Tag: Hope
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Help
The Our Daily Bread devotional for this past Tuesday was called “Asking for God’s Help.” The author talked about how when she was young, she felt like she shouldn’t ask for God’s help for small things. It felt petty and selfish. There were lots of people with big problems that needed God’s attention. I have…
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Sting
1 Corinthians 15:55 says: O death, where is thy sting? O grave, where is thy victory? We as Christ believers carry eternity in our souls. We know there is victory in Jesus. Our reward is not in this world; it’s in Heaven. What glorious knowledge to carry in our hearts and minds that we have…
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Celebrate
I’ve written before about “grief seasons.” Bereaved parents often experience a period each year where their grief is especially strong because of recurring triggers within that timeframe. Most of these triggers are self-evident: your child’s birthday, death date, holidays, etc. Grief seasons aren’t limited to child loss, of course. There are similar triggers associated with…
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Trouble
In the Our Daily Bread devotional for October 7th, Arthur Jackson talks about something Oswald Chambers wrote at the beginning of WWI. He references John 16:33 where Jesus warns his disciples of the “inevitability of peril.” Bad things will happen. Christ was specifically warning them about his upcoming arrest and crucifixion as well as the…
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Well Done
A sweet friend lost her brother unexpectedly last week. I attended his funeral yesterday. It’s been 8 ½ years since my younger daughter died, and I have attended at least five funerals in that interim. My heart still mourns for all the lost loved ones, but I’m mostly past being emotionally triggered at memorial services.…
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Good People
Every week when I sit down to write my blog post, I start with a prayer. Specifically, Psalm 19:14: May the words of my mouth and the meditations of my heart be acceptable in your sight, O Lord, my strength and my redeemer. I love to write. Putting words on paper helps me untangle my…
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The Thing With Feathers
There’s a famous poem by Emily Dickinson called “Hope is the Thing With Feathers”. The first verse says: “Hope” is the thing with feathersThat perches in the soulAnd sings the tune without wordsAnd never stops at all It’s a beautiful metaphor in that it implies that we can carry hope with us always. It is…
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What’s In Your Pocket? (redux)
Today is September 1st. Labor Day. It’s also my dad’s birthday. He would be 95 if he were alive today. I originally wrote this for a writing critique group I belonged to and then posted it in 2022 when I first started my blog. My dad set an example for me of what “good grieving”…
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What’s the Plan?
A Bible verse that is quoted frequently is Jeremiah 29:11: “For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the Lord, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.” Taken out of context this verse can feel like a feather pillow or a stumbling block. We can take…
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Triggers
Last week I talked about grief triggers and how pictures especially can trigger tears. Both pictures with my daughter in them and ones taken since her death can stab my heart and make me smile at the same time. The last pictures I have of Rachel were taken at her wedding. She died in a…
A Light for My Path 