The Heart in Training Blog

Let’s start with one of my top five verses in the Bible, shall we? Romans 12: in three versions. Do not conform to the pattern of this...

When my husband and I were in our 20s, our friend Darren went to work in an outreach ministry to homeless youth in San Francisco. In...

Last week, I sold a large lot of doll clothes on Craigslist. I met the buyer outside in our guest parking, a beautiful young mama, who...

About 10 years ago, I was in a summer Bible study with a group of moms. We were going through Beth Moore's series on the fruits of the...

Dear House, After 18 years of living in you, you are finally all I have ever hoped you could be. Every space is functional. Every...

Dear Teenage Daughters, In just 11 days, your mother will be fully vaccinated against Covid-19. And so I have a message I'd like to...

This week, I'm doing a Throw-Back Friday post. A decade ago, I had a blog called Scraps of Soul, chronicling my life as a young mother...

Last week, our family was playing a game called “Couples Quiz,” which is supposed to be for two married couples to see how well they know...

This post is about what we might try doing with, and for, angry people. We are surrounded by angry people in America today. Angry people...

A month ago, a mothers’ group in Arizona asked me if I could speak via Zoom on navigating friendships with people of differing political...

Last night my eldest daughter "accidentally" checked my youngest daughter's grades and found out that -- according to the online progress...

Our family's love language is Snark. We speak some others fluently: Gifts, Quality Time, Service. But Snark gets a lot of air time. One...

Updated: Apr 30, 2020 Over the last four weeks, my girlfriends have been coming through for me and — may I say it? — I for them. This is...

I'm sorry. I was wrong. I was thinking about myself. I wasn't really listening. I didn't know what to say, so I said nothing. Tomorrow...

I’d just gotten in a fight with a friend who wouldn’t be my friend for much longer. She had said some cruel things: echoes of all the...

This week I made a profound decision that I have earned the right to be alone when I poop. My oldest daughter is almost 16, and I have...

Five years ago at Christmas, God spoke to my heart this message: You are not enough. And you don't have to be. I was at an advent prayer...

My friend Brittany recently invited me to a Facebook group wherein people can share their organizing and decorating hacks . Yesterday it...

Oct 25, 2019 This week I started reading an Insta-friend's book on women loving Jesus with all their heart, mind, soul and strength --...

This weekend, my twelve-year-old daughter sequestered herself in her bedroom with the new sewing machine we bought her last month for her...