Learning to Grieve Your Losses in Spiritual Formation
What have you lost? Have you learned to grieve your losses? We might not like to think about that. We…
grief
How to Live Well Even in the Face of Unfulfilled Longings
Perhaps some days start out good. You slept well, the sunrise is lovely, and your coffee tastes great. But sooner…
5 Ways to Befriend Your Feelings as a Follower of Jesus
Feelings are fickle. They’re real, but they’re unreliable. Emotions can be affected by everything happening both inside you and around…
3 Steps to Loving Others When They Don’t Love You
Every human being needs love. And sometimes we get love from others, and sometimes we don’t. In spite of that,…
Broken Creche, Broken Heart at Christmas
The little olivewood creche was special to me ever since I had purchased it at a little tourist shop in…
Is It OK to Ask WHY?
For as long as human beings have tried to survive in a sinful world they have asked WHY. The problem…
10 Scriptures for the Journey Through Grief
Death hurts. A lot! The testimony of Scripture and of Christians during the last 2000+ years is that believing in…
Finishing Your Marriage Without Regrets
Marriage is for our benefit here on earth. Marriage can sometimes seem endless and tedious, but it is temporary. And…
The Christian’s Journey Through Grief
** My new book The Christian’s Journey Through Grief is to be released next week, May 7, 2019, and it’s…
What I’ve Learned from Being Single – Again
Being single again often seems harder. As difficult as navigating singleness as a never-married young (or not-so-young) person can be,…
Holiday Blues: Coping with Depression and Loneliness This Season
Perhaps you’re too young to remember Elvis’s Blue Christmas, but you may find yourself fighting a serious case of the…
How to Receive Healing from God
We all need to receive healing from God. (And if you believe you’re the exception, you need an extra special…
No Fear of Death: Fearlessness as a Spiritual Weapon
Fear of death is perhaps the biggest fear of all. And losing the fear of death brings wonderful freedom and…
A Widow’s First Year Alone
In some sense “widow’s first year alone” is deeply false. I’m not really alone. I never have been, and I…
What to do with Pain as a Widow: 2 Critical Keys
There’s no way to make death and grief OK. Death is an aberration in God’s universe, and every time we…
Why you SHOULD Sweat the Small Stuff
It’s probably happened to you. Your life is going along relatively OK. There are bumps in the road, but you’re…
When You Can’t Let Go after Your Spouse Leaves
Marriage is supposed to be forever! When you said “I do” you looked forward to joining your lives, building your…
Facing Grief at Easter
Today is Good Friday. Sunday is Easter. Is there a more important weekend in all of Christianity? The death, burial,…
Declaring the Death of Death
This weekend we laid my wonderful husband Al Tanksley to rest. Although my heart is broken, my spirit is determined…
Keys to Finding Life After Infertility
You’ve spent months – no, YEARS – trying to have a baby. You’ve tracked your cycles, had sex on demand,…
The Ministry of Presence: Being There
Sometimes you can tell somebody what they need to know. That feels good. Sometimes you can fix things for them.…
7 Things to Do If You’re Sad
Have you ever cried so hard and so long you thought it would never end? Or have you become so…
How God Can Heal Your Lonely Heart
You’re single, with no good prospects in sight. You’re lonely, and you want to do things God’s way. You long for someone to love, and to love you. So why isn’t God coming through with a spouse for you?
You’ve heard people talk about God meeting your heart’s needs, and intellectually you believe He can. But you’re lonely. Right now you want a God with “skin on.”
When You Dread the Holidays
I have a friend who dreads this time of year. Come each November 15, he wishes he could fast-forward to January 2. The stress, the rush, the shopping, the expectations – he hates it all. And most of all, he hates being lonely.
There are a number of reasons why you might not look forward to Thanksgiving, Christmas, New Year’s. Holidays make our normal vulnerabilities more apparent.
If that’s you, there’s one important thing you must do this holiday season.
How A Christian Faces Trouble and Tragedy
We live in a world where there is no shortage of trouble. And that trouble often presents a great challenge to our faith.
Perhaps it’s a natural disaster. Then there is the almost unspeakable violence both near and far. Or perhaps it is your own private trauma. When trouble happens, it’s normal to ask questions: Why me?
In the face of unexpected tragedy, the challenge to faith is real. When trouble comes, here are three things to do:
Single: When You Live Alone
The rates of marriage may be going down in our society. But for most, you expect to grow up, find a man or woman to join your life with, create a family, and live happily ever after. Your mental life plan, conscious or unconscious, probably did not include being single.
At least for some, marriage will never happen. And then the truth is that marriage is temporary. Every marriage has an end. Your spouse dies, or your marriage ends in divorce, and you face being single again. Whether never married or newly single, the single life has special challenges.
Being single is not just a prelude to being married. Go ahead and enjoy life, and take God with you on the journey.
When It’s Time to Say Goodbye
Losing a loved one in death is one of life’s most difficult experiences. It’s something each one of us either already has or someday will go through. Knowing it will happen does not make it any less painful.
The journey of grief is just that – a journey.
Pain at Christmas
Christmas is a time for joy. Christmas is a time for joy.
May I remind you of something we often forget: The very first Christmas was one of great pain.
