Marnie Hammar
Embracing the Uninvited
[Featured as The Joyful Life Daily Devotional] The rain battered the canopy of trees that border my backyard. The winds curved the limbs...
top of page
Marnie Hammar
Jun 19, 20221 min read
Raising Expectations for Boys: What if ‘Boys Will Be Boys’ Was a Good Thing?
[Featured on The Joyful Life Magazine blog.] He grabbed the rungs on the ladder for the big slide when another boy started to pull on...
Marnie Hammar
May 19, 20222 min read
46 Mom and Son Date Ideas: Fostering Connection Between You and Your Boy
[Featured on The Joyful Life Magazine] We’re bumping over the railroad tracks, heading to his soccer game, when my almost 11-year-old...
Marnie Hammar
Feb 9, 20221 min read
Raising Teen Boys and the Ministry of Food (as Told by a Reluctant Meal Planner)
[Featured on The Joyful Life Magazine blog] My oldest thunked his soccer bag down on the counter, opened the fridge, and let out a...
Marnie Hammar
Sep 15, 20211 min read
Riding the Waves of Raising Boys: How to Stop Being Controlling as a Mom
[Featured on The Joyful Life Magazine blog] I was sitting on my hospital bed, still wearing those blue hospital socks with the grippy...
Marnie Hammar
May 5, 20211 min read
Lessons from the Shepherd About the Rod and Staff
All those years in church, all those sermons on Psalm 23, and I still never got it. Somewhere along the way, when I read, “Your rod...
Marnie Hammar
Apr 4, 20211 min read
The Ministry of Too Many Fish
Jesus knew how to make a scene, didn’t He? He’s sitting in Peter’s boat, just finished with teaching a crowd on the beach, when He...
Marnie Hammar
Feb 22, 20211 min read
For Those Days When Faith Feels Naive
There are days when my faith feels naive. Days when the tragedy and darkness of this world feel more real than my citizenship in His...
Marnie Hammar
Jan 16, 20211 min read
Chasing Winter's Sun
In winter, I play a little game in my house. It’s a secret game—one that I didn’t even know I played until recently. It’s called: “Wander...
Marnie Hammar
Dec 22, 20201 min read
The Weary World Rejoices
My rush to pull out the ornaments and set up the tree and string the lights isn’t actually rooted in holiday cheer this year. The allure...
Marnie Hammar
Dec 10, 20202 min read
God's Answers in My "Why's"
I was on my knees again over one of those confusing, painful situations that just hasn’t resolved. I was asking God, again, why He had...
Marnie Hammar
Nov 17, 20202 min read
The "Happy Jesus" Guy in the Chicago Loop
My first fancy job required a daily train ride into downtown Chicago. On Fridays, as I joined the throng emerging from the train station,...
Marnie Hammar
Nov 9, 20201 min read
Learning Resolve from Fallen Leaves
My footsteps cracked acorns as I came up the hill. The morning light highlighted the greens and reds and golds ahead of me. I delight...
Marnie Hammar
Oct 19, 20202 min read
The Way Out of My Mess
I used to hate the question, “Have you prayed about it?” Because when people would ask me that, most likely, I hadn’t. I loved Jesus, but...
Marnie Hammar
Oct 1, 20202 min read
On Needing an Untamed God
I used to want a “tame” version of God. My love for checkboxes and predictability and control was drawn to the parts of God that I could...
Marnie Hammar
Sep 24, 20202 min read
Am I Doing This For God or With God?
I was camped out in the ER with a teenage boy who did not belong to me. During a flag football game gone wrong at the senior high...
Marnie Hammar
Sep 7, 20202 min read
The Sweetness that Comes When We Taste and See
For years, I’ve stared down pineapples at the grocery store, telling them that I’d enjoy them more if they’d just be a bit, you know,...
Marnie Hammar
Aug 23, 20202 min read
On Flourishing and Forcing
Late last summer, we planted a new hedge. Well, bushes that would grow together to form a sort of hedge-type thing, anyway. For almost a...
Marnie Hammar
Aug 19, 20202 min read
Finding Peace Even in Shifting Sands
I never thought I would buy face masks at Old Navy. Or sneak a side-eye at the current supply of toilet paper at Target. Or gravitate...
Marnie Hammar
Aug 10, 20202 min read
The Hope of Happy Endings
When I was a child, one of my favorite books had a hardbound gray linen cover with embossed gold lettering. Inside, bound in between the...
bottom of page