Michelle DeRusha's Blog, page 10
November 15, 2017
Hope for Your Hard Season
For three months straight this summer, every time I laced up my shoes and hit the trail, I felt like I was running through wet cement. When I finally managed to drag myself heaving and sweaty into my house four miles later, my husband always asked how my run went, and my answer was always the same: “Horrible. Again.”
I bought new running shoes. I tried drinking more water. I tried drinking less water. I tried stretching more. I tried stretching less. No matter what I did, the result was alwa...
November 8, 2017
Friendship Is a Rare and Precious Gift
When she called to say they’d be stopping by for a few minutes on Labor Day, I didn’t give it a second thought. Deidra and Harry often pop in for a quick visit. After eight years, these friends are more like family now. We’ve vacationed together, shared dozens of meals together, worshipped together, grieved together, and celebrated birthdays, anniversaries, and holidays together.
So when they sat on our living room sofa that Labor Day and told us they were moving 1,500 miles away, I admit, m...
October 31, 2017
On This, the 500th Anniversary of the Protestant Reformation, How Will You Take Up Your Hammer and Nail?
Today Protestants around the world celebrate and commemorate the 500th anniversary of the Protestant Reformation, remembering the day Martin Luther nailed his 95 Theses to the doors of Castle Church in Wittenberg, Germany, and in doing so, set in motion a revolution that would dramatically impact the church and history.
Today is a day of looking back in admiration and gratitude at a man who, led by the Holy Spirit, courageously took a tremendous leap of faith. Not only did Martin Luther reco...
October 19, 2017
The Ripple Effect of a Random Act of Kindness

Sorry I am a terrible selfie taker! I took three photos and managed to cut off Ted in every one.
You might remember back in September when I wrote a blog post and newspaper column about Ted, the gentleman who brightens my morning run with his cheerful greeting. I happened to see Ted the Saturday the article ran in the newspaper. He flagged me down mid-run to tell me how much it had meant to him that I had stopped a few days earlier to thank him for being a bright spot in my day. Our conversat...
October 11, 2017
We Aren’t Meant for All Work and No Play
I have a lot on my plate these days – book writing, speaking engagements, a part-time job, shuttling kids to a seemingly endless lineup of soccer games and cross country meets and tennis practice, and squeezing housework and errands into the fringe hours. With a deadline looming in three short months, I’ve calculated exactly how many words I need to write each week to stay on track, and I’ve scheduled my time accordingly. This means aside from family obligations and work commitments, I don’t...
October 4, 2017
Why a Small Gesture Makes a World of Difference {a story of the warm cookie angel}
One day a few weeks ago, as I was staring out the sunroom windows into the middle distance, ostensibly “working,” I spotted The Warm Cookie car idling in front of my house.
Let’s pause right here for a moment of silence to appreciate that there is such thing as a Warm Cookie delivery service in Lincoln, Nebraska. It’s true. You can order a dozen chocolate chip, snickerdoodle, butterscotch oatmeal chocolate chip, or any other number of flavors, and they will deliver a box of cookies still war...
September 20, 2017
When It’s Time to Love with Action and In Truth
The other night over dinner with friends I made a rather funny slip of the tongue. We were talking about sports injuries, and instead of referring to an “ACL tear,” I called it an “ACLU tear.” We all laughed at my slip, and I made a joke about clearly being in a much more activist frame of mind these days.
I thought about that statement for a long while afterwards. While it’s true that I’ve found myself in a more “activist frame of mind” in recent months, I’m also frustrated because it seems...
September 13, 2017
How to Value the Season You’re In
My last official blog post here was June 7 – a little more than three months ago (I admit, I cheated a bit on my hiatus and posted the pieces I wrote for the Journal Star in June, July and August). It was a good and necessary break – even more necessary than I initially anticipated, as it turns out, because…
…I am writing another book…two, in fact! This past spring I signed a two-book contract with Baker Books — one for non-fiction and the second for an “Undetermined” Biography/History. I ad...
September 6, 2017
Put Your Kindness into the World
* It’s the first week of September…how did that even happen?! My kids have been back in school for three weeks, and I am back into a regular work routine — all the amens! Today’s post is my column that ran in the Lincoln Journal Star this month, but next Wednesday I hope to back to a regular weekly blog schedule. I’ll have some news for you, plus some thoughts on recovering from a hard season. Thanks for sticking with me during my blogging respite – I missed you!*
A couple of weeks ago I di...
August 2, 2017
How to Choose the Moment Itself
I wanted to share the piece I wrote for my monthly column in the Lincoln Journal Star last week. This moment and what I learned from it in retrospect really resonated with me, and I hope I captured it well enough so it does for you, too. Peace, friends – and thank you for this quiet break I am so enjoying during these summer months…
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One afternoon last week I spotted my son, Noah, perched on the edge of one of the raised beds in the garden, his lunch plate balanced on his lap. When I saw w...