Tanara McCauley

Culturally Imagined Stories

Tag: Christian

  • Stories Along the Way: “The Dying Lights”

    Stories Along the Way: “The Dying Lights”

    Years ago I was introduced to a practice called “prompt response” that helped me practice drafting without pausing to edit. The instructions were simple: open the image, start the ten minute timer, write. My first story was 0 words. As time went on, however, I could often complete a full story in those ten minutes.…

  • Twice the Miracle (Updated)

    (Originally posted circa April 2013) I could tell by the look in the nurse’s eyes she wasn’t sure I understood what she’d said. We stared at each other, she with brow lifted waiting for some sign of comprehension on my end, me drifting inside myself with a host of “what ifs” tumbling through my mind.…

  • Beautiful

    A woman had a dream. She walked for miles through fields and deserts, grasslands and marshes, following the sun. It warmed her face and shined in her eyes, making her squint as she journeyed. She pushed aside tall stalks of wheat, trudged through wet sand. She strained her thighs up steep mountainsides. In every place…

  • The Labor of the Journey

    “You did not choose Me, but I chose you and appointed you that you should go and bear fruit, and that your fruit should remain…” John 15:16 My youngest is in the first weeks of her kindergarten career. After years of seeing her older siblings off to school and spending her days with me all…

  • Who Are You?

    “Search me, O God and know my heart; try me, and know my anxieties; and see if there is any wicked way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting.” Psalm 139:23-24 I’ve had recent cause to suffer a great amount of indignation over a situation involving a loved one. Though I’ll spare the details,…

  • Let It Burn!

    “And let us consider one another in order to stir up love and good works…exhorting one another, and so much the more as you see the Day approaching.” ~Hebrews 10:24-25 The year’s almost half gone. Of all my goals for 2015, the one I’ve shirked the most is my resolution to exercise regularly. I could try…

  • Soapbox Parenting

    “You sly dog! You caught me monologuing!” ~Syndrome, The Incredibles Parenting has quite a few deja vu moments. You get the distinct feeling you’ve seen, done, or felt a particular something before. Then it hits you. The lecture, the kid with eyes glazed over, the adult droning on and on in an attempt to impale…

  • The Goodness of God

    I would have lost heart, unless I had believed that I would see the goodness of the LORD in the land of the living. ~Psalm 27:13 It was Valentine’s Day, 2009. The NBA All-Star festivities were taking place in Phoenix, and my husband Jon and I decided it would be fun to go as a…

  • Happy and Prosperous 2015!

    A man’s heart plans his way, but the Lord directs his steps. ~Proverbs 16:9 It’s the second week of the new year, and I hope you are still as excited about your goals and resolutions as you were at the beginning. I know I am. 2014 ended with the blessed commotion of travel, family, laughter,…

  • The Nearness of God

    The Nearness of God

    The Lord is near to those who have a broken heart, and saves such as have a contrite spirit. -Psalm 34:18 This will be our first Christmas without my mother-in-law. For some it will be a first Christmas without a spouse, a sibling, a friend, or a child. For others it will be the second…