Are you going through a severe test? Maybe you have lost your appetite or you haven’t slept well for weeks or months. Fear and panic have replaced quietness and peace. You experience loneliness, discouragement, and isolation, complicated by unending physical or emotional pain. You’ve prayed and asked others to pray as well. And still, there […]
Category: Grief/Encouragement
From Pain to Passion—Taking the First Step
The last place I wanted to be was at church. My eyes were swollen almost shut from crying. My body ached from a physically demanding weekend: helping our son move to an apartment nearby, cleaning the house with one more empty room, and yard work that had to get done before gallons of rainfall gushed […]
Making Sense of Suffering
The verse jumped off the page when I first read it. Written by the wisest person who ever lived, Solomon penned his life journal in the book titled Ecclesiastes. To be honest, I hadn’t spent much time in Ecclesiastes, probably because I would get stuck in the two books before it—Psalms and Proverbs—which mix swaying […]
Hope and a Place to Hide During the Hard Times
Ever feel like you are the only one who struggles with certain things? I was speaking at a conference recently and everyone looked great. While I felt nervous, worried, and anxious, everyone else appeared to be moving along in life without a worry in the world. That said, most of us assume no one else […]
How to Crush the Killer Stalking Your Soul
I walked into my friend’s office feeling completely defeated. Only a few people in my life know how much I wrestle with trauma. For me, trauma is like an invisible terrorist, inflicting nightmares and flashbacks and prompting painful and fearful emotions to surface in the most unexpected ways. Trauma is an ever-moving, invisible target. The […]
Why You Must Have the Guts to Grieve
It wasn’t supposed to end this way. Jon had gone to bed, my husband had taken our older sons out to dinner, and I was home preparing for the week ahead. Typically, Sunday evenings are spent preparing for the week: packing lunches, putting away laundry, and picking up around our place. While I mopped the […]
What to Do When You Feel Like Giving Up
Some days are just incredibly tough. We all hit seasons where the daily demands don’t let up; hard decisions lead to relational conflict and we do our best to hang on. There’s always another bill in the mail, the “to-do” list is never done, the house needs cleaning, the laundry needs folding, and the phone […]
Words to Live By
I saw it a bazillion times last year . . . a beautiful calendar that hung on our kitchen wall for 365 days. It looked so inspiring on the store shelf. I intended to read its encouraging words throughout the year. Then life happened. I got too busy to stop and consider the thought-provoking words […]
A Chance to Start Over This Year
Facing the music and focusing on how something fresh can change your life
One of the most encouraging things about a new year is the word new. It means “unfamiliar . . . made or become fresh . . . different from one of the same category that has existed previously,” says Webster. Simply put, it’s a place to begin anew. Starting over requires knowing where you are. […]
How the Grinch Saved Christmas
Merry Christmas to you, my friend! For some, this day is filled with delightful memories. For many others, Christmas is full of inner conflicts and surfacing sorrows. One of my dear friends, Kelli Ra Anderson, understands this like few others. Kelli lives with enormous challenges that she has learned to embrace over the years. Two […]
Priceless Presents from My Friend Joe
The holidays aren’t all that happy for those hurting. Past painful experiences or current hardships cast a heavy blanket over bright lights and joyful hearts. My dear friend Joe Padilla, co-founder of Grace Alliance, understands this so well. Having endured many harsh holiday seasons, his wisdom for how to help the hurting is profound and […]
Don’t Be Afraid
The hour of 1:00 a.m. comes every night, but there’s one 1:00 a.m. I’ll never forget. While you were likely sound asleep, I was wide awake . . . talking to God like mad! I was aboard a small twin-engine plane with a seasoned pilot, rapidly descending through a foggy, dense overcast at 200 miles […]