ISRAEL as a part of the OLD covenant.  There is Read More

“In an Orchard Stands a Tree”

“This is my dream come true,” Haley comments slowly and with awe. We are all looking out the window of our van at snowdrifts that tower over us like giants. The Northeast apparently hasn’t recovered from the winter storms and we find ourselves in a scene straight out of “Frozen.” A few minutes later, we pull up the driveway to my grandparent’s home. Only, for the first time in my life, my grandpa won’t be there. Even though it’s below freezing, the kids beg to go outside and play and I follow Read More

Last Visit

Before nap time today, I read "Mike Mulligan and the Steam Shovel" to my small kids. If you've never heard of this classic, it's about a steam shovel that has grown old and begins to feel useless in a world that is moving and changing. On the last page, I couldn't even read I was so choked up. Besides the fact that I'm highly emotional today, the story struck a chord with me because of our recent trip to see my grandparents in Connecticut.   My grandpa is 92 and my grandma isn't too far Read More

2014 Year in Review

Here we are at the end of another year! I guess we all KNOW that time passes quickly, but it's mind boggling to actually experience it.  Kind of like the difference between STUDYING space travel and actually DOING it.  Not that I can verify this...Let's move on... Penelope Raine is now two.  The terrible twos (which began somewhere around 15 months) don't seem to be AS terrible anymore and she is charming us with her new language skills and baby blues.  Her favorite words to say are Read More

What Does it EVEN MEAN That God Protects Us?

This morning my eight year old and I found a quiet moment to read a devotional together. "The Lord is our Shepherd," the page read, "Always watching over us and protecting us." I began to read the line and then purposefully skipped over the words "and protecting us." I wasn't exactly sure why I skipped it, and if I had two bodies, ONE of me would have put her hands on her hips and turned her head to look at the other me in confusion. I kissed Darcy on her forehead and she ran out the door to Read More

The Imperfect Pastor

Today I called my friend who just happens to be a pastor’s wife. “How are ya?” I ask casually. “Not good,” she says, not trying to pretend in the least. My ears perk up and I can feel myself getting excited by her rawness. “Okay, so what’s going on?” I dig a little until I run into some roots. “We’re just having trouble this week… I don’t feel very loved by him…” After several minutes of conversation, we come to the source of their primary struggle: she was frustrated that her husband Read More

“I Have a Dream…”

Just yesterday I gathered my children around me to share how God had been working in my heart. “I have a dream…” I began. I didn’t even get to my fifth word and my eight-year-old barged in, sharing her dream from the previous night. And then my four-year-old. And then my two-year-old. After somehow managing to get back control, I showed them the map titled “Global Status of Evangelical Christianity” that I have been watching evolve for the past decade. After explaining what each color Read More

How I Learned to Make Adult Friendships

College dorm life was a dream come true for an extrovert like me. Coming from a small family with only one brother, I loved having seventy girls on my hall to hang out with at any hour of the day. Not only that, but each of my roommates became my new soul sister. It felt like glorified, year-round Bible camp. In 2001, I left dorm 19-2 of Liberty University, got married, and moved to Northern Virginia. Although being married to my best friend was amazing, it was still an adjustment. Our new Read More

The Night I Asked For Prayer instead of Chocolate

  Recently I called two friends and asked if we could get together for prayer and accountability. I knew it wasn’t going to be much fun. I mean, I would have much rather asked them to go to Applebees for a Triple Chocolate Meltdown, but I knew I needed this. I needed to reach out and admit that I wasn’t doing okay and that I needed prayer. It was the last thing on earth that I wanted to do--be vulnerable and share my sin struggles. It’s a lot easier to put on like I’m strong and have Read More

Meet Annie

 

“Remember He is the artist and you are only the picture. You can’t see it. So quietly submit to be painted” -CS Lewis
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