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March 2018

March 19, 2018

Trafficking in Fear

I am chatting with a woman in a clothing store as our conversation moves from...

October 2017

October 13, 2017

Poetry Friday: “The Anxiety Offices”

Are any of us sleeping much lately? With such grief in the world right now,...

September 2017

September 27, 2017

My Kite Boy

This post originally appeared at Good Letters on June 5, 2012. I woke at one...

May 2017

May 04, 2017

Singing the Qur’an in Different Voices

I sat through the meeting distracted, nervous. I should have been at ease. After all,...

March 2017

March 23, 2017

Love Nailed to the Doorpost

The commandment to love is nailed to my doorpost. Ritualistically written on a little piece...

November 2016

November 22, 2016

Lashing Out at Myself

I was born with a certain level of anxiety in my blood—an electric edge that...

November 01, 2016

Poison Ivy and the Path of Grief

Though its fruit should’ve been in season, too many harsh Midwest winters left the leaves...

September 2016

September 15, 2016

Unfriending, Impractical Jokes, and Other Foibles

If I were to graph my mental health over the past five years, the line...

April 2016

April 21, 2016

Flying into Fear, Part 2

Read Part 1 here. My fear of flying made every flight I took an exhausting...

April 20, 2016

Flying into Fear, Part 1

Years ago, I worked with a woman who sold her car after a spider's nest...

August 2015

August 14, 2015

Taming the Busy Trap

By Allison Backhous Troy I’m emerging from one of the busiest seasons of my life....

June 2015

June 05, 2015

Hello, Insomnia, My Old Friend

It may have started with the antique grandfather clock in my childhood living room. The...

May 2015

May 22, 2015

The Two Lists

Seven-year old Isaiah found a small desk in the back of our garage and claimed...

May 18, 2015

In the Marrow of Depression and Anxiety

By the time you read this, I’ll be feeling much better. Therapy will have commenced,...

March 2015

March 18, 2015

Soft Hearts and Thin Skin

Recently I found myself engaged in another maddening conversation with my four-year old daughter. We...

March 16, 2015

Grace and the Incomplete Flush

Almost two years ago my husband and I bought a condo in a cool old...

December 2014

December 16, 2014

The Regrettably Pretty Shoes: A St. Louis Story

Guest post by Linda Wendling I love St. Louis. I love Ferguson. My whole family...

April 2014

April 10, 2014

Keeping Up with the Writing Joneses

By the time this post runs, I’ll be in Grand Rapids at the Calvin Festival...

February 2014

February 04, 2014

Fear Factor

For a young woman beset with all manner of insecurities, the early nineties in southern...

September 2013

September 13, 2013

Chrysalis, Catacomb, Cloud Part 2

Guest Post Jen Hinst-White Continued from yesterday. Rob goes to bed; I go to...

September 10, 2013

Spiritual Counsel Part 1: Barking Dogs

“It’s good that you see spiritual direction in terms of a dog, instead of only...

September 05, 2013

Isaac Unbound

Deborah* sat across the café table, cappuccino growing cold, tears brimming, lower lip trembling. “Jake’s...

July 2013

July 31, 2013

Cutting Away the Noise

Fifteen years ago, there was no end to the noise. It took a cutting to...

April 2013

April 23, 2013

Peripheral Vision

Not long ago, I had surgery. I suppose that in the vastness of creation, the...

March 2013

March 21, 2013

The Heart, a Home under Construction

In my Father's house are many mansions: if it were not so, I would have...

October 2012

October 31, 2012

The Work Awaits, Part Two

Almost exactly two years ago, I made my Good Letters debut with a post titled...

June 2012

June 13, 2012

What I’ve Been Given

Six dogs: Snoopy, Prince, Woody, Ramona, Leon, Bubby. All but Bubby now nothing more than...

June 05, 2012

My Kite Boy

I woke at one thirty with a start. My heart pounded in my ears. My...

June 03, 2012

Making Rules for Life

For my forty-first birthday, I decided to write a personal rule of life. Turning forty...