Thankful for setbacks
After my husband passed away, I was living alone with my younger children—one young adult who was already working, two teenaged boys, a younger daughter, and a preschoole... »
Personal Accounts
Exercising gratitude
“Enjoying exercise” has always seemed a contradiction in terms to me. Exercise is work, exhausting pushing-yourself-to-the-limit effort, and certainly not at the top of m... »
The road to peace of mind
A while ago, I went through one of those periods in life that seem to be overloaded with stress. There was a major crisis and tension on the work front, and all this spil... »
He remembered
“I met one of your former students at a party last night. We were talking about you,” wrote a friend of mine in an email. “He told me that you taught him to read.” Immedi... »
A tale of two gifts
Each year, we host a Christmas party at my house. All the guests bring something of approximately equal value, and we play a game to determine what gift we all end up wit... »
The lemonade cycle
Are you currently being hit with one trial, test, or difficulty after another? Are you wondering when or if things will ever start improving and getting back to normal? D... »
Different shoes
Often our understanding of the world is limited to what we know, and our worldview has been shaped by our experience—our culture, our education, our upbringing, our socio... »
Adversity = opportunity
What can you do when the storms of life are greater than you are, when the winds and waves crash into your hopes and dreams and leave you shattered, to the point where yo... »
Fruits of suffering
We can all agree there’s no place in this world untouched by hardship and suffering. We want to believe that God is good and loving, that He sees everything and that He h... »
Missed flights
In the last year, my wife and I have missed three flights. In our many years of traveling, this had never happened before. It was something different each time—exhaustion... »
The greatest moment
I’ve always thought it was fitting that Jesus’ crucifixion took place on a hill. His cross was raised above the pathways and bustle. You had to travel up to it, you had t... »
The three siblings
There’s a lot of pain in this world. The topic of human suffering winds its way through every period of history as we collectively try to understand its causes. Specifica... »
One day at a time
I like to say that I don't get stressed. It's true that I'm not a very stressful or stressed-out person. But the truth is that while I don’t often get stressed over event... »