It is only in the after, that we might see any beauty at all. After the snow melts. After the rain has come. After the bulb spends months in the dark cold of the ground. After the leukemia, and the chemo, and the central lines … the hospitalizations, and the procedures that swirl life right […]
Give Thanks to the Lord for He is Good
Give thanks to the Lord for He is good. He. is. good. Do you believe He is? Even through the job loss The cancer fight The care of an aging parent Or the care of a special needs child? Do you believe He is good? Even through the loneliness and despair of isolation The tension […]
To Welcome Suffering is to Say Yes to God
If there’s one thing I’m learning lately, it’s that suffering is inevitable in this life. That no matter who we are, no matter what we have, and no matter where we live, we will have hard things to face. And yet it’s such a challenge to welcome the suffering–to embrace adversity… To look forward to […]
When Our Heart Aches, He Meets Us Even There
I cry the ugly cry and can hardly type through the blur. My heart is aching and I know the ache is nothing compared with what some others may be facing. But my tears only know my ache, the reality of my situation, and there’s nothing more real than my very own heart. I’m alone, yet I know God is here. I’ve heard […]
Because He Really Does Satisfy with Long Life
And what a privilege to return home in the late of summer to celebrate her 90th birthday. Her life has not been perfect; in fact it has been full of suffering… An alcoholic father, an interrupted education, marrying young, and having lots of babies… No running water, almost no money, baking from scratch, curing wild […]
3 Steps For When Your Heart Faces the Pain, Brokenness, and Devastation of Divorce :: Sermon on the Mount {Week 15}
No matter what, divorce is painful. It hurts. And its consequences never really end. I know—because twelve years ago I got divorced. I know first-hand the pain and its consequences, especially when adultery is involved. And while I’ll share those details with you another time, suffice it to say, God hates divorce from the spouse […]
For When Your Heart Aches…
Do I really dare to write the ways my heart aches—the ways I feel bare and exposed? How do I give words to the dull underlying feeling that seems to be inevitable in this life? I drive to work as the sun begins to rise, and the song plays. And its refrain undoes me. I ache at the […]
On the Certainty of Suffering {And our Promise of Hope}
Photo credit: Daves Portfolio, Flickr Creative Commons My patient held her baby today, like every mama here does … except her baby had only lived for 16 weeks and could be held in one of her hands. We took pictures and gave mementos. And the family was there and the chaplain came. And I continue […]
For When We are Tempted to Speak Cutting Words
Photo credit: bored-now, Flikr creative commons She didn’t know she was talking about me. She didn’t realize as she complained and all the rest laughed and sympathized, that she was complaining about me –that she was irritated and annoyed by me. And what seemed to them, to be a passing critique of a stranger, cut my heart […]
Because We All Have Hard and Rough Days
I had a hard day. Just feeling down and overwhelmed with all the hats I wear and the pressure of it all. Kids who don’t obey, communication challenges in my marriage, organizational changes at work, and more acquaintance-only friends than I can count. And to be honest, it’s been a rough day. Do you have […]
