Josh texted me yesterday at 1:03pm that something was going down. Everyone with a cop or a fire fighter was headed east on Empire (the street right by our house - east toward the kids’ school.)

At 1:36, we got the notification that their school was on lockdown. We had no idea why. Twenty minutes after that, we learned of the active shooter at Silver Rail elementary, four miles away.

I shared these slides on my stories yesterday afternoon. And last evening, Rinnah (my always drawing daughter who would rather write something than say it) slipped me a note.

“Today is the worst day ever,” she wrote. She is six. “All i want to do is lay on you and snuggle.”

The details that are emerging are horrific. A 16-year-old armed with a shotgun entered a special ed classroom and began shooting. One of the children was a 7-year-old girl who is in a wheelchair. He shot her in the face.

The relief I feel that it wasn’t our kids’ school cannot be quantified. It’s also mingled with guilt because there are parents right here in my very own community whose children were not, and are not coming home.

Please PLEASE pray for Bend. For the parents who have to bury a child. For the sweet babes in that special ed classroom, and for the families of the teacher who died trying to protect them.

It’s unfathomable when this hits so close to home. And it’s absolutely devastating for all of us - especially the teachers who have the hard and holy gift of keeping very frightened children calm while trying desperately to keep themselves calm and hold it all together.

This is not the world our children should be growing up in. Lord, have mercy.

I cannot tell you how much I needed to read the email that arrived from my publisher this morning telling me that Worthy is No.18 on ECPA’s bestseller list from the last three months at Christian bookstores NATIONWIDE.

I can say, unequivocally, that these last seven months have been the hardest of my life, and a small piece of that was what I thought was a total flop of a book launch. But I had NO idea what God was doing behind the scenes. I prayed so many times, “God, I’ve done my part. The rest is up to You.”

This morning, He pulled back the curtain to give me a peek at what I can’t see. And I’m absolutely undone by it. 😭😭😭

If you already have your copy, THANK YOU for your support! If not, head over to digmywell.com/worthy to read the first 28 pages for FREE (or comment “Worthy” and I’ll DM you the link to purchase)!

There are days that you dig and days that you drink. And I’m over here, just putting my money where my mouth is and drinking from my own well for a little while. 🤎

I’ve been living inside of these wordless prayers lately, the ones I can’t quite articulate and am wholly anxious for Him to move on, to move in, to move through.

These words are an excerpt of my new book, Worthy. Comment “worthy” to get a link to buy your copy today. And, if you’ve already received yours and spent the last handful of weeks working through its pages, can I ask you a favor? Will you leave a review on Amazon or wherever you purchased it, even if you haven’t finished it? It’s so helpful for potential readers to hear even your early experience with the book. 🤎

We booked a last minute trip to Maui on a whim five days before we flew out to squeeze out every last second of summer that we could. But it was more than just a quick trip or a visit home. It was revisiting a place where God moved in ways that have forever changed me.

I cried when we landed, the movie reel of miracles and deep heart healing God did here flashing through my mind in vivid color. And I cried when we left again four nights later.

I was eight years into our wait for a family when we moved here, 36 weeks pregnant with Jonathan when we left. And last weekend we returned to one of my favorite beaches to photograph sunset memories for families I’d never met back in my days as a portrait photographer. Only this time, my family was the subject. I’m a decade removed from our first miracle and I’m still not over it all.

And I never, ever will be.

@loveandwater thanks so much for offering to shoot when I asked to borrow a tripod. This session was everything I didn’t know I needed.