Category: hope

How’s your heart in this New Year?

  Here’s what I know about the New Year …. If your heart is beating, you have a purpose. It doesn’t matter if it’s a broken heart, grieving heart, sad heart, lonely heart, full heart…any kind of heart. If it’s beating, God has a plan for you and a purpose for each and every beat. Friend, …

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Yes, Your Suspicions Are True

  I know many of you have suspected this about me for quite some time. Certainly my husband has. But now it’s confirmed in black-and-white. I have a screw loose. In the interest of full disclosure, I must tell you that this is not an x-ray of my loose screw. There wasn’t time to get a copy …

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Navigating Life’s Storms

  So how are you feeling today? Happy? Frustrated? Overwhelmed? Popular psychology tells us that feelings are “neither right nor wrong.” But I want to tell you that feelings do not necessarily mirror the facts. I witnessed this firsthand a few years ago when my husband and I headed out with my boss, Dr. Marc …

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How God Transformed a Valley of Trouble into a Gateway of Hope

As I was reading in the book of Hosea about how God promised to “transform the Valley of Trouble into a gateway of hope,” I couldn’t help but think of my friend Lauren. His cancer journey has been an incredible roller coaster with hopes dashed one minute and unexpected new hopes found the next. I hope the …

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Are You Slamming the Door in God’s Face?

Over the years this quote from author Norman Cousins became a sort of rallying cry for my cancer support group members who were facing especially difficult circumstances. These are the kind of folks who realize shock and disbelief—although understandable reactions to a diagnosis—can’t really do anything to change the situation. So they decide to take the …

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Do you pray desperate prayers?

  Have you ever prayed a desperate prayer? You know, the kind where you cry out to God because there is absolutely nothing you can do to “fix” the situation? I’ve prayed plenty of those. I remember a time I was trying to get to the grocery store for some needed supplies before a snowstorm hit. …

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I Choose Joy!

“It’s quiet. It’s early. My coffee is hot. The sky is still black. The world is asleep. The day is coming. “In a few moments the day will arrive. It will roar down the track with the rising of the sun. The stillness of the dawn will be exchanged for the noise of the day. …

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Why We All Feel Homesick Sometimes

Everybody feels homesick once in a while. Even our older daughter, a very independent, self-sufficient young woman, admitted she was homesick when she first went away to college “It was in the fall of my freshman year,” Danielle recalls. “I remember I was homesick for a couple of hours…but it went away.” (I told you …

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How to Find Joy in Trials

  May 8, 1977. Mother’s Day. The day before I had been excitedly opening” mother-to-be” cards and looking longingly at the maternity clothes I would soon need to wear. Now I was lying in  a hospital bed with an empty womb. Really, Lord? A miscarriage on Mother’s Day? This would be awful on any day, but …

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Don’t Underestimate the Power of God

  By Chris Tiegreen “Our Bible is full of miracles. Sometimes, it feels as if our lives are not. The difference between the two can be disheartening, especially when a miracle is the only thing that can help us through a time of need. We pray to God and hope that He will answer, wondering …

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