Nowlin artwork photos

Through the Storm

“I paid half my rent this month.” I uttered this phrase many times in September while talking with friends. Eventually, it began to feel like a litany that sums up my year thus far. I’ve been struggling financially for most of 2017. In 2016, I took a leap of faith in obedience to God; I started 2017 without a full-time job. When the difficulties started, I honestly thought that they would be short-lived. But by the time spring rolled around, my smiles had become a bit more strained, and my go-to response to “How’s it going?” was usually something like, “Oh, Read More

Nowlin artwork photos

The Awkward Silence

I was recently sharing with someone the story of how I’m “embedded” in the church history of my “home church.” My family was one of the first families to join, and my mother was pregnant with me at the time. So I’m one of those “grew up in the church” people. This means that I’m quite familiar with Holy Week: Palm Sunday, Maundy Thursday, Good Friday and Resurrection Sunday. However, it wasn’t until my time in seminary that I became aware of Holy Saturday. I’m not surprised that it’s a day I’ve overlooked for decades. After all, it’s not mentioned Read More

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Dealing with disappointment…

Warning: This post is purposely not “polished.” It’s a peek into my brain as I process through this situation…I chose this way because I hope that my transparency and willingness to be “raw” will help someone else who may be dealing with disappointment. So, here’s another peek into the way my mind operates. Fasten your seat belts, and please keep your arms inside the ride at all times… One evening, in the mid-nineties, while at my college’s gospel choir rehearsal, I had a thought…a little inkling of a thought that maybe one day I might be some sort of missionary. Read More

Nowlin artwork photos

Just one of those days…

Have you ever had “one of those days”? One of those days where little things that normally wouldn’t annoy you begin to pile up until you can’t ignore them anymore…and then they keep piling up? Then, because you’re agitated, perhaps you start thinking about the things you were hoping to accomplish and become in life and start to doubt…your faith starts to waver? I’m having one of those days…I’m kind of freaking out about some changes that are coming and am struggling to practice what I preach. I was re-reading some notes I’ve posted on Facebook and came across this Read More