ARTICLES BY COLLEEN CHAO
Dear Younger Self—I know it’s cliché,But I would go back if I couldTo say: Make yourself small,Don’t resent being weak—Humility before GodWill set you free. Practice his presence:Listen and rest—A quieted heartHears his voice best. Don’t go it alone.Seek wisdom to knowWho to keep closeAnd
Before the foundations of the world were laid, you saw me and knew me and knew my days. You had already determined the era of history, down to the very environment, I would live in. You knew that I would enter a toxic world, a
At the risk of sounding morbid—I hope I’m buried with this Love List someday. I was 20 years old when I compiled this collection of God’s promises, and I’ve returned to it time and again in the two decades since. Its truths have held me
I just spent an unforgettable week in Oxford, England, whisked away by the articulate pen of Carolyn Weber. It’s no easy task to hold my attention captive for 450 pages, but this book did just that. In her memoir, Surprised by Oxford, Weber invites the reader to journey
Forgiveness may just be the hardest thing we do in life. At times it can be downright agonizing, amen? But agony meets ecstasy, and forgiveness is an enviable invitation into the very heart of Christ. When we forgive at great expense, dying to ourselves and
My dirty, sweaty 5-year-old is sitting on the back porch happily humming and throwing fistfuls of birdseed on the lawn. We’ll have an aviary here by morning. And my heart swells with joy as I take in this moment. Little boys are magic-in-the-raw. They’re a composite
They’d been running around in circles all morning, yelling, begging their god to answer them—to no avail. So they screamed louder. Louder and longer. And when screaming didn’t work, the 450 desperate prophets drew swords and started cutting themselves till they were a mob of
I penned this almost eight years ago in the midst of a desperate season, when I was hungry for the Word and a quiet space to process my hurting heart. A small booth in the back corner of Panera Bread became my sweet refuge that
Today I sat with a friend from Romania whose family has suffered upheaval and persecution as far back as she can remember. Her heritage is heroic. Her Jewish grandmother fled to Romania to escape the Germans. Her German grandfather escaped a Siberian concentration camp and endured
I remember you before you were beautiful. Before you stopped people in their tracks and made jaws drop and heads turn. You, who are now the fairest of all—were once the pity of all. You were a bloodied and abandoned newborn, left in an open
Dear Younger Self—I know it’s cliché,But I would go back if I couldTo say: Make
Before the foundations of the world were laid, you saw me and knew me and
At the risk of sounding morbid—I hope I’m buried with this Love List someday. I
I just spent an unforgettable week in Oxford, England, whisked away by the articulate pen of
Forgiveness may just be the hardest thing we do in life. At times it can
My dirty, sweaty 5-year-old is sitting on the back porch happily humming and throwing fistfuls of
They’d been running around in circles all morning, yelling, begging their god to answer them—to
I penned this almost eight years ago in the midst of a desperate season, when
Today I sat with a friend from Romania whose family has suffered upheaval and persecution
I remember you before you were beautiful. Before you stopped people in their tracks and
