Sometimes God gives us a neon billboard. This past Sunday, I had to give my very good dog, Buddy, back to Jesus. Buddy was old. He had serious health conditions and much pain. It was a heartbreaking decision and a time of deep grief for me. He was ours for a short time, just five…
I wonder if you are like me at Christmas-time? Because of trauma and broken family traditions and feelings of sadness, I struggle every year to put up the Christmas tree. I have endless conversations inside my head about the reasons why I don’t feel like getting the tree out of its box in the…
It’s that time of the year again….time to tighten up our Happy Face masks and pretend like everything is fine and hunky dory and nothing to see over here…. Christmas is supposed to be the time of comfort and joy, and no doubt we are so very thankful for the goodness of God to send…
“Hurry, hurry, hurry,” Little Wife whispered to herself. With just two days left before Christmas, Little Wife was in a terrible bind. She wanted to buy the perfect gift for Big Man, but the stores were all out of the popular tech gifts, the 3X buffalo plaid flannel shirts, his favorite vinyls and vintage whiskey. …
We have so very much to be thankful for, even in our darkest hours of despair. When we face heartbreak and regret, pain, sickness and sorrows, the devastation of our families, the endless fear factoring of the media, the financial woes and unknowns of these days, we can follow the wisdom of the saints who’ve…
There is much chatter today about the Narcissistic Personality Disorder and how it impacts the family, especially concerning domestic abuse. In a nutshell, these people have “an excessive degree of self-esteem which can be considered a form of emotional immaturity. They are often a danger to the mental health of those around them, due to…
Imagine if you will, the consequences for sins against children. Jesus told his disciples in the Gospel of Luke 17:2, “It would be better for him if a millstone were hung around his neck and he were cast into the sea than that he should cause one of these little ones to sin.” Drowning by…
Some people LOVE roller coasters. They stand in long lines waiting to climb aboard. They crave the thrill of the ride –the anticipation as the car climbs that first long hill, the adrenaline rush as they reach the top of the track and then that racing straight down feeling, everything out of control and crazy….
As I was thinking this morning about Hope, I remembered that dear old poem by dear old Emily Dickinson: “Hope is the thing with feathers That perches in the soul, And sings the tune without the words, And never stops at all. And sweetest in the gale is heard; And sore must be the storm…
Hurricane Ian is coming ashore in Florida as I write this post. I am praying for several people, loved ones in the Ft. Myers area who are already seeing the record-breaking storm surge and hearing the nightmarish screaming winds. I pray the Lord will bless them and keep them safe today and tomorrow and in…