I sat in the stark white doctor’s office shivering in my flimsy paper gown. I was perched on the end of the examination table, legs and arms bare. The doctor sat below on a chair, clipboard in hand as she asked me questions. “Are you under a lot of stress?” She asked, glancing up, glasses […]
I looked toward the ocean, gray and foamy on this cooler-than-average Florida day. Despite my nervousness, I followed the lead of the others in the group and started wading out into the water. The coolness of the winter ocean shocked me as I entered it. On my own, I probably would have given up or […]
When I first became a Christian, I saw portentous signs everywhere. Unable to find a parking space? God was directing me elsewhere. Mysterious feeling when I see a person? God must want me to witness to them. A strong emotion during a song? God must have a special message for me. I saw meaning in […]
Editor’s Note: Catch our recent conversation with Tatyana, where she unpacks more about expectations in the context of her own incredible story, on The Mudroom Podcast. Click here. For good or for bad, the relationships we have in our lives create our image of God. These include the important ones like our parents, spouses, and […]
There was a time in my life when I was more comfortable in the midst of transition. I remember once in my twenties sitting on my suitcases in the airport in Port Moresby, Papua New Guinea. I was wearing a long, billowy skirt, a t-shirt, and my favorite Jesus sandals looking like the quintessential Christian […]
“Stifling order or cataclysmic chaos” are the two options offered in the finale to Disney Plus’s new series Loki. This stifling order comes in the form of institutional reign with little regard to the individual needs of people. The alternative, however, with nothing in between, is the horror of anarchy. At least this is what […]
In Disney’s recent release Encanto, the concept of transformation is inverted. Our typical view of transformation is akin to our superhero origin stories. For example, Captain America is weak and scrawny, but once he is injected with a special serum, he becomes the muscle-rippling hero we all know and love. As a culture, we tend […]
“Bear one another’s burdens, and so fulfill the law of Christ.” Galatians 6:2 On any given day, my husband and I have a list of tasks we need to accomplish for our family, even more so during this time of year. There are kids to drive to school, pick up from school, take to practice, […]
Can you love someone who has betrayed you? In a mix of Norwegian fairytales (influenced by the Greek Cupid and Psyche and European Beauty and the Beast), author Joanna Meyer weaves a tale that feels familiar and foreign in her book Echo North. A young woman named Echo agrees to live in a house with […]
Jane Harper’s books transport the readers to some of the most challenging locations in Australia and its surrounding areas. She regularly sets her stories in inhospitable locations like the infamous outback such as in The Lost Man or a remote seaside village in Tasmania in The Survivors. Both of these books are murder mysteries but […]
As I walked down the uneven sidewalk, I was overwhelmed by the sheer amount of people swarming past me. Many carried umbrellas (though there wasn’t a cloud in the sky), some impossibly napped while squatting, while many others walked oblivious to the body spaces of others. This was a typical day walking in a city […]
The posthumous reports about Ravi Zacharias broke my heart. He was an amazing apologist and speaker. I have read several of his books and listened to him speak on a number of topics. What I always loved about him was his humble demeanor. The way he seemed to really care about where the other person […]
Many people started new hobbies or interests during the lockdown. They learned how to sew; they made home improvements; they even watched new genres of shows. I myself had two new obsessions: plants and mystery novels. I now have over 37 plants in my home office. It is a veritable forest in here, and I […]
He peered at me from under his unruly bangs of brown fur, hidden in part by the grate of the cage. I commented on how much he looked like my own Yorkie, Junior, though this dog was much smaller and where Junior’s fur was a silvery grey, his was a black that accentuated his small […]
Tatyana Claytor I am primarily a lover of story and truth. As an English teacher, I am surrounded by the stories of the ages, but as a lover of God, I am enveloped in the Story beyond all ages. My desire is to know the Author of this story as clearly as possible that I […]