It can feel very lonely when we don’t experience love. A sense of abandonment. To know that ‘I am loved’ is like the permanent embrace of presence. To be loved and know it deeply is, I think, the quest of every heart. According to early Church writer Paul, it is […]
Mental health
When the receiving of love has strings attached, then is it really love? Love is a Gift With no Strings Attached. In many of the gardens i visit they have garden hoses and for the last few years many gardeners have been installing retractable hose reels. They are quite a […]
There are all sorts of people in this world, and there are also all sorts of balls. If you could describe yourself as a ball, what type of ball would you be? Wrecking ball to table tennis ball. I have vague memories of the first ball I ever had. […]
We place value on things such as beauty, strength, power and riches, but there is something more valuable. I want wisdom more than silver, gold, and rubies. I couldn’t believe it. I was doing some research for this post and found that there is a website where you can measure […]
It wasnt so much a closed door, it was more a Christmas rejection. There is no place for you here. I watched him as he told me he wasn’t going to his family’s Christmas party. He had felt a lot of rejection from his family and now he couldn’t […]
They make me feel … (add in your emotional extreme), but there is a space between stimulus and response. Use it. I was watching the news the other night and the first item was about a mother complaining about how a politician made her daughter feel. She claimed that the […]
It’s a broken world where we desperately need hope, but God is compassion, and so we get to live again. The other day I found some mouse droppings in my kitchen. Concerned about the hygiene of the kitchen, I set a trap. Peanut butter would be the temptation that […]
Sitting with shame can suffocate life, but sitting in solidarity with someone in soul talk can break its control. It’s there if you want to hear it. A sneaky, whispery voice from the past. You hear it in others. They may have said nothing directly to you, but it’s […]
It wasn’t random. It wasn’t chance. It wasn’t the roll of some celestial dice or the flip of a coin. Your creation was part of a work of art God has had in mind for all eternity. I know that’s hard to believe. It seems so vast, immeasurable, and beyond […]
I want to know, and because I want to know I will ask empowering questions. Ones that open up the treasure chest of the heart and mind. It felt more like an interrogation than an invitation. Questions poured out. Demanding, angry, harsh questions that sent me into a state of […]
I never saw it coming -the cataclysmic argument that triggered my adult son to estrange me three years ago. I might never see it end -the suffering of ambiguous loss of the relationship without closure. Coined by family therapist Pauline Boss, Ph.D., 40 years ago, ambiguous loss refers to unresolved […]
Trouble comes. It’s nothing new, but we have the assurance of others, so we hold on tight and ride our way through it. You can see it coming. You’re sailing along. Life seems to be going along ok, but out on the horizon, you can see a storm. You know […]
At times, it can seem like God isn’t with us, but God is there with, ‘and it just so happened’ moments to bring about a larger story going on. I often listen to people’s stories and wonder where God is in them. Often the stories tell of mess. There is […]
Turmoil – a state of unease, disquiet, and storm, but what if you weren’t alone in that drowning boat? We need a confidant to share the storm with. Often people say that life is like a rollercoaster ride. Ups and downs, highs and lows. But I think life is more […]
The tears start to form and flow, but who will wipe my tears? A soft and gentle hand comes with tenderness to the pain. I could feel them start to congregate right in the corners of my eyes. They were coming together, and I had no control over them. Soon […]
It’s a human experience to know the trauma of falling into the hands of robbers and thieves, but there is one who joins us in our ditch. I was robbed a few years ago. I had parked my truck in a parking lot and had gone into a shop to […]
Ever found yourself in a dark place? A simple state of sadness can throw you in such a place. At least l experience that often. I used to be depressed, severely depressed, the kind of state that makes it hard for facial muscles to react to other people’s joyful interaction. […]
Fear can be like a shadow creeping up and over you, but what do you fear the most? Understanding what you fear the most can bring assurance. It was a simple wire bridge on a confidence course. Not very high, the three-wire bridge was a challenge for some and not […]
Sighs and groans can come with such ease, but inhaling is also necessary. So we take note of our diet of breath. ‘That was a deep sigh,’ he said to me. I hadn’t noticed it, but he was right. I had let out a long deep sigh into the safety […]
You wake up and see a new day, but you didn’t want to wake up. So it’s a call to endure and go deep with God. They want the pain to end. The struggle of the journey has become too much. That’s the underlying theme of many of the emails […]