The Empty Places We Create

The Empty Places We Create

Those of us who are people of faith tend to worship our place alongside God. Sure, we love Jesus, but in the suburbs we’d like our slice of the American dream too. We want our Bible studies alongside our Target splurges. It’s not wrong to appreciate beauty, to buy...

And Limits Were Good, Very Good

And Limits Were Good, Very Good

One long weekend we took our children to Los Angeles, to the hills under the Hollywood sign, to Griffith Observatory. The air was clear, the observatory a stark white nestled in green hills. It felt iconic: the city that isn’t quite a city lay below us, but from high...

Divine Spark on Wednesday

Divine Spark on Wednesday

I do not buy those words, sacred and secular, They’ve rent the world in two.   They take the magic from how a speck of dust catches the light Or how the cadence of footfall is poetry. They make too much of church casseroles that do not feed the multitudes. Blind adult...

My Dirty Little Secret: I Never Wanted to Be a Mother

I have a little secret: I never wanted to be a mother. At least not in the conventional sense. And certainly not a mother to four. I wasn’t one of those baby-loving, babysitting girls who fawned over the little ones in the church nursery. I had more important things...

The Abundance Manifesto

I said something on Twitter the other day that made me stop and think. And made others stop and think. It was this: “Write bravely. Use up all those good ideas now, don't save them. There will be more. Art comes from abundance.” The idea came in response to Glennon...

Are You Crouching in a Tiny Takeout Box?

Shalom. It was a word that in our college days we thought was odd and a bit funny and so when it came up so often that semester of college during chapel, we snapped. It was an immature inside joke that said, hey that word is funny and we don't know what to do with it...

Maybe It Wasn’t the Mountains

I ease my body into this new body of water, the snap-and-go tub in our new home, 1000 miles from our last, the one under the cover of mountains. And I remember how I’ve eased my aching body into bathtubs: the one they finally let me get into when I was being induced...

Don’t Give Your Voice Away

  Maybe you grew up watching Disney movies like I did. We would sit breathless watching Ariel sign away her voice to the sea witch in “The Little Mermaid.” Eyes glued to the TV, we watched to see if the prince would “kiss the girl” even though she was mute. Now,...

Ashley Hales
Ashley Hales holds a PhD in English from the University of Edinburgh, Scotland. She’s a writer, speaker, and hosts The Finding Holy Podcast. Ashley’s married to a pastor and the mother to 4. Her writing has been featured in such places as The Gospel Coalition, Books & Culture, and Christianity Today and she loves speaking around the US. She is the author of Finding Holy in the Suburbs and A Spacious Life. Connect with Ashley at aahales.com or on Instagram and Twitter at @aahales.

Pin It on Pinterest