Suffering
When Your World Turns Upside Down: the unexpected gift
My world has been turned upside down many times in my life. Some smaller flips; some monumental. With each successful struggle, although incredibly difficult at the time, I’ve learned to lean in a little closer to Jesus. What a gift! An Upside Down World We live in a world that flips all too easy and…
A Psalmist’s Cry During Times of Unrest (#free printable)
When the unthinkable happens and the world spins out of control. When life is overwhelming and your strength is waning. When your stomach is in knots and you don’t know how to unravel it. During times of unrest a psalm can be the balm for your soul. Your heart’s cry and your faith’s song. Here’s mine.…
Where to Find Grace When Trouble Comes Knocking
The test results return disturbing news. The phone call delivers worse. The children beg (and bicker) endlessly. The money runs dangerously low. Each day brings more trouble than the previous one. And we wonder where God is. Where is God’s promise of a prosperous plan? Where is this abundant life? How we can continue? Where is…
When the Unexpected Is Breaking You
God often uses the unexpected and the unwanted to bring about the best in our lives. But it requires us to let go first. Let go of our expectations. Let go of our perceptions. Let go of our perceived control. And then to open our hearts to receive the fullness of what He has for us.…
Be a Faithful Witness to Your Script: “And It Was Beautiful” (a review)
When I stumbled on Kara Tippett’s blog several years ago, I couldn’t get enough. Drawn in by the vulnerable yet hope-filled updates of her battle with terminal cancer, I drank deep of the wisdom God imparted to her through her suffering. I wrote a review of her first book written in the midst of her…
Why You Should Never Suffer in Silence
By hiding our suffering, we suppress the evidence of God’s faithfulness as well. Recently a lady who is going through a terribly difficult season confessed her feeling of isolation. She said she knew others cared and at times became overwhelmed with the love offered to her family. Yet at other times she felt like she was all alone on…
Find the Strength to Take the Next Step (review)
“Joy has nothing to do with the position of your body and everything to do with the posture of your heart.” —Rachel Wojo, One More Step Stuck Deep, dark sorrow met me as a twenty-something. In the loss of my baby’s life, I refused to believe there was any hope left. So I remained frozen in…
Are You Missing the Grace Because It Is Masked by the Hard?
I struggle with certain people, but those relationships are actually good for me. I would rather certain circumstances not happen, but in the end, they are exactly what I need. It’s what I call “hard grace.” Those things we’d rather not do or walk through, but must. Those people we have trouble being around, but need to.…
Being Shaken Up and Stirred: Why It’s a Good Thing
No one welcomes trials, but it’s in the shaking up of our ideals and expectations where we learn to lean on someone else. It’s in being shaken up where we discover the One we can always lean on. Agitated and in tears, I grabbed my parents’ Bible, threw myself on the bed, and began reading. A…
Hello, I'm Julie, an imperfect wife and mother of four. Life in this broken world is not always easy. Yet, joy can be found in each day through the grace and mercy of the Lord Jesus Christ.
I find it's easy for our day's blessings to get lost in its happenings. But God's "mercies never end" (Lamentations 3:22) and His "grace is sufficient" (2 Corinthians 12:9).
May the posts and pages on this site offer you a measure of peace and encouragement.
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