Team members were deeply disturbed by the idea of meekness. That day, as we’d served in Kenya together, we’d studied, “blessed are those who mourn.” But at dinner, team members brought up the beatitude we would study the next day, already distressed by it. People proposed various definitions of “meek,” from being a doormat to…Read more An Invitation to an Upside Down Kingdom: The Meek
Adoption
Healing to Become A Healer
Around the world, I’ve discovered a universal truth in my work as Director of Orphan Care for Hope’s Promise. And in my role as a parent, family member, and friend. As a human. Trauma wounds. But attachment heals. Flight of the Kambu: from wounded to healed; 2024; 15.5" x 8.25"; mixed media: watercolor, acrylic, ink,…Read more Healing to Become A Healer
Always Held
For Lilia, my children, and the many others around the world who ache for a different beginning... This is what really happened... You slip into the world raw and trembling, aching for tender touch. But instead, the one you most long for walks away. You huddle there, vulnerable in an abandoned building, or a slum…Read more Always Held
Open Adoption – a Photo Essay
Everleigh entered this world on August 14, 2016, welcomed by birth mother, Delaney; birth father, Kenny; and birth grandmother, Karen. On August 17, Everleigh went home in the arms of adoptive parents, Casey and Michael. Nine months later.... with special thanks to Hope's Promise (Adoption Agency) of Castle Rock, CO. (303) 660-0277.
Soul on Fire
The darkness comes for us all sooner or later. Terror not of our own making magnetizes us like a black hole into unendurable pain. It often starts with an ember, a spark we try to control. But it develops a life of its own, swelling into blinding heat, into raging fire from which there is…Read more Soul on Fire
Joy Hunt
Sr. Fidence was like a beautiful rose in my hand, but her fragrance drifted just beyond my grasp as she stood there barefoot, her white-draped physical being unable to contain an other-worldly joy. I didn't understand her at all. I wanted to, desperately. How, in the midst of despair and hardship, hunger and lack, did…Read more Joy Hunt
For the Ragged and Beautiful
https://www.facebook.com/fragmentsoflight/videos/1283437661683835/ In 2002, my dear friend Nicole Gillin and I volunteered together with a small team serving at Mother Teresa's Home for Abandoned Children in Nairobi. We've never been the same. Last week we collaborated to create this dance to share our changed hearts at the Flourish 2016 Recital. Blessed Are the Peacemakers Blessed…Read more For the Ragged and Beautiful
The Power of a Single Flame (Part 2)
When she picked up that first dying man from the gutter, there was no possible way she could foresee the masses across the globe whose lives would be saved. She only knew the fire in her bones could be alleviated no other way. And so she started rescuing, one-by-one, the last and least of the…Read more The Power of a Single Flame (Part 2)
The Power of a Single Flame
What began as a tiny subversive flame in a single heart now rages across the world. First, though, there was a choice: remain in the comfort and familiarity of a religious life, or cast her lot into the teeming chaos of impoverished streets beyond. The flame burned too hot to keep. She quietly shut the…Read more The Power of a Single Flame
Shine Like Stars Interview
I don't mean this irreverently, but I really think God is laughing at me. In January 2015, I wrote down a prayer request as I continued my art journey. I asked the Lord to “open doors to speak to more people.” Now, I most definitely did not mean “speak” literally. I've come a long way…Read more Shine Like Stars Interview
Colleen Briggs Images & Writing 