“Did your church mention Charlie Kirk on Sunday? If not, you need to find a new church.” Wow. That’s a potentially destructive statement on so many levels. It’s not nearly as simple as it might seem. I keep seeing it posed by friends, media outlets, and others. And every time, my stomach turns a little….
Originally written in 2013. Revisited in 2025. It’s been over a decade since I wrote this. I still remember sitting in church on a Sunday morning in 2013, hearing a man stand before our congregation and give his testimony. His story wasn’t polished. It wasn’t tied up with a bow. But it was real. He…
In Acts 4, Peter and John were arrested for doing the very thing God called them to do: healing and preaching in the name of Jesus. And their response? They didn’t shrink back. They didn’t play small. They prayed for more boldness. Let me say that again. After being arrested, they didn’t pray for safety….
It was Thanksgiving weekend. The house was full of family, but I wasn’t the same Janelle who had walked out the door just a week earlier to head back to college. The week before, as I was loading my laundry into my car, my mom and I had a short but candid conversation. I can…
Ten years ago, I sat in an audience filled with gratitude, pride, and bittersweet joy as my dad gave his final address as Superintendent to the Iowa Yearly Meeting. It was the closing chapter of 36 years in ministry—twelve of which he spent traveling from church to church, supporting pastors and congregations across the region,…
Pregnant. Nineteen. Pastor’s Kid. Unprepared. It was the week of Thanksgiving, 1997. I was a student living on campus at a small junior college in Iowa. I’d graduated high school less than six months earlier, and truthfully, I had no plan for what came next. I hadn’t dreamed of going to college. I hadn’t applied…
Learning to Speak When Silence Feels Safer Let’s talk about voices. Yours. Mine. God’s. From the time we’re born, we instinctively use our voice to cry for help, to express joy, to learn, to connect. But somewhere along the way, life can chip away at our confidence—especially when it comes to using our voice for…
The Moment I Realized I Was Trying to Help God In the summer of 2016, I came face to face with fear. We had a one-on-one punching match the weekend of our oldest son’s 18th birthday. You see, our oldest wasn’t always “ours.” He was mine before he was also my husband’s. At 19, I…
If you were to write down one question for God right now, what would it be? No filters. No fear of judgment. Just the raw, unedited cry of your heart. Recently, I was preparing for a women’s retreat when God gave me a vision—one where questions were floating everywhere. If every thought, doubt, or longing…
Specifically, I’m talking about being bi-vocational—the often complex path of serving as both a business owner and a pastor. This topic has stirred in me for a while. And I’ve learned that when something won’t let go of my heart—despite my hesitation to speak on it—it’s likely the Lord prompting me to be a voice…