Valentine’s Day is approaching, and it is easy to hyper-focus onto romantic love at this time of year. Do we have it? Do we not? We celebrate with single girlfriends or romantic partners, or we hide at home avoiding the day. This is so much smaller than God’s view of love. Consider these verses from … Continue reading Finding love in 1 John
Humans want to be happy. We want the people we love to be happy. Of course, we know that this will not always happen, that hardship will come. But it is a particularly hard thing to watch your loved one struggle with depression. Unfortunately, your love cannot “cure” their depression. It is unlikely that you … Continue reading Dealing with your loved one’s depression
Even though our world is more and more connected, individual people consistently report feeling more and more lonely. We don’t like it, but we all feel it. At least sometimes. There are many reasons why the struggle with loneliness has grown. We work remotely, fill our schedules to the gills, and zone out for hours … Continue reading No one likes to feel lonely
Hangnails are not the most painful or distressing part of life. There are much bigger and more painful problems around each of us. But consider with me the power of a small, regularly occurring annoyance in life… like a hangnail. Perhaps a bigger example: I have a colleague who worked with a couple in marriage … Continue reading There won’t be any hangnails in heaven
It's dark. It's cold. It's rainy. It is very normal at this time of year to find yourself feeling a little down in the dumps. Of course, there is a large spectrum between “feeling down” and “clinical depression.” But neither one is fun! With the seasonal change toward wintertime comes a natural down-turn in our … Continue reading Fighting back against the seasonal blues
I don’t like to be in pain. Be it physical, emotional, spiritual - I dislike the experience of pain. I know that pain can bring positive end results… and so I exercise even when I don’t feel like it. But pain is not a fun experience. Let me guess: You know what I’m talking about. … Continue reading Yes, God brought me this trial
Over the past month, we’ve looked at the reality of life’s setbacks and detours and taken encouragement from the fact that God’s plans are bigger than our plans. But one of the other reasons why we experience setbacks in life is not quite as encouraging. Sometimes, our heartaches and struggles are simply part of the experience of … Continue reading Handling the heartache of a broken world
We all know the “correct” answer here. Isaiah 55 answers this question directly: “As the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts.” So why do I live as if my plans are better than the Lord’s plans? As we looked at in … Continue reading Are my plans really better than the Lord’s plans?
We think that when we give our lives to Christ, we can now expect smoother sailing through the ups and downs of life. We look at social media and think that we’re the only family who is struggling with a difficult season. But in reality, all of us experience setbacks or detours in the life … Continue reading Why doesn’t life go as planned?
I don’t know about you, but there are days when I find myself feeling quite… impatient. It’s probably more accurate to say there are hours (upon hours) when impatience threatens to take over. Patience is often something we pray for, but do we take the time to work toward developing it? Here are 5 key … Continue reading Five key steps to developing more patience