I stand silently to listen for the One I love, waiting as long as it takes for the Lord to rescue me, For God alone has become my Savior (Psalm 62:1, Passion translation). Little by little, my soul slips downward, toward the pit. I could list specific events, but suffice it to say it is … Continue reading Being Still Helps Me Fight Depression
As I pulled into the parking lot on Harrisburg’s City Island, my stomach quick-dropped like an elevator in a city skyscraper. Numerous rows of cars. Instead of searching a spot to fit in, I went to the far edge. I needed a moment. Lord, I sense heaviness. I am here to be Your light, but … Continue reading #OutoftheDarknesswalk #StopSuicide
He has made everything beautiful in its time. He has also set eternity in the human heart, yet no one can fathom what God has done from the beginning to end (Ecclesiastes 3:11). This verse in Ecclesiastes proclaims His way, already done: He has made ALL things beautiful in its time. ALL things … the … Continue reading When Alcohol Rules Your Heart
Are you familiar with that sense of your world widening? I once heard a speaker ask an entire room full of people, “Do you feel like you are pregnant? That something big is about to take place?” The metaphor of pregnant is not one I choose to align myself with … for more reasons than … Continue reading God is Opening Doors!
Grief stalked me for years. The counselors called it ‘complicated grief’ with an underlying depression. Triggers? The anniversary of her death and Christmas. My mom died 27 years ago today. I have now lived over half my life without her. Any of you who believe Hope in Our Jesus can hazard a guess at why … Continue reading Make Heaven Count
Our Western culture “celebrates” BIG attention-seeking drama. The media has it down, right? Blasting widows fresh in their mourning. As a police wife, I see this image all too often. Each time I pray; each time my heart longs for the woman to experience the sacred in her husband’s passing. And social media? The more … Continue reading Summer Depression Part 2 of 2
Is depression different in the summer for you? I don’t expect to slip in the summer when the sun radiates fourteen hours a day. Less pressure without time crunches. Such the slower pace. No school alarms or lunches to make. Schedule goes by natural hunger instead of forced sports practices and empty stomachs returning from … Continue reading Summer Depression, Part 1 of 2
It is daunting to be authentic. To remove the mask, the one that tells the world you are more than OK … you are organized, passionate, loving and successful at all times. To remove the mask is scary. It means admitting you are not perfect. But wait a minute, everyone knows you are not perfect. … Continue reading When You Want to Be Real: Removing the Mask
Alcohol is a mirage in the middle of a desert. It calls you by name, beckons your thirst. You dismiss the thought of Living water to satisfy. Alcohol draws you closer to meeting the need deep inside … the one that has no name but means everything. Years of empty. Alcohol promises to fill. Lonely. … Continue reading Another Summer Sober
When your mom’s gone That grief that overcomes And washes through Your only mom She had a way of seeing you Seeing you In your darkest days Swimming through seas of shame She knew secrets you didn’t know Your mama, that one of long ago The mama who cradled you Now gathers round His throne … Continue reading A Story of Mom-Grief: Spoken Word Poetry
