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I see you. I see your pursuit of worth. The way you try to walk without stumbling in those high heels. The nervous flutter of hands smoothing your dress, the careful way you styled your hair. I hear you comment self-consciously about whether or not your Chacos should really be worn with a floral dress. I see the lightweight scarf you chose for your hijab, hoping it might breathe just a little in the pressing… Read More

@audreycfrank.com Trust in him at all times, you people; pour out your hearts to him, for God is our refuge. Psalm 62:8, NIV Since I was a child, I have had an inordinate desire to talk to someone. Growing up in abuse and trauma, one of the first lessons I learned was not to talk to anyone. [tweet_box design="default" float="none"]Silence is one of the punishments of shame, and one of the most difficult habits to… Read More

According to the dictionary, a pilgrimage is a journey to a sacred place. Whether you are a mother who only held your child briefly in your womb, a mother who has outlived her children, a mother who is striving alone to raise children in a frightening world, the mothering journey is sacred, holy. We find in Psalm 84 a map for the pilgrimage of motherhood. Upon close examination, we discover that it makes a large… Read More

disarm: take a weapon or weapons away from (a person, force, or country); remove the fuse from (a bomb), making it safe; deprive of the power to injure or hurt. (New Oxford American Dictionary) I am heavily armed at all times. My weapons are both visible and concealed, and I am careful to wear them at all times. Over time I have collected quite an arsenal. Performance is my nuclear weapon, carefully engineered to obliterate… Read More

But the Israelites were unfaithful in regard to the devoted things; Achan son of Karmi, the son of Zimri, the son of Zerah, of the tribe of Judah, took some of them. -Joshua 7:1, NIV Sometimes opening the Bible, beholding it, is like staring into a burning book. The words lick with flames like a ravenous fire, determined to burn away the perishable in my heart and soul. Right now is like that. I am… Read More

  @audreycfrank Also our enemies said, “Before they know it or see us, we will be right there among them and will kill them and put an end to the work.”  -Nehemiah 4:11 They had come in through an unseen crack in the foundation. Silently, under the cover of darkness, they multiplied. In the hidden places, they carried out their dirty work, while life went on outside as usual, unaware. One night I tiptoed through… Read More

@audreycfrank Joy and sorrow are inexplicably connected, and stubbornly present in the human experience. I once saw a sight most strange, two very different streams flowing side by side. In the deep woods of the mountains where we summered in my childhood, the two streams swirled, separated only by a narrow, rocky ledge embedded in dark rich earth. One raged wide, its waters noisily churning up the dark and decaying debris of seasons past. The… Read More

@audreycfrank I was walking on a narrow gravel road that wound its way along the edge of a high ridge overlooking a sweeping valley. I am usually nervous about heights, but I was too focused on the journey to pay attention to the butterflies in my stomach. This was long before I gazed into the majestic Rift Valley of East Africa or the breathtaking vistas of the mountains and valleys of North Africa and the… Read More

Around the world, across borders and inside human hearts from every nation, a revolution is happening. People once suffocated by shame are taking their first gasping breath, eyes opening to a new life of honor instead of disgrace. Shame was never meant to be your portion, sings poet and artist Kristene Mueller DiMarco in her song titled Mercy. It was not part of the original plan for humanity, so lovingly created with intrinsic worth and value.… Read More