Tag: Nicole Phillips

Have you ever had to draw a hard line with the “tinsel” in your life? You know, those little, seemingly harmless things that quickly take more than their fair share of attention? I sometimes think I have to jump in and fix every subtle snag in my life before it gets completely out of control, but more and more I’m ... Read More

Sometimes it’s not the first blow that knocks us down, it’s the second or the third.

We can hold it together for the initial bad news, but all too quickly comes a totally unrelated problem that causes us to come unglued. I think they call that the straw that broke the camel’s back.

Jolene Rohde has been going through a tough time. ... Read More

Sometimes my head spins. How about yours?

It’s not yet 9am and already I’ve worried whether my child has strep, how many mice might be living in my house, if I’m doing enough to support my friends, and how long my parents will live.

My head seems to be extra spinny these days. (And yes, according to auto-correct, I just made ... Read More

We never really know what someone’s going through, do we?

The clerk at the grocery store who stands on her feet all day and then goes home to take care of an ailing parent. The teacher who pours lessons of kindness and sharing into beautiful little hearts and then realizes she’s been sharing her husband with another woman. The teen who ... Read More

If you spend any time giving thanks with other people this week, you’re going to run into a lot of things that make you feel less than thankful.

For instance, you create this fabulous dinner and then all the small children in the room ask if they can have chicken nuggets.

Or maybe one member of the family gets a little ... Read More

I’m a sucker for a Hallmark movie. Love is in the air when the owner of a small-town bakery falls for the big-city developer who intends to shut her down, but then has a change of heart and sweeps in to save the building from demolition. Somebody hand me a bucket of popcorn and a hot cocoa.

In real life, love ... Read More

Every morning I patter out to the living room to turn on the tree. It’s on a timer along with the garland and lights wrapping the staircase railing. In the evening, they light up on their own, but in the morning, when it’s still dark and I’m still sleepy and not quite sure if the day will be a safe ... Read More

You know those days when you wake up feeling just okay? Not great. Not terrible. Just okay. When someone asks you how you’re doing, your face cracks into a pleasant smile before responding, “Fine.”

I have a secret. God doesn’t want you to go through the day feeling just okay. He wants to wow you into having an amazing day, so ... Read More

Have you ever seen kindness ripple through a room? It happened just the other day in Sioux Falls, S.D.

The Edith Sanford Breast Center put on an amazing conference for survivors and I got to talk about using kindness during a cancer journey.

When I finished speaking, the emcee took the mic and told the crowd that one of the survivors wanted ... Read More

I was speaking to a group of cancer survivors in South Dakota Friday — telling my story and talking to the group about the “black dots” in our lives.

For those of us in that room, breast cancer either was or is the predominant black dot. But there are always things that loom heavy in our lives — finances, messy relationships, ... Read More