The holiday season is here again. During the holidays, people do a lot of wishing. But I’m not talking about wishing for gifts or toys. The kind of wishing I’m speaking of refers to deeper longings for something different, something better. Often, we long for relief from painful circumstances, restoration of broken relationships, the ability […]
Author: Colleen Swindoll Thompson
Earthly
The other day, as my son, Jon, and I drove home from school, I could tell something earthly had happened. Earthly refers to those daily situations that occur as a result of living in a broken world with broken people. I could tell that some earthly event had broken Jon’s heart. Big tears welled up […]
The Invisible Troublemaker
When I think of troublemakers, I think of bullies at school, convicted criminals, and angry neighbors. You could probably list a few as well. But have you ever considered your own mind as a dreadfully difficult troublemaker? Your mind can be filled with greed, selfish motivations, manipulation, anxiety, fear, and resentment—often far more troubling than […]
Joy Beads
Bad weather and cooped up kids can be problematic—energy to burn and nowhere to go. Such was the case one very stormy season when my kids were little. We were hit with a record number of storms . . . one after another for weeks. As the days passed, we all became a bit cranky. […]
The Balance of Laughter and Tears
When I meet wise people, I want the world to know them. I recently met Cindi, who has grown wise through the trials of life. She and her husband, Joe, have a son with disabilities, so they will never enjoy many of the freedoms most people expect in life. But because they have faithfully followed […]
It Came to Pass
Check out these inspirational facts from the Web site Find Your Wings! Admiral Robert Peary attempted to reach the North Pole seven times before he made it. . . . In its first 28 attempts to send rockets into space, NASA had 20 failures. As a young man, Walt Disney was fired from the Kansas […]
Show and Tell
The stuff had become a problem. Every time my son, Jon, and I headed out for an event, he gathered his stuff; an ever-growing collection of games and toys jammed into an ever-increasing sized tote bag. The time to purge had come. But something interesting happened as we started our reduction plan. Jon’s anxiety increased […]
Life Extraordinary
Nothing extraordinary happened this weekend. We did the average stuff . . . mowed the lawn, bought some groceries, cleaned the house, cooked the meals . . . pretty ordinary stuff. Now, had we gone to the annual fall festival or celebrated a birthday or churned homemade ice cream and watched fireworks, I would have […]
Stories
Below is an excerpt from a note I received from my friend Annette Monts Falls. She gave me permission to share it with you. On Sunday, May 19, 1985, in Boulder, Colorado, God orchestrated events to save my own life through the cessation of fetal movement of my third son named Clayton Alexander Falls. This […]
Fessing Up
Okay, it’s time to fess up. Those words, fess up, make me picture a little kid who has just polished off the cookies in the cookie jar. When his mom asks, “Honey, did you eat the cookies?” his eyes get huge and he shakes his head “no” while a few crumbs fling off his face. […]
What to Expect When You Weren’t Expecting
I come from a family of book lovers. Finding a cozy spot in some quiet corner of the house and curling up with a great book is a treat for the Swindolls. Shortly before my first child was born, the book titled What to Expect When You’re Expecting was published. It is in a stack […]
Seventeen Years Ago
My son, Jon, turns 19 years old this month. Seventeen years ago, I sat in a doctor’s office and listened to a kindhearted, brilliant man tell me my son had autism—an umbrella term with five major categories beneath it. All the while, Jon’s hand-flapping and toe-walking . . . and silence . . . and emotional distance . . . and . . . the doctor’s words kind of melted together.