I was overwhelmed. I can remember those feelings every year – trying to be strong and to navigate everything while feeling so emotionally and physically weak. And this year is no different. Except that, despite all of my could be’s and should be’s from the past week, I am reminded, kindly, gently, by a Father who has never been anything but loving and trustworthy and good to me, that He is.
Tag Archives: Series
In the Raw – What Could Have Been
A particularly trying day with my kids on Sunday left me thinking a lot about those things. The two hours spent getting everyone dressed and out the door for, and then sitting through, church leave me feeling steamrolled, and maybe it was because of the girls’ upcoming birthday, but on that particular day, I spent a lot of time wondering if I could have managed if my twins were with us. And if they were, would we still have our sweet youngest daughter? If things are difficult and I feel overwhelmed with four, am I glad that I don’t have two more? Did God know I couldn’t handle it?
In the Raw – Worth It
Whatever it takes to save them, we said, it will be worth it. We will do it.
But Fiona’s heart was no longer beating the day after the surgery, and suddenly our world came crashing down around us.
We’d wanted four children, but not like this. Not five minus one.
In the Raw – Comfort From My Father
I remembered that He refines us by fire, and that when a refiner is working with precious metals, making them pure and perfecting them, he holds them in the fire just until he can see his own reflection and all the impurities are burned away – not for a moment longer. And then, he takes them out. But he doesn’t just leave them. He molds them into something special.
In the Raw – Grieving Other Losses
There are so many facets to our losses that it is no wonder that our grief can spiral back and catch us off guard sometimes, rearing its ugly head and reducing us to tears at different times throughout the year. Years.
In the Raw – How many kids do you have?
Any parent who has lost a child knows how painful this seemingly benign question can be.
To most people doing the asking it’s just a way to make small talk. Just getting to know you a little bit more. They have no idea about the internalized chain reaction of thoughts and decisions they set off by asking this.
The Seventh Sword of Sorrow – The Burial of Jesus
They took the body of Jesus and wrapped it with the spices in linen cloths, according to the burial custom of the Jews. Now there was a garden in the place where he was crucified, and in the garden there was a new tomb in which no one had ever been laid. And so, becauseContinue reading “The Seventh Sword of Sorrow – The Burial of Jesus”
The Sixth Sword of Sorrow – Receiving the Body of Jesus Taken Down from the Cross
Have you ever accompanied a loved one through their suffering? Whether it is a physical illness, the pain of addiction, or an emotional trauma, bearing witness to the suffering of another is a very difficult thing to do, and the closer the relationship we have with them, the more painful it is.
To understand the intensity of the suffering this sword caused our Blessed Mother, we must first understand how much love she had for her Son.
The Fifth Sword of Sorrow – The Death of Jesus
Have you ever accompanied a loved one through their suffering? Whether it is a physical illness, the pain of addiction, or an emotional trauma, bearing witness to the suffering of another is a very difficult thing to do, and the closer the relationship we have with them, the more painful it is.
To understand the intensity of the suffering this sword caused our Blessed Mother, we must first understand how much love she had for her Son.
The Fourth Sword of Sorrow – Meeting Jesus on the Road to Calvary
Have you ever accompanied a loved one through their suffering? Whether it is a physical illness, the pain of addiction, or an emotional trauma, bearing witness to the suffering of another is a very difficult thing to do, and the closer the relationship we have with them, the more painful it is.
To understand the intensity of the suffering this sword caused our Blessed Mother, we must first understand how much love she had for her Son.