Can You Pray For Me

Can You Pray For Me?

Can you pray for me? How do you respond when someone asks you to pray? I often get requests for me to pray, but I am often not sure what to pray for. Sometimes the need is very clear, but at other times it is vague. They want me to […]

Is This Punishment from God

Is This Punishment from God?

I haven’t lived a perfect life and I wonder if my problems are punishment from God, but maybe I don’t know the whole story and that God is overflowingly full of grace and mercy. They wanted retribution. Payback. A desire for revenge coursed through their veins for what had happened […]

You Can't Make It On Your Own

You Can’t Make It On Your Own

We think we can do it all, manage life ourselves, but you simply can’t. You discover you can’t make it on your own. They were told by their closest companion that they should not need others to affirm them. That they should be able to do it themselves. They should […]

The Beauty of an Empowering Question

The Beauty of an Empowering Question

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 […]

The Plans God Has For You

The Plans God Has For You

Midst the struggle you wonder about the plans God has for you. I thought it was all about prosperity, but this is far from that.  Some things don’t make sense. It wasn’t meant to be like this. I didn’t see this as my future. How did I get here? Questions […]

When No One Understands You. 11 Reasons

When No One Understands You. 11 Reasons

When no one understands you, it can create a deep sense of loneliness. Perhaps there are reasons for the lack of being known. Forgive them anyway. They were carrying something precious. Their inner world. Thoughts, feelings, motivations, desires, pains, and joys. Everything that goes on within their life and sometimes […]

Coping with Ambiguous Loss by Estrangement

Coping with Ambiguous Loss by Estrangement

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 […]

What is emotional pain

What is Emotional Pain?

It’s a long way from there to there. Stuck in the middle, we have emotional pain, but we can also have presence. A comfort to the pain of now. They wanted some relief. It wasn’t so much the highs and lows of a roller coaster; it was more like dragging […]

but trouble comes

But Trouble Comes 

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 […]

And It Just So Happened

And It Just So Happened

 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 brokenness, […]