Can anything good come out of that time, place, or person? Only if we take a risk and explore. We are invited to ‘come and see.’ I was raised on a farm near a small town called Wellsford. In fact, my ancestors settled there in the 1860s, migrating from England. […]
Faith & Mental Health
133 posts
Criticism can hurt, bruise, and extinguish our hearts, but learning how to handle criticism can build new strength and resilience. I could see the hope drain out of him as I watched both the subtle and not-so-subtle criticisms land upon him. I was in a meeting with a guy I […]
We can all carry too many worries, anxieties, and cares, but when we learn how to cast, we can find a new sense of wholeness, peace, and shalom. “That is a lot you are carrying,” I said as they paused and took a breath. So many worries, thoughts, and distractions […]
We can have an overreaction to life’s events, but when we search out what’s behind the reaction, we often find history-based pain. Let’s help the prickly pear. It was a reaction I wasn’t expecting. I had made a few jokes, and their response wasn’t to have a simple laugh with […]
Being kind to yourself means noticing the inner critic that tells you “you’re not enough” or “you should try harder” — and choosing rest and grace instead of pushing harder. It’s not self-indulgence; it’s recognizing your human limits and trusting that you don’t have to earn your worth. Rest, understood […]
We can become so loaded down with religion that our faith makes us unwell, but Jesus can make us well when we reach out for the fringe. They were loaded down. You couldn’t see it, but as you listened, you could hear and feel it. It was a load of […]
Quick answer: A “shadow” is any unresolved pain from your past — a hurtful parent, an old shame, a generational pattern — that quietly warps how you see yourself and God today. You begin to remove it by turning to look directly at what’s causing it, naming it honestly, and […]
Words have power. Self-deprecation is to pray against the self, but we can learn to pray for the self and so develop healthier thinking patterns. It was the words at the end of his sentence that caught my attention. ‘I’m so stupid; I always do things like that’. You […]
We think our lives have a strength to them, but remove a few Jenga pegs, experience a shock, and we can easily topple to the stress. So we build with each other and find new resilience. A couple of mornings ago, my son said “Nice Jenga Dad.” I was puzzled […]
When chaos comes, or we become aware of the mess we are in, we have choices to make. Charge at it, retreat from it, or engage in the mystery. All the nicely laid out plans had been turned upside down. I had a recipe for life, and now all the […]