Wanna skip Christmas this year? I hear you. And I get it. But perhaps there’s another way. Here are some thoughts on celebrating Christmas, even when our Christmas isn’t, at […]
Christmas / faith / poetry
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It Has Begun!
Before the beginning of time and space, they’d seen His ways, felt His gaze.At the dawn of creation, they sang His praise:Ancient of Days They humbly served at His beck […]
faith / Grief / Thanksgiving / Widowhood
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Thankful, Grateful, Grieving
Grief and gratitude can coexist. You can be truly thankful and also deeply saddened by the empty chair at your table. Leave space for your memories today. Then, through your […]
faith / Grief / Parenting / Widowhood
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Love Bends Down
She was exhausted. She was out of her comfort zone. She’d had enough. So, he just sat with her. For as long as it took.
Because love bends down.
Like a good earthly father sits by his struggling child—tenderly, lovingly, patiently—so our good heavenly Father stoops down to us in our need. For as long as it takes.
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child loss / faith / Grief / Trauma / Widowhood
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When You Want to Ask Why
When we realized Jeremy wasn’t going to make it, I looked at my dad and asked, “Why does this keep happening to me?” When bad things happen, often our first […]
child loss / faith / Grief / Prolonged Grief Disorder / Trauma / Widowhood
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Complicated Grief: When You Get Stuck
Grief is inevitable. No one escapes it. If you love anything or anyone, you will eventually grieve. Remember when your baby had separation anxiety? She was grieving what she perceived […]
faith / Grief / seasons / Thanksgiving / Widowhood
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Grief and Gratitude
Thanksgiving has always been a month-long holiday in the Smith home. When our boys were little, our family began an exercise in thanks-living, which became a yearly tradition for us. […]
cancer / Child Loss / devotional / faith / Grief / Parenting / Trauma / Widowhood
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When God Calls You Out
The boat was not Peter’s safe place; Jesus was.
cancer / faith / Grief / Trauma
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And Then Came Cancer
Exactly one year and one day from the death of my beloved husband, I had the first of three surgeries to remove cancer from my body. More specifically, a double […]
cancer / Child Loss / faith / Grief / Widowhood
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2 years—cancer free!
When I found out I had cancer only nine months after my husband died, I didn’t think I even wanted to survive it. I was numb. I was exhausted. I […]
faith / Grief / seasons / Widowhood
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Death Gives Way to Life
Autumn can be a mixed bag for the griever. It’s as if fall now has a death-shadow cast over it, with every falling leaf a reminder that life must end […]
faith / Grief / Parenting / Widowhood
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Do You Look like Your Father?
Slowly but surely, we begin to resemble those closest to us. I see it in my children the most. (Even the adopted ones.) Not only do they look like their […]