If you find yourself negotiating, “Lord, You can have it all, except this one thing?” you are not alone. Quite the contrary, so many brave sisters have approached me, one by one, in strictest confidence, trembling and asking the question they dread the answer to, the one question they can’t shake:

We’re here to study and write, leaning into the sounds of silence together, my man and I. Books and iPads, hot tea and coffee ready, we hope to hear from God. Like Moses outside the camp, but with Sonny’s BBQ instead of manna. The flame in the propane heater is no burning bush, though.