by Emily Wierenga | Sep 2, 2013 | abuse, apology, child abuse, children, faith, girl, hurting, mistreatment, poor parenting
Dear Little Girl,I was eating ice cream when I saw you.You had the saddest face I’ve ever seen on someone’s daughter and you were only seven. You were tiny as though you haven’t been fed properly. Your hair was pulled tight into a ponytail and your...
by Emily Wierenga | Aug 30, 2013 | amy hollinsworth, anorexia, book giveaway, Christ, closet, gay, homosexuality, letters from the closet, new creation, starving
When Amy Hollingsworth, a Christian author known for her work surrounding Mister Rogers, approached me about doing a giveaway of her new book, Letters from the Closet: Ten Years of Correspondence that Changed My Life, she told me that Christians were refusing to help...
by Emily Wierenga | Aug 28, 2013 | #imperfectprose, community, counseling, friendship, mentor, prayer, womanhood, women
God gave me a vision of her. I saw a woman who wore scarves and laughed a lot. And then she connected with me over Facebook, this counselor whom I’d met years earlier at a conference, and she asked me to write a book with her for wounded daughters, and I ended up...
by Emily Wierenga | Aug 27, 2013 | cutting, ER, faith, hope, hurt, invisible, knife, pain, prodigal magazine, scars, school, self-harm, story, teenager
DISCLAIMER: This story contains strong imagery surrounding self harm. If you or someone you know is suffering self abuse please seek council, and tell someone you trust. Search for the best resources in your area here....
by Emily Wierenga | Aug 26, 2013 | #MOPS, children, faith, God, laundry, mess, mother of preschoolers, motherhood, parenting, prayer, preschoolers, repentance, TV
Dear Lord,Thank you for today. (Kasher, get your hand out of the toilet!) Thank you for loving me in spite of me. (Is that a fly in my coffee? No, Aiden, you’ve already watched a show–now it’s time to play nicely with your brother while...
by Emily Wierenga | Aug 23, 2013 | #TheGlobeandMail, children, Crisis, God, guns, pacifism, peace, peacemaking, refugees, Sammy Yatim, Syria, UN, violence, war
My boys are asleep in the room next-door. They are young enough to believe in magic and tickles. They are young enough to ask me to pray when they get sick. And they’ll always be young to me.via reckless youth instagramBut the world has a way of forgetting...
by Emily Wierenga | Aug 21, 2013 | #imperfectprose, carpe diem, children, faith, family, fear, gardening, happiness, hope, imperfect prose link-up, joy, loss, love, miscarriage
“The glory of God is a human being fully alive; and to be alive consists in beholding God.” ~St. Iraneaus They eat peas by the handful, shelling them and tossing the green pods, the evening sun on their bathed heads and Kasher’s pajamas are already dirty from...
by Emily Wierenga | Aug 19, 2013 | Boy Scout, celibacy, christian, church, community, faith, forgiveness, gay, grace, homosexual, LGBTQ, love, orientation, Pope Francis, sexual, sin
PLEASE NOTE: I wrote this post primarily for those within the church while still acknowledging the need to continue to grow in our capacity to love and dialogue with gay people outside of the church. I have spent the past month writing this post in cooperation with a...
by Emily Wierenga | Aug 16, 2013 | death, deidra riggs, faith, funeral, grief, husband, loss, love, mother-in-law, mourning, sadness
I had the privilege of meeting my dear friend Deidra Riggs in the flesh this past spring at the Jumping Tandem retreat, and she is every bit as authentic in person as she is on paper. I’m so happy to be able to host her today.My mother-in-law passed away in...
by Emily Wierenga | Aug 14, 2013 | #imperfectprose, envy, hope, jealousy, loss, miscarriage, mourning, pregnancy, rejoicing, womanhood
She’s my youngest sister and I’m standing in her house in Calgary, one of the homes that didn’t get flooded and we’re making pizza. I’ve pulled and prodded the dough and she’s slathering spaghetti sauce and shaved mozzarella cheese.We were pregnant at the same time,...
