Theology of Suffering
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Three Ways to Walk With those Who Grieve
Last week I had a conversation with three different women who are doing the hard and holy work of walking with friends who are in the early stages of grief after loss. It’s such a difficult and sensitive space to step into; one that requires discerning care. Each of these women expressed a desire to… Continue reading
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10 Things That Are Different Than What I Expected
Originally posted February 25, 2025 As I continue to walk this unexpected, undesired road of loss, there continue to be things I simply did not understand or expect. I have written previously about things I thought I knew that I simply did not know; or at least I did not understand it to the depth… Continue reading
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Four Years
Today marks the close of four years. Four years of life without Ezra. Four years of learning to live after devastating loss. I know the Bible says that, “with the Lord, one day is as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day,” but for this mom who still walks the earth, I… Continue reading
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The Cyclical Nature of Grief
I find my heart is in a very sensitive space these days. Next week will close out 4 years now without Ezra. As I stepped into September, I felt a heaviness settling in; a sense of tender grief stirring once again. Grief is strange because in many ways, not only do you grieve what was… Continue reading
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Healing Is A Process
The end of this month, September 29, will mark the close of four years now without Ezra. In many ways, four years feels accurate. In other ways, it feels surreal, like it’s been half that time. I wrote last week about what healing has looked like for me; that although it has no metric, there… Continue reading
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There Is No Metric for Healing
After my post last week about my own healing which came rather quietly, I had someone reach out and ask what healing has looked like for me. I appreciated the question. It provided the opportunity for some introspection; what does it mean to actually heal after loss? It’s challenging to consider because healing doesn’t always… Continue reading
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Healing Came Quietly
When we first lost our 18 year old son to cancer, the grief was so acute, so intense, I was unsure I would ever heal. I could not fathom a day when the pain did not feel crushing. I could not grasp a time would come where I did not feel overwhelmed with sorrow. Those… Continue reading
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We Raise Them to Leave
We leave today to drop our middle-born son off at college. Although we have launched kids before him, there is a tender grief that arrives with each exit; a sort of reckoning that comes with the end of an era. When I first began having children, I did not consider the goal of mothering was… Continue reading
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When God’s Plans Seem Inconsistent With His Promises
I recently interacted with someone who has walked away from their faith. They have endured a long season of pain and suffering and the God they thought they knew did not respond how they had hoped. This time of testing and their disappointment over what God allowed has caused their heart toward him to harden.… Continue reading
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Drought Training
I love when God gives us real life pictures of how he often interacts with his children, training us in dependence and resilience. While there is not always a one-to-one correlation in every aspect, there are things we can glean from nature that remind us that we have a good Father, at work in our… Continue reading