How are you doing maintaining the New Year’s resolutions you established in January? The fact that we’re in a new decade may have added some pressure to making those resolutions even better than ever. But, maybe just maybe, your resolutions are… not working. Personally, I’m not one for New Year’s resolutions. Instead, I like choosing a single word that I feel God is giving me. Have you tried...
Somehow, we as a society decided pain and suffering are not fair. And, rather than face the grief and work through it; we are avoiding it. Suffering is the last thing we want to admit about ourselves. We go about our lives hoping God -and everyone else- might not see us as exhausted, anxious souls. But, by avoiding the pain, we are losing out on the sweet part of the suffering. Because even...
I love summer. I love the warm weather and I love being outside every minute I can. I love the long days and the beautiful flowers blooming. I love our garden and picking from it for our evening meals. I love the rhythm of summer where life just somehow seems to slow down a bit. As we move into fall, I’ve been enjoying the cooler weather and the hint of colors changing in the leaves. But with the...
In one of my favorite books, The Critical Journey, the authors talk about stages of faith. One stage, the wall, is a significant part of our spiritual transformation. People who come to Regeneration are often either facing the wall, in the wall or coming out of the wall. It is a sacred and dark place that takes courage to go through, and we’re often here to encourage and accompany people in these...
I grew up with a mom who served her family tirelessly. She was devoted to my dad despite his growing problem with alcohol. Emotional dependency. When she had fallen in love with him, he was a young man full of life, but over the years, a dark cloud of depression overtook him. She met him when she was 16, married him when she was 19, had her first child at 20, and she didn’t know what else to do...
All of us will find ourselves in some kind of unintended journey with our kids. Navigating these difficulties is not easy, but there are principles I’ve learned that have been really helpful along the way.
