Managing Negative Emotions: Some Tips

October 26, 2017.Reading time 8 minutes.

I am a deep feeler. Of the whole spectrum of emotions. Happiness, as well as loneliness, regret, and fear. My effectiveness in dealing with the negative emotions has been mixed over the years, but I’ve recently gained some clarity about this area that I would like to pass on. This list is by no means […]

Some Lessons From the Middle of the Process

July 19, 2017.Reading time 9 minutes.

I haven’t been blogging much the past month because I’ve been doing a lot of personal processing. A lot. My thoughts, beliefs, hopes, fears, insights, and regrets have been tangled together like a giant knot that is slowly loosening. And from that mess, I didn’t feel I had anything to share. I’m still in the […]

Pretending to be Strong

May 10, 2017.Reading time 4 minutes.

Sometimes I lie to myself and pretend I am strong. I pretend I am capable of taking care of myself, that I know what I need and am capable of obtaining it. I think it’s a survival instinct most of us fall back on. When we are hurt or disappointed, when situations collapse and people […]

Learning to Love Myself

March 9, 2017.Reading time 6 minutes.

Recently I had an unexpected epiphany: I realized I needed to forgive myself. As a Christian, forgiveness seems like a pretty basic concept. God forgave us, so we must forgive others. We need to let go of offense, get rid of bitterness, and release to others the grace we have been shown. It’s one of those deceptively simple Sunday […]

Death Defeated

May 29, 2015.Reading time 7 minutes.

There is one particular moment that stands out from my church retreat experience last weekend: falling to the ground weeping at a single song lyric: Death is defeated Just moments before, I had stood for an altar call to release disappointment, and deep disappointment had surfaced about my grandmother’s passing back in December. It wasn’t just disappointment that God never physically healed her from […]

Grieving

December 10, 2014.Reading time 4 minutes.

I guess this is what grieving is like.

Missing her laugh and her cooking and her sense of humor. Remembering her inner strength and all the important things she taught me. Wishing I could have somehow communicated to her that even though I am all the way over here and she was all the way over there, I never forgot her for a second…