Are you going through a hard season where you’ve been hurt by life? Some mornings you struggle just to get out of bed, do the next thing, keep pushing forward. Sometimes it seems like it would be...
The church is in the center of a small town, the kind that’s a combination of boarded up windows and cute boutiques selling soap with ribbons around it or antiques repainted turquoise. The foyer...
In my early twenties I sat in a counselor's office and first heard these words, "You have depression and anxiety." Relief flooded through me. There was a name for my struggles? Help for what I...
Sometimes I feel myself growing bitter about an unexpected situation, especially when I don’t know how it’s going to turn out. In those moments, it helps me to remember the story of Naomi, a woman...
Toward the end of college I met a blond-haired boy named Mark. One evening as he walked me home we paused for a moment under starry skies. I mentioned being cold and he opened his jacket to let me...
A friend and I manage to find a quiet corner in the middle of a holiday celebration. We share a quick hug and then I ask about a recent loss in her life. She shrugs her shoulders then leans in to...
The average woman is born with two million eggs, a staggering number when you consider each one has the potential to become a human being with freckles and eyelashes, elbows and knee caps. A...
I stand in front of the mirror and ask my reflection, “How could you have done that?” I think back to an incident yesterday where I was not at my best. As much as I want to, I can’t take back the...
I pull into a hospital parking lot on a cool fall morning. Leaves crunch beneath my feet as I walk to the entrance. I find “Intensive Care Waiting Room” on the directory, ride an elevator, and find...
She sits on the couch in my counseling office and pulls at a stray thread as she talks. She tells me how life has been hard lately. She recently lost her job. The doctor found a suspicious lump. A...