I taped the first TV interview to promote my book, Chasing Famous, two months ago on, “Life Today,” with James and Betty Robison.

The staff whisked me away from the hair and makeup chair, down the hall to set, to stand backstage and wait for my cue. What felt like hours, was probably only five minutes. I prayed God would calm my heart which beat as fast as my kiddo’s ice cream melts standing outside in the Texas summer heat.

Earlier in the week, I had a pre-show interview with a “Life Today” producer. He read my book and was in awe of God’s transformational power in my life. (You can read my testimony of God’s great grace in response to my teenage abortion in this blog post, or in Chapter 4 of, Chasing Famous.) He urged me to share many details of my story in the taping, as he believed the audience would be reminded or learn for the first time, that God loves us with no conditions.

While pacing and praying backstage, a different producer walked up to me and said, “Lisa, just keep talking. James and Betty will

We spent weeks rehearsing for the boy’s talent show audition at school. “Deuce”, age nine, would play piano and sing a “mashed up” version of three pop songs. Six-year-old Solomon, memorized Jack Prelutsky’s, “Homework, Oh Homework!” as well as a few jokes to tell after performing the poem.

Sign-ups for the audition were on a recent Friday and we were told no exceptions would be given for parents who missed the deadline. The boys reminded me again and again to sign them up. But when I woke up Saturday morning, I remembered I forgotten. I threw back the covers, raced to my computer, and prayed the sign-up link was still open.

The link was gone and in its place, were the dreaded words, “Audition sign-ups are NOW CLOSED.”

Panic set in. I immediately emailed the teacher in charge a “desperate mom” message. I asked her for mercy and blamed my lame brain for forgetting. I said I’d understand if she couldn’t let me sign them up late, but because she was a mom too, I just knew she’d say yes.

She said no.

Through their tears, my boys offered hugs, kisses, and forgiveness. But letting them down made me feel like a

Recently God’s asked me over and over again to die to something I want for myself. But every time He speaks, I make excuses like, “Nah, that’s not really God asking me that”. Because if I convince myself it’s not God asking me, then I don’t have to obey.

Maybe like me, God is asking you to do something you don’t want to do. We know that if we obey, we will give up a lot. And I’d rather be comfortable than obedient most days, so I keep on making excuses.

But then something I read in Experiencing God by Blackaby and King, reminded me that people have been giving God excuses for disobedience forever. Moses, Gideon, Noah, Abraham, David and more. Because we know exactly what God’s asking us to do. And this is why we raise so many objections. I like the ease of being me, more than the pain it will cause me to change. But I know if I obey, I’ll look less like me and a lot more like Him. And at the end of it all, this is what I crave more than the comfort of my disobedience.

What if we were to obey the next

I knew the day would come when we would share with our oldest son, “Deuce” about the “birds and the bees”. And I wasn’t excited about it. I knew in doing so, we would take away his innocence. I just wanted him to remain ignorant for the rest of his life and on the eve of his wedding, Markus and I would sit him down and share what was about to happen tomorrow. Wouldn’t that be nice? Ahhh, best laid plans…

But three clues caused Markus and I to realize it was time to give “Deuce” the sex talk.

• He heard the word “sexy” at school and wondered what the word meant. He also asked for an explanation every time he saw or heard the word, “sex” in the media.
• “Deuce” asked questions about pregnancy, like, “How do babies get inside a mom?” And pointing to a pregnant woman once asked, “How did she get pregnant?” We’ve always held to the belief, “If they’re old enough to ask, they’re old enough to know.” So, until we were ready to talk with him, our response was always a true one, “A piece of a husband and a piece of a
  

One thing I gave up when I started having kids, was performing in live theater. My time once spent on stage, was taken up by babies who needed to nurse, or toddlers with “necessary” bedtime routines. Now my kids are older and not as needy. And I could audition again, but it makes my heart heavy to think of spending the evenings away from them, or having someone else pick them up from school, only to see them in morning when they wake up or when I tip toe into their room after rehearsal to kiss their sleeping faces. I have the luxury of the choice, and I choose to stay home.

But there are times when I drive past theaters, or see a production, and long for the days of living in the theater. I desire to build a character from scratch, relate with other cast members on-stage, and develop lasting relationships with them off-stage. As I see the theater in my rear-view mirror, I get lost in my dream world and compare what I have to what I wish I did, and wonder what I need to do to make my dream world a reality.

But I recently

When “Deuce” was a baby, I would watch him sleep in his crib and wonder what kind of personality he might have as he grew up. I also wondered, if he allows God to move in his life, what characteristics of Jesus might he exude?

Now eight years old, “Deuce’s” personality is already larger than life. He is a leader. He’s a great student. He can be extremely kind. His feelings run deep and he cares for others. He hates lies. He’s a rule follower and protective of his own—if you’re a mom reading this, I can guarantee you, “Deuce” will be the boy you will want your daughter to date. And “Deuce” loves Jesus.

But just like a lot of little boys out there, “Deuce” struggles with being impulsive. This has been a thorn for him as long as I can remember.  His lack of self-control has continued into his school years, where he still gets in trouble for blurting out and acting as the class clown to get a laugh. Markus and I tell him there’s a time and place for all of this, but while the teacher is talking is not one of them. But still, he

If you’re one of my two boys, it only makes sense that when you spend every waking summer moment with your brother, playing video games, creating worlds with legos, cars, and superhero toys, you’re bound to get on each other’s last nerve.

We’ve had our share of day camps this summer, swim lessons, and even a family vacation, but when they’re at home, they easily—and very willingly—erk the other. Sometimes it’s on accident, but often it’s just to bug the snot out of their brother. They know each other best and they know how tick each other off.

When this happens, I’m often sitting at my computer working. I hear it coming. The rumbling starts low, but I can hear the annoyance in his voice. The other continues his button pushing until all hell breaks loose. In the end, one is crying, and the other is making fun of him for doing so.

Now my concentration is broken. And just like the anger rising inside the victimized brother, the heat within me is like water about to boil in a tea kettle. No longer able to focus on my work, my spout whistles loudly. “What is going on?!” I yell.

I recently asked a celebrity speaker and writer to write the forward to my upcoming book. I was convinced if she said, “Yes,” her influence and large platform would get the book into the hands of more women than I could. She appeared to be very enthusiastic about the book’s message—God wants to glorify Himself through us to make Him famous to the world. It just made sense to me that God would want her to endorse my book. I prayed and fasted that He would open her calendar to read my manuscript and write the forward.

After two months of waiting and hoping, I finally received a reply—“No.”

Due to a busy speaking and writing season, she couldn’t commit. You may be thinking, as I was, Well, duh! I mean, come on Lisa, you’re no celebrity. So why do you think a celebrity would carve time out of their busy schedule to write your forward? True. But! I also believed and counted on God turning an impossible situation into possible. So I was heartbroken at the response. In fact, I cried a little in the Kroger parking lot as I read her reply. In an attempt to comfort

I recently found out that a friend of mine has breast cancer. I’m in her “outer circle” – see Marissa’s definition below – but I didn’t know how to respond. Do I call her? Text? Bring her a meal? Is this too much/not enough? How can I help? Because that’s really what I want to do, help. But I don’t want to be invasive and I don’t want to be neglecting an opportunity to meet any of her needs. Then, Marissa Henley, a cancer survivor and my cousin’s wife, told me about her new book, Loving Your Friend Through Cancer. I couldn’t wait to pick it up. I asked her to send me a blog post so that you too could benefit immediately from her past pain that she’s transforming into her future purpose. Reading this post not only helped me to know how to respond to my friend with cancer, but also gave me insight on how I can respond to others going through grief or illness. May we be the best friends we can be to those we love when they need us most. 

Five years ago, I was a young mom of three when I first

“Who is a God like Thee? Who pardons iniquity and passes over the rebellious acts of the remnant of His possession. He does not retain His anger forever because He delights in unchanging love” Micah 7:18 (NAS).

I became a Christian when I was six years old. But as a teenager, I replaced the guiding voice of the Holy Spirit with the voice of my peers, especially teen boys. And like too many fifteen-year-old girls entranced by the desire to be “loved”, I gave up my virginity to the first boyfriend who asked.

A few weeks after high school graduation, I found out I was pregnant.

I had three options: to carry and parent, to create an adoption plan or to abort. As a Christian I knew the only choice was to have the baby. But my fear of being a pregnant teen superseded any loyalty I had to Jesus. I was terrified of what others would think and say about my hypocritical-Christian-self.  I grieved the end of my carefree life as I knew it. But the Holy Spirit wouldn’t allow me to believe that this pregnancy was a “blob of tissue”. In the depth of my soul, I knew what grew within