In recent weeks, a horrible virus swept through some of my family. It was one of those times you are sick where there’s not a name like strep, where you can easily pop some meds, and it will all fade away quickly.

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When I was largely pregnant with my first son, we had a chimney fire in our house. Something had gone wrong in the night with our oil furnace, the chimney clogged up, and it caught fire. We were awakened by a pet that was upset about the smoke filling the house (the smoke detectors went off a minute later). My husband, a volunteer firefighter at the time, ran to see what was happening and to call 911. I wrapped our toddler daughter in a blanket and ran to the neighbor’s house.

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When I was very young, my family lived in a house heated by a coal furnace. In the evenings, my father would bank the fire in the furnace; i.e., he would cover the hot coals with a layer of ash. This would keep the fire burning all night and would make it easier to get fresh coal burning in the morning.

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Philippians 4:8-9 provides a framework for what we ought to stay our minds on. Things that are true, honorable, just, pure, lovely, commendable, excellent, praiseworthy—these things pour back into our mental energy.

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Recently I was feeling bad about feeling bad. As in, I noticed myself really hurting about a few things, feeling stressed, but I felt guilty about it. I thought that if I truly was content in God, I wouldn’t be as bothered and pained by those circumstances as I was.

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This morning as I was throwing hay to the horses and filling up the water trough, I took this picture of my little house in the woods. It’s a great house. I love the tin roof, the wrap-around porch, the brick walls, and the huge windows that overlook beautiful wooded pastures.

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