We’ve forgotten how to listenHow to sit and just be silentWe’re too quick to leap to answersOr to find someone to blame We worship God on SundaysAnd claim to follow HimAnd yet our words written In places we think unseenMake others into enemiesAnd share hate instead of love We need to seek out othersWho are different... Continue Reading →
But I’ve also noticed some whose lack of understanding of depression and anxiety heaps coal on the burning pain of those who experience them. Again, I think you are good intentioned, wanting people to be able to feel as light and free as you do because of what you see as hope in Christ. You can’t imagine how people could experience such low feelings if they know Christ, have faith and have their thoughts focused on Him.
♪♪ God only knows what I’d be without you – Beach Boys♪♪ Those who knew my brother Chris knew how much he loved The Beach Boys and how much he cared for the environment. Today is Earth Day and in two days, it will be fifteen years since my Chris died. As I think... Continue Reading →
I’ve always been really good at compartmentalizing. As a child, I learned to tuck all of my problems neatly into a box and focus on schoolwork. My brother might be in the hospital or my dad in rehab, but I had homework to do. And that, that I could control. That I could do.... Continue Reading →
Turning Points: Come Follow Me
I think there are key turning points in our lives. Times when we are headed one direction, but just like that, our sail is shifted. These moments can be good or bad, happy or sad, or even both. But they leave us changed forever. For Peter and Andrew, this moment happened in an ordinary day... Continue Reading →
Junk Drawers
So, I spent time in my head, trying to retrieve memories from my childhood and young adulthood. In doing so, I realized how much I never really processed. Instead, it’s like I shoved things into a junk drawer to sort out later but never got back to it. And so, I now have a junk room. We often think of doing this with the painful memories, but what I’m learning is that sometimes the beautiful memories get shoved in there too.
But me, I think I’m a questioner through and through. I am resistant to external imposed structure and rules until I can make sense of them internally. My grandfather used to lovingly call me contrary Mary because I would argue with him so much. I don’t even remember what about, well, except maybe at times his sexist comments.
Elijah didn’t hesitate to tell God how he felt. He wanted to die and said so. He was done. It was all too much. Have you ever felt like Elijah? I know I have. Though I’ve never had someone threatening to kill me, I’ve had hard seasons where things feel like too much. And I can choose to put on a smile and pretend I’m okay. Or I can say, “I have had enough, Lord.”
Distractions. How do we handle them? One of my favorite things about going to Bikram yoga are the little life lessons I learn along the way. Today I was reminded of one I learned a long time ago about distractions. During the hour and a half in a very hot room, there are likely hundreds... Continue Reading →
