As a teacher, I know I have to give up my heart to 120 new students. Here's what my nieces and a street preacher taught me about trusting the faces you can't see yet.
Author: Laura Joy Palma
When Love Asks You to Wait: A Year in Photos and Hard Questions
I created a photo album of our entire relationship to answer one question: Was he worth waiting for? Sometimes the hardest conversations happen with ourselves first.
When Love Isn’t About Timing: Four Days Without My Prince Charming
I broke up with Charming over our timing conflict—I'm ready for marriage, he's not. But driving away in a storm, God ministered to me through worship music. Is he worth the wait?
Why I Never Graduated from the College I Loved
Thirteen years later, I finally returned to Wheaton with the man I'd met there as strangers. Here's what I learned about the scars that build character and the dreams we bury too soon.
Twin Birthday Cakes and Tiny Carrots: What My Garden Taught Me About Raising Humans
My niece's eyes lit up when I pulled a carrot from the soil like magic. As I frosted two different cakes for two different girls, I realized: we know what we're planting in gardens, but children? They come without labels.
The Evening Glories Need Untangling—But First I Have to Learn to Stop Fixing Everything
In twilight's storm, I resist untangling vines that double over themselves. My need to fix things—phones, weddings, people—is almost palpable. I couldn't sit in church service; I had to be in the AV booth with control. Sometimes facing worry means not taking action. Sometimes you sit still with tangled vines and wait for inspiration.
My AWANA Leader’s Daughter Told Me to End the Volume—Well, I’m Renaming It
Deb saw me at five with her picture on my kindergarten poster. Now, decades later, she's reading my blog and suggests I close this volume. But when your vegetable garden finally starts yielding bounty, you don't stop tending it—you just change what you call it from "I Used to Be" to "I Am."
The Old Maid’s Golf Lesson: What My Student Taught Me About Self-Love
A brilliant student's blog post about wanting to be seen as beautiful and smart made me face my own fear: what if people see me for who I really am? Then a golf game with family taught me to remember only the good hits.
Second Chances and Fresh Canvases: Painting a New Life After Divorce
A paint-and-sip date night became an unexpected metaphor for marriage, failure, and the grace of starting over. Sometimes you need to paint an entirely different picture.
Trading Wedding Rings for a Garden: Finding Beauty After Divorce
At my friend's wedding, I arranged flowers while wrestling with memories of my own failed marriage. Sometimes the most beautiful arrangements come from broken things.
Writer's Growth 