• eternal
    Abundant Life,  Holy Spirit,  soul,  Spirit

    Start Living Your Eternal Life

    The Lord recently gave me a picture of the eternal in a prayer time. I like to picture myself standing with Him in a shallow river. I gradually give Him my burdens which I carry in baskets on my back and He, in turn, sends them down the river. But this time, the river looked very different. The water was deeper, darker and flowed much faster. While I could see to the other shore, it lay much further away than my little prayer river. Jesus was larger, too.  He sat in the river and though His legs were bent, they reached clear over to the other side. He beckoned, so…

  • suffering
    Abundant Life,  Dark Night of the Soul,  Encouragement,  Spiritual Maturity

    How to Make Meaning out of Suffering

    Suffering without meaning is the hardest kind of agony to bear. Humans will put themselves through all sorts of torture, endure any kind of hell if only some meaning is attached to it. Parents whose children are killed by random gunmen or drunk drivers begin awareness campaigns. The thought that their children’s brief lives and sudden deaths held no meaning is the cross that is too hard to bear. Others of us begin to tell our stories, justifying the horrors faced by the hopeful thought that perhaps we can prevent even just one from going down the dead end we did.  Or we frame our errors with inspirational quotes about…

  • woman in an empty room
    Adversity,  Setback

    How to Face a Devastating Setback and Thrive

    I wish I knew when a setback was headed my way.  That way I could have time to prepare myself, somehow ward off the worst of its effects. But wishful thinking and looking into the future don’t really help in coping with a setback, particularly one that affects major areas of your life. I often read articles and studies dealing with stress and the consequences it can have on our minds and bodies. Apparently learning to cope with stress is an important life skill if you want to live past fifty. I often think of Job during a serious setback. Moses had some pretty awful ones as did many others…