Category: Suffering

  • How Honest Do I Really Need to Be?

    A few weeks ago I felt convicted that I needed to share more – write more. And I knew that to some degree it would be a humbling experience because my life is messy, crisis-prone, exhausting, and somewhat embarrassing. Last night something happened that tends to happen a bit more than I’d like lately, and…

  • When You Just Want to Hide the Hard

    This past weekend I planted 7 large bushes. Digging the holes ‘bout killed me. I was determined to get through all the roots, rocks, and clay. I jumped on that shovel like my life depended on it. Wrestled those shrubs out of their buckets and into my hard-fought holes. Filled back in the edges with…

  • Hopefully

    Hopefully

    Advent – Hope “May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace as you trust in him, so that you may overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit.” Romans 15:13 How simply beautiful is the phrase “God of hope.” The God who breathes life, speaks creation, and loves unceasingly,…

  • When Ordinary is Not Enough

    When Ordinary is Not Enough

    I’m so busy wanting small things to make life easier, and God is telling me to ask for big things that make life extraordinary.

  • Advent, a Little Doubt, and A Lot of Prayer

    Advent, a Little Doubt, and A Lot of Prayer

    Because maybe in grasping truly what He went through for us, we, as a family, can grasp how our lives fit into a grander plan. How enduring difficulties doesn’t reveal a lack of love from God but rather reflects God’s love. He loves us enough to allow hardship for holiness, and pain for a purpose,…

  • Grateful and (a little) Stressed

    May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, so that by the power of the Holy Spirit you may abound in hope.  Romans 15:13 This morning barking dogs disturbed my semi-peaceful slumber…at 4:15 am.  Sometimes I wonder why sleep remains so elusive for me. I found myself asking God,…

  • A Common Theme

    Around 9 years ago I became a single parent to my five beautiful children.  About the same time, I started writing.  Although I’ve always been a writer in my own way – journaling, making notes, jotting down thoughts here and there. As a teenager, I even wrote a few poems although those might never see…

  • When Someone Joins this Journey

    A friend sent me a copy of a blog yesterday.  It was a blog sharing the loss of another Christian marriage. I’d already read it, but I opened it…just to glance at it again.  As if to remind myself what had just happened to this lovely Christian woman.  And fresh heartache came to me…not just…

  • Grab the Robe with Me

    There was this song at my old church …it was a solo I sang on worship team sometimes. It was called “I See the Lord,” and I loved it. It was based on Isaiah 6:1 …I saw the LORD sitting upon a throne, high and lifted up; and the train of his robe filled the…

  • What are feelings anyway?

    On the way to church recently my 7 year old daughter asked, “Momma, what are feelings?” I started to say, “They’re how you feel.  I mean they are what you feel…I mean…ahhh!!!” I couldn’t figure out how to define it without using the word “feel.”  I thought if I used the word emotion it would…