by Emily Wierenga | Jun 4, 2012 | fair-trade coffee, God, happiness, heartache, heaven, joy, poor, sorrow, ten thousand villages
sometimes i’m not sure what to do with all of the sadness in the world so i just sort of tuck it into the envelope of my heart, all stuffed and overflowing with people’s letters of cancer and child-loss and pain. and i know i’m supposed to mail those... by Emily Wierenga | May 28, 2012 | afterlife, ann voskamp, christian, church, death, dying, fear, God, heaven, laura boggess, living, michelle derusha, scared
i know i’m not supposed to be. afraid of dying. as a christian i’m supposed to be brave because i believe in a God who’s overcome death but i’m still afraid. does this make me less of a christian? or just more honest?there’s a sea of bent... by Emily Wierenga | Apr 22, 2012 | belief, buds, emily dickinson, faith, family, flowers, God, heaven, hope, Jesus, katie davis, springtime, waiting
the birds have descended. flocking to fields filled with water, and when they rise their wings sound like hundreds of blankets being aired out in the breeze. they glint in the sun, these trumpet swans and mallards and pintail ducks and snowbirds, like guitar strings,... by Emily Wierenga | Mar 8, 2012 | faith, fire, God, gospel, heaven, kisses from katie, prospering
i never thought of mother teresa as successful. as a little girl i’d dream about her landing in my backyard in her airplane and taking me with her to india to serve the poor. she was godly, yes, and sacrificial and strange and selfless, but i wouldn’t say... by Emily Wierenga | Mar 6, 2012 | children, chocolate, dancing, dying, fostering, heaven, hope, Jesus, parenting
tonight we found Jin in the bathtub after we’d put his pajamas and diaper on. trent and i just kind of looked at each other and then looked at the bathtub and then walked away.then we did rock-paper-scissors to see who had to change him, again.but there was this... by Emily Wierenga | Feb 29, 2012 | cemetery, child, death, heaven, hope, losing, parents
they were black silhouettes clinging to each other in the burial ground as the cedar casket was carried and in it, the body of their 17-month-old daughter, their shoulders shaking even as the casket lowered. and no parent should have to bury his own child. it should...