I suppose most would rather not think about death and loss at this time of year, but for the valley-walker, there is no escaping reality. Mistletoe mocks. Once-tinseled trees lay […]
Christmas / devotional / faith / Grief / Grief Support / Holidays / hope / Waiting
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Hope Has Come: Advent
I can think of nothing that threatens my hope more than the silence of God—endless waiting with not so much as a whisper from the One on whom my expectation […]
faith / Grief / Grief Support / Thanksgiving / Widowhood
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What Does it Mean to be Blessed?
Are we really blessed? In our culture, we tend to think of blessings as: But Jesus said, blessed are: Those last 5 are not exactly blessings I would choose. But […]
Child Loss / devotional / faith / Grief / Grief Support / Resurrection / seasons / Trauma / Widowhood
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Death Gives Way to Life
It was a sunny October afternoon when death came to visit. Once my favorite season—filled with family birthdays at apple orchards, hot pumpkin spice lattes on crisp, frosty mornings and […]
Devotional / faith / Grief Support / Waiting / Widowhood / Womanhood
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Scattered Seeds
I sometimes struggle with the feeling that my current ministry is just throwing seed to the wind and never seeing any of the fruit it might bear. That can be […]
devotional / Grief / Post-Traumatic Growth / Prolonged Grief Disorder / Widowhood
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Four Years Faithful
This blog is four years old today—born out of one of the darkest valleys of my life. If these birth-pangs were measurable, they’d certainly be a 10 on the Richter […]
Devotional / Grief / Grief Support / Widowhood
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Mercy Met Me There
Four years ago, today, I stood in a hospital corridor, begging God for the life of this man. There are no words sufficient to describe what my whole being was […]
cancer / Child Loss / devotional / faith / Grief / Grief Support / Widowhood / Womanhood
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Irreparably Broken
Do you feel irreparably broken? A few minutes of watching the news or scrolling social media reminds me that I don’t hold a monopoly on brokenness. There is pain, devastation […]
devotional / faith / Grief / Grief Support / Surrender / Waiting / Widowhood
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When Will You Surrender?
Two years ago, I’m sitting on the third row, just before worship on a Sunday morning—pretty discouraged and praying for clarity—when God hits me between the eyes with this question: […]
cancer / Child Loss / devotional / faith / Grief / Grief Support / Trauma / Widowhood
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When Grief Rocks Your Faith
Profound grief has a way of bringing us face to face with what we actually believe about God. Often, we are surprised by our own doubt. We wrestle with the […]
child loss / Grief / Grief Support / Trauma / Widowhood
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Go Ahead and Scream
The year our daughter died, I had to stop watching the news. I remember every time there was a big news story about a tragedy, I could hardly keep the […]
Grief Support / Widowhood
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Early Retirement: Why Does God Allow Good Men to Die Young?
Just a few weeks after my husband’s funeral, a young friend stopped by the church to see me. She wondered why God would allow a godly man’s life to be […]