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On the Side Blog
Blog posts, monthly devotionals, announcements and more!
Blog Contents
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2026 Devotions
2025 Devotions
2024 Devotions
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2026 Announcements
2025 Announcements
• September 2025 Announcements
2024 Announcements
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• Testimonies Coming Soon!
March 2026 On the Side: Do We Have a Choice?
The process had stretched us as far as we could be stretched – financially, emotionally, and spiritually. Wade had organized his residency interviews so that he could fly in for one and drive to as many as possible from that city. We had scrimped and saved and parsed out loan dollars to ensure his travel…
February 2026 On the Side: No Room!
Emotions I hadn’t felt in a long time suddenly took over and I was angry. Seething rage, hurt and a sprinkling of unforgiveness came washing over me with a gush…
January 2026 On the Side: Looming Lanes
My youngest entered the world full of confidence. The doctor handed her to her Daddy at birth and she promptly cooed at him -- as if to say "I know you've been waiting for me your whole life!"…
December 2025 On the Side: Searching for the Light
In seasons of both joy and struggle, we don’t have to strain to find hope—because the steady, unconditional light of Jesus shines on us no matter how dark the road feels. Keep reading….
November 2025 On The Side: Where is Home Sweet Home?
We’ve moved twice in the last year. The first move was the biggest and involved selling our home of almost 20 years and renting a house closer to where my doctor-husband works…
October 2025 On the Side: Comfort for Comfort
“I don’t want to do tomorrow,” I quietly admitted.
It was the night before our daughter’s surgery. With four kids, we’d somehow managed to avoid the operating room for the last 18 years. But not this time…
September 2025 On the Side: A Wilderness of Mirrors
In a world full of distorted mirrors and false identities, Laura Thomas reminds us to silence the noise and see ourselves clearly through God’s truth—created in His image, loved, and purposed for the life He’s given us.
August 2025 On The Side: Team Effort
Dawn Mast offers a heartfelt reminder of the power of spousal support and prayer in the demanding journey of medical life.
July 2025 On The Side: Bad Wiring
When a power outage at the pool house reveals more than faulty wiring, Carol M. Shrader reflects on the state of our inner lives—reminding us that no amount of outward polish can replace the quiet strength of a heart rooted in God.
June 2025 On The Side: Work Hard and Let Go
In this season of early harvests and hopeful transitions, Shelly Wyrick invites us to embrace the tension of working hard and letting go—trusting the God who grows the seeds we plant, even when we can’t yet see the fruit.
May 2025 On The Side: When More Than Your Brakes Need Work
When the demands of medical life threaten to harden our hearts, Carol Mason Shrader reminds us how a shift in perspective—from grumbling to gratitude—can rekindle compassion and help us shine in our roles as wives, mothers, and followers of Christ.
April 2025 On the Side: Fragrance
Our actions and attitudes, like the fragrance of Christ, are noticed by others. Whether in moments of ease or stress, we are called to reflect His love and grace, especially in our marriages, as a testimony to the world.
March 2025 On the Side: Not A "Just"
Several years ago, I had the opportunity to speak to about 500 women. It was a day full of worship music, a stage artist, plenty of vendors and a prayer room where each of the ladies in attendance were given a name of God (ELROI, JEHOVAH, IMMANUEL etc…)…
February 2025 On the Side: Love Never Fails
As a little girl, I remember Valentine's Day so vividly -- decorating a shoebox to hold our cards at school, picking just the right Valentine for each friend in our class and uh, having bronchitis several years in a row and missing the whole thing….
January 2025 On the Side: A Beautiful Mess
I miss basements!
Growing up in Colorado, then moving to Minnesota (residency), Pennsylvania (fellowship) and then back to Colorado (another fellowship) I always had a basement to rely on for storage. Now in California, where the seismic activity doesn’t allow for such a luxury, I am at a loss for storage space…
December 2024 On the Side: A Family Calling
The Child Life Specialist was working with my three-year-old triplets in an effort to prepare them all for Benjamin’s upcoming surgery…
November 2024 On the Side: The Green House
The house was green. There was no denying that. It had three bedrooms and a two-car garage with a short driveway leading to a major street. It also had a big, fenced backyard. But most of all it was green…
October 2024 On the Side: I Remember You
I had just met her but - yeah, I knew - we were gonna be great friends. Honestly, I don’t think it was even a Side By Side meeting. I was in my first post-partum fog and just remember gathering at another mom’s house where we were introduced. Like me, she’d worked as a physical therapist, she was also the wife of a resident, and she loved Jesus…
September 2024 On the Side: Contentment and a Lapful of Puppies
Last week we moved our youngest to college. And I did the only thing a mother who now has four adult children can do: I rescued a dog….to add to the other two dogs we already have...
August 2024 On the Side: Seeking Truth
The young woman sat across the table from me, awaiting my response.
I regarded her carefully. She must have thought I didn’t understand her question, because now she was restating it. I paused, knowing the answer she was searching for, but not being willing to give it to her.
Her question was, “Where do you go for truth?”