Good morning... How do we live through excruciating pain? We turn to Luke 22:41-45 (NIV) to discover a pathway. How did Jesus live through his darkest hours? 1) He withdrew a stone's throw beyond even his inner circle friends. We too give ourselves permission to withdraw, to separate, to take space away from even those we love the most. [...]
“I don’t believe God caused my cancer; I believe He has allowed it,” she said. “Cancer has become a part of God’s plan for my life.” At peace, she trusts God. 21) Jesus’ Pathway Through Pain How do we live through excruciating pain? We turn to Luke 22:41-45 (NIV) to discover a pathway. How did Jesus live through [...]
Good morning... I enjoy periodic movie nights with my close friend. Last month we saw Manchester by the Sea and last night we experienced Moonlight. Both movies are heavy and heartbreaking, painful and poignant, raw and redemptive. After each movie, my friend and I talked for hours, untangling jumbled thoughts, expressing myriad emotions, connecting insightful dots. "The purpose of [...]
Good morning... If you knew your close friend would betray you by evening's end, would you sit down beside him and share a meal? If you knew this would be your final dinner, would you willingly pull up a chair and relax into your seat? If you knew this celebration would lead to your death, would you show up [...]
Good morning... "Keep your eyes on Jesus, who both began and finished this race we’re in," says Hebrews 12:2 in the Message translation. "Study how he did it. Because he never lost sight of where he was headed—that exhilarating finish in and with God—he could put up with anything along the way: Cross, shame, whatever. And now he’s there, [...]
Good morning... When I was a kid, we played in our neighborhood from after school until the dinner bell rang. One of my favorite childhood games was Red Rover. When we played Red Rover, we would pick two teams from our collection of buddies, we would stretch out in two lines, hand-in-hand, facing one another from about twenty feet [...]
Good morning... "For the joy set before him (Jesus) endured the cross," explains Hebrews 12:2b (NIV). This is a good thing to remember as we walk into Lent. We all have different crosses to bear. The cross of grieving a loved one who has left this earth. The cross of a scary diagnosis and its various treatment options. The [...]
Good morning... Prayerfully reflecting on our intimate conversation, God exposed my own fearful coping mechanism. In the face of tearful, grieving pain, I talked too much. I took up too much space in the room. Stuck in my head, I rambled on. An excessive amount of words poured out of my mouth, as I tried to explain God's big [...]
Good morning... Though our eyes have never met, our souls are shaped similarly. Inspired by the Holy Spirit, she sent me a quote from Jacksonville, Florida. She could not have known that, just minutes before, the class in my living room had read aloud the following quote from our book for the semester. "It is relatively easy to meet [...]
Monday was a dud of a day for me. It began with me feeling self-consciously down after a phone call that activated the critics in my head. It continued with news of another teen suicide, a sudden death of a beloved father, and an awareness that hard anniversaries for grieving friends are just around the corner. Then unrest in [...]
