Why Being Crushed Is Essential to Creating a Beautiful Life
Ever wish you could turn back the pages of time and do things differently? I felt this way the other day as my son Austin and I worked on a project. An old song1Waylon Jennings, “Old Church Hymns and Nursery Rhymes,” MetroLyrics, CBS Interactive Inc., http://www.metrolyrics.com/old-church-hymns-and-nursery-rhymes-lyrics-waylon-jennings.html, accessed Aug. 8, 2018. my dad and I love […]
Turning Disasters into Timeless Memories
They say there are two things we can be certain about in this life: death and taxes. Well, I don’t know who “they” are, but “they” left out a bunch of stuff . . . by a long shot. Last month we spent a weekend away celebrating my son Jon’s 21st birthday. Jon has numerous […]
Safety: Can I Count On You?
I first met Lawrence Daly back in 2010. Larry was working with a mutual friend of ours to investigate a sexual assault case. The victim was a child with disabilities. They were working out of an office next to mine, so I occasionally drifted over and asked questions. Okay, maybe it was more like a […]
Cool Games You Need to Try When Summer Is the Hottest
It’s only a couple weeks until school resumes, which—this far into summer—makes most parents jump for joy. When my kids were little, I don’t think they ever ran out of energy . . . E V E R! As summer approached, I would make little summer to-do notebooks. They were filled with all kinds of […]
Resting or Rushing: Why It’s a Life or Death Matter
It had only been 30 minutes, but I was already as fidgety and skittish as a wet, cold cat. Not long ago, my husband and I went on the Insight for Living Ministries 2018 Alaska Cruise Conference. That sounds lovely until you know I don’t travel well, and leaving my son Jon who has disabilities […]
When You Get Blindsided by “It”
The x-ray displaying the neck and skull on the computer screen was enormous. While waiting in the surgeon’s examination room, I studied the image of the contorted structure. The saying goes, “Someone always has it worse”—well, this someone had it worse: the neck curved in the wrong direction, and a small kink at the base […]
5 Timeless Choices When Life Sucker-Punches You
It was 5:25 a.m. My phone sounded more like a firecracker on the Fourth of July than the quiet I usually expect that early in the morning. The buzzing, ringing, dinging, and vibrating could have woken the heavens, but thankfully, our God does not slumber or sleep (Psalm 121:4)—a truth that brought peace when I […]
How to Persevere through Punctures to Your Perfect Life
Do you ever feel overwhelmed, discouraged, or simply exhausted with life? Not long ago, I did. The Cares of This World I had taken Jon, my son with disabilities, to three doctor appointments. Each appointment lasted more than two hours and ended with the recommendation that we see other specialists. There was a list of […]
The Joy of Painful Growth
[guestpost]This article is by my dad, Chuck Swindoll.[/guestpost] In our backyard in California, Cynthia and I had a couple of fruit trees that supplied our table with luscious, homegrown grapefruits and oranges. Some years, the trees bore more fruit than others. And every year, the growth of those trees reminded me about what it means […]
Transforming Your Church: From Sorry to Significant
Her lip began to quiver as she shared with me the latest update on her family. Their daughter had divorced last year, and her son with disabilities had to move home due to the mistreatment he received while away at college. Adding to that, they had just buried her father-in-law. Her grief was contained but, […]
Revolutionary Actions That Remove Regret and Renew Relationships
Shortly before midnight, my phone rang. I answered, expecting to hear her cheerful, optimistic voice. Instead, her tone was shaky, almost robotic as she spilled the shocking events of her evening. Her dad—one of our closest family friends, a pillar of faith in the community, a mentor to many, a man determined to help the […]
Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) and Healing
Needed: Mercy and Grace from Those We Love
I often wonder what it would be like to get through one day without a jolt of terror running through my veins. One day without experiencing an off-the-chart startled response would be heavenly. A soft knock on my office door or my husband’s gentle kiss to wake me in the morning can cause me to […]