Posted on August 18, 2026
by Paris Renae
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Joy is returning. I had to fight for it. Anything worthy requires persistence. February through July were like a sunset slowly becoming sunrise. A life chapter closed and for a while night set in. Part way through, dawn began drawing me back, awakening me.… Continue Reading “Assured”
Category: featuredTags: assurance, awakening, blind, change, child, choice, confident, dark, depression, doubt, drama, emotion, eternity, evil, faithful, fearful, fight, forever, friend, God, good, grief, happy, hide, Holy Spirit, hope, human, Jesus, joy, life, loss, night, pain, peace, power, pray, purpose, reality, rejected, rest, restoration, retreat, sad, soul, spouse, strength, tearful, trauma, trust, truth, weary, weep, world, worry, worthy
Posted on May 27, 2026
by Paris Renae
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After the loss of a loved one, most don’t want morning to come. Somehow escape the pain in sleep. But morning comes. There have been a number of ‘big name losses’ this past year, Charlie Kirk and Kyle Busch among them. Yet there have… Continue Reading “When I awake”
Category: featuredTags: alone, awake, Charlie Kirk, children, Christ, comfort, dark, death, diagnosis, earth, escape, faith, familiar, Father, Florida, God, grieve, heartache, hide, hope, husband, Jesus, journey, Kyle Busch, life, light, loss, lost, love, man, mom, night, pain, Psalm, sleep, sob, sunrise, tears, tragic, unbelief, uncertainty, weep, wife, world
Posted on March 11, 2026
by Paris Renae
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It’s been thirty-eight days. The one I thought I would be eighty-something with before one of us died, found himself in the arms of Jesus at only sixty-nine. First a military burial as taps played, then a church service led by my children and… Continue Reading “Only One Placemat”
Category: featuredTags: amaze, betrayal, Bible, burial, children, church, companion, dad, darkness, death, die, earth, exhaustion, Father, grief, health, heart, heartbreak, holy, honor, hurt, husband, Jesus, joy, kiss, life, light, loss, marriage, military, physical, rejected, sorrow, soul, tears, wife, world
Posted on July 9, 2025
by Paris Renae
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(Mountains Part 3) Driving mountain roads is either thrill or fright. Switchbacks and curves that go so long you feel like you’ve circled the mountain, grades that either feel like you’re climbing to the sky or streaking down to the valley. They definitely keep… Continue Reading “Transfixed”
Category: featuredTags: antique, barbeque, cancer, climb, creation, curve, defense, drive, eternal, eyes, Father, flash flood, forever, fright, God, happy, heartache, heaven, Jesus, job loss, life, listen, longing, Lord, loss, love, mountains, mystery, refuge, rhythm, road, sand, sea, sensation, silence, slow, soul, storm, surprise, temporary, tension, thrill, time, trail, view, waterfall, welcome, wonder
Posted on December 20, 2022
by Paris Renae
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I know – I’ve been absent. For the first time in ten years. I’ve been a bit lost. How about you? It’s that time when all is glitter and lights and good cheer. Only sometimes…it’s not. I see it all around our broken world.… Continue Reading “He Came to Show Us”
Category: featuredTags: abandoned, absent, agony, alone, baby, body, broken, brutal, dark, devoted, die, earth, fear, follow, forever, forgotten, glory, God, good, guarantee, Holy Spirit, hurt, Jesus, joy, learn, life, light, loss, lost, Merry Christmas, Messiah, night, pain, peace, perfection, promise, purpose, sermon, shame, sleep, trust, world
Posted on September 20, 2022
by Paris Renae
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Morning person or night owl? I’ve always been an early riser – love to greet the day (these days earlier than necessary but that’s an age thing and a whole other subject, not going there). In that stillness of pre-dawn, I pad around while… Continue Reading “Every Morning”
Category: featuredTags: age, artist, awe, Bible, bliss, breathe, burden, cross, earth, enjoy, exhausted, faithful, fear, Florida, friend, God, grief, heaven, Holy Spirit, important, Jesus, journey, joy, life, Lord, loss, love, memory, mercy, morning, need, pain, promise, right, sing, soul, testify, trust, truth, win, woe, wonder, worth, wrong
Posted on April 19, 2022
by Paris Renae
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I’ve noticed that when we – all people – experience heartache, illness, tragedy, loss – our tendency is to feel like no one gets it. Like we’re the only ones who have experienced this. We retreat inside ourselves and, at times, nurse the hurt… Continue Reading “Not Alone”
Category: featuredTags: alone, angel, answers, brokenness, Christ, creation, danger, death, demon, Dolly Parton, drug, earth, fear, foreign, freedom, God, healing, heartache, heaven, hell, home, hope, hunger, hurt, illness, Jesus, life, Lord, loss, love, money, navigator, pain, people, persecution, power, ptsd, salvation, soldier, song, storm, survive, testimony, tragedy, trouble, true, Ukraine, wonder, world, worry, wounds
Posted on January 25, 2022
by Paris Renae
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In our everyday there are a lot of reasons we don’t trust. So many scams, so much hate, so little honesty, so little love. Who, what can we trust? Sadly, sometimes the ability to trust others is lost at a young age. Sometimes, maybe… Continue Reading “Trust Me?”
Category: featuredTags: abandon, age, believe, betrayal, Bible, broken, business, choice, deceive, disease, doubt, enemy, eternity, fail, hate, heart, honesty, hurt, let-down, life, loss, lost, love, mercy, peace, powerful, pray, relationship, sad, scam, sin pain, sober, soul, sovereign, tragic, trust, truth, victim, wary, weary God, world, young
Posted on October 19, 2021
by Paris Renae
16 Comments
Learning these days that all the “I can’ts” I’ve often sighed or screamed out are holy ground. The place where God reminds me, again, that I cannot but He can – and, in His time, He will. We’ve grown up in a world of… Continue Reading “No You Can’t”
Category: featuredTags: can't, children, choose, creator, days, earth, encourage, failure, gift, God, grandchildren, heart, hidden, holy, hurt, Jesus, joy, learn, life, loss, love, millennia, mind, offend, pain, peace, perfect, relationship, Savior, scream, self-affirmation, shy, sigh, speak, surrender, teach, throne, time, trophy, truth, world
Posted on June 29, 2021
by Paris Renae
4 Comments
Playing the memory card game with a four-year-old is different: when he picks up a card, he wants to keep looking til he finds the match. If I pick a card he really likes, he wants me to surrender it to him so he… Continue Reading “Never Fall”
Category: featuredTags: arrested, believe, card game, Christ, Christian, church, creation, creator, crucify, cry, discover, do over, eternal, eternity, experience, failure, fair, faith, fall, fish, follower, games, God, heart, heartbreak, Holy Spirit, Jesus, Kindness, kingdom, knowledge, lessons, living, Lord, loss, love, man, match, memory, Messiah, never, oppression, perseverance, picnic, play, preparation, rich, salvation, Savior, self-control, sermon, service, share, son, surrender, teach, welcome, win, young
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