It had been a week and Oona was still in a cocoon. No one really wanted to wake her unless we had to. She wasn’t eating, or she wasn’t eating much. She would take a sip from a straw if one of us gave it to her, and then she would settle back into the…
Chapter Twelve – Undone
As promised, Liam dropped me off at my car. I noticed it was getting dark and there was less lighting than I expected. Against my better judgment, but also not wanting to be annoyed by the parenting voices of my friends, I turned my phone back on but left it in my car. It was…
Chapter Ten – The Turning Point
Reluctantly I headed back home. I wasn’t in the mood for a spa visit any more. I wasn’t in the mood for anyone, really. Home, with its hollow walls and plastic faces, seemed the best place to go. I had a plan. I would go home, hole up in my room, and listen to the…
Chapter Nine- The Invisibles
I had successfully made it through another weekend without a slice and was feeling pretty good about it. I tried to forget the fact that I was moments away from it when Mitzi called me and distracted me, and I chose to overlook the fact that the only reason I hadn’t cut Sunday after the…
Chapter Seven – Cleaning House
There are two memories of my mom that stand out vividly in my mind, moments that I will never forget, moments that shaped the path of our relationship. The first was when I was nine years old. I came home from school upset. At that time our maid was Anna; she was younger and uninvolved,…
The Siren’s Song
There's a pain, a numbness, a vacancy left inside one who is molested. It doesn't matter so much the degree to misuse or abuse... The hole presses in with the smallest infraction. There's a shame that comes with the wounds made then that make the scar now that much more noticeable - a guilt that…
Removing Splinters
“I’m not one to judge… but…” I knew what was coming, the same thing that comes anytime anyone starts any conversation with those words – judgment. I struggle with that. I think Jesus struggled with that, too. The same Lord that warned us, “In the same way you judge others, you will be judged” (Matt.…
Suffering for Jesus
We use this term loosely in ministry, usually followed by a stay at an all-inclusive resort or a trip to some exotic place no one would consider “suffering” at all. But, despite our quips, suffering is a part of ministry; it is a part of relationship with God, in taking on His work in the…
What women need men to know about pornography…
1. It hurts us. More than you will ever know. More than we can articulate. 2. It IS about us. I'm not sure what twisted part of your male psyche allows you to think it isn't about us, and maybe for you that's true, but we won't be convinced. You looking in lust at another…
I wear a Scarlet letter “A”
It was affixed to me a few years ago. I didn't willfully walk into the title, it had searched for me for a long time. Exposing itself to me in childhood, beckoning to me in adolescence, and dangling just above my heart in my young adult years before solidly sewing its flimsy fabric over my…
Leslie A. Lamb 