[This is a very personal post, a follow-up to “Saying Mastectomy Out Loud,” which I published a year ago.] One year ago today, I awoke in the hospital and listened dumbfounded as my surgeon informed me that my preventative mastectomy had revealed three malignant tumors. Through the fog of sedation, I heard words like “cancer” […]

    I stood in front of my Christmas tree back in 2009 and sighed. It was the epitome of a single girl’s tree, adorned with matching ornaments and a fetching red ribbon. It was small, it was classy, it was shiny…and about as festive as a Tupperware container. Perhaps it was the battle with […]

[From The Space Between Words by Michèle Phoenix, available on Amazon]   Courage used to be more narrowly defined. The young men who enlisted, without thought for their mortality, to fight in global wars. The leaders, scribes and patriots who dared to disassemble prejudiced traditions to broaden the reach of justice and liberty. The humble […]

  Simplistic Thought is a modern day scourge. It applies noncomplex, monolithic reasoning to issues too broad and complicated to be assessed so easily. The topics to which we apply Simplistic Thought are numerous and thorny: theological disputes, political scandals, climate change debates, and criminal malfeasance. All intense, multi-faceted issues. All addressed—from a bevy of […]

[This article I wrote last week has just been published by Crosswalk and ChristianPost.] We feel it as a nation. A headline startles our phones awake. A quick glance. Disbelief. We swipe to read the article or click to turn the TV on—and blood-curdling reality assaults our senses and humanity. The fleeing crowds breach barriers […]

[As published by Patheos. Don’t miss my Pondering Purple podcast, available on your favorite platform or from this Anchor page.] I was leaving a conference room after a lengthy presentation when a woman I’d never met—I’ll call her Judy—came up to me and said, “God chose you for this storm. He knew it would give […]

  My new novel, The Space Between Words, launches today! Here’s a flurry of related materials to introduce you to this new baby. Video Trailer – a short visual teaser The Making of Space – a look into the adventure that birthed this story. There are both written and video versions below! Want to check out […]

  THE MK HARBOR PROJECT IS NO LONGER ACTIVE Though hosts around the globe volunteered in droves to participate in this service, MKs in general were hesitant to reach out—which I completely understand! At a stage of their lives when they want to establish their independence, being “paired” with a stranger, usually because Mom and […]

I’m sure you’ve experienced it too. That moment when you meet someone in a mono-cultural setting—say an office party—and she says, “This is the most fun I’ve had in my life” with that intonation that really says, “This party is worse than having my fingernails ripped off.” You absorb the double-entendre and stare squinty-brained at […]

There was a time not long ago When Mother’s Day felt like a wound Pulled open and exposed on that one Sunday every year When childless lives felt second-rate Shoved to the side to make more room for Those with fulfilled womanhood I tried to blame society Men or myself —or Christianity— For the affront […]