The battle is not between men and women. Look closer. This war is in the hearts of women.

As the new normal dawned on me, I drove onto the bridge of anxiety. Wait. We are the energetic, outdoorsy couple. The healthy seniors. Who are we now? Just old? What if Don doesn’t get better? What about our retirement travel plans? Will I ever get my walking partner, my dancing partner back? Are we doomed to be house-bound (dramatic, I know), stuck in a small, boring existence?

Apparently, life’s many challenges are not opportunities for me to showcase my strength and ability. They are the canvas on which God displays his power and greatness. Weakness is my contribution to the painting.

Minutes after takeoff from LaGuardia Airport, on January 15, 2009, US Airways Flight 1549 collided with a flock of Canada geese. Both engines on the A320 jet shut down…

IN THE BATHROOM, I crouched on the floor with my arms wrapped around my knees, mind frenzied with irrational fears, emotions surging in response.

As soon as it crossed my lips, the question sounded dumb. “But we still have to keep the Ten Commandments, don’t we?”

You’re trapped. You’ve tried everything to escape. Prayer, counsel, drugs, discipline, confession, sorrow, and repentance. But with every effort, every promise to do better, the clamp of sin’s hold on you grows tighter.

When I was 27 years old, I went to Pakistan to plant churches among Muslim people in southwest Punjab. No one told me it was the most difficult posting our mission offered.