Simply Thriving

  Have you experienced the shock of the unexpected? I have. In a second, in a phone call, and in the short words of a text, my stomach has been a stone within me. That moment when I’ve not known where my toddler is; those shaky words spoken over the miles, “It’s cancer”; that angry red discovered weeks into a pregnancy; that splash in the pool – each one has delivered the sickening feeling of shock. This past weekend we experienced one of these unexpected events which has proven to rattle me more than I would have anticipated. Here I’ve been, skipping along through spring, feeling the weight of fog lifted a little and WHAM! There it is. Right out of nowhere - the unexpected. First came the anger. Like David I find myself pleading, “How long, O Lord? Will you forget me forever?”. (Psalm 13) When is enough enough? Have I done something wrong? Have I not been obedient or trusting enough? How much adversity can we bear up under? But God is so good. He’s so kind to me. When I,...

 Yesterday was grocery day. And you know what that means…time to clean all the weird odds and ends out of the fridge. As a family, we have little waste when it comes to eating up our produce, but somehow there is still that two-week-old cream puff that no one claimed; the bruised apple that the kids turned their nose up at and the half empty jar of salsa with a questionable smell. I even had to empty two bags of milk into the sink that were chunky and foul. Cue gagging. Regardless of our best efforts, we all have some waste in our lives. It might be the contents of our fridges, or more concerning - the use of our time. I often get to the end of the day and look back at the heart work opportunities I missed because of impatience or frustration. And the ever present counter full of dishes reminds me of how I could have been more fruitful with my time. I read something a couple of years ago that blew my mind. I was going through the Bible study “Lord I Want to Know You” with a fri...

  “Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil.”   This is how I began 2020 - in the valley of the shadow of my sister’s death, still reeling from the fresh wound of grief. Little did I know that the entire world would soon be thrown into that shadow as well. For most of us, this has been a year of some level of loss; of heaviness; of isolation; of feeling stretched like butter over too much bread, as Bilbo Baggins would say. There is less sun in the valley - less perspective - while mountains of grief, fear and doubt loom high. This year, more than ever, these words of the Psalmist resonate with me.   “Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, You are on my side.”   I wonder how many of us have put our faith in the coming of a new year, hoping that kissing 2020 goodbye will mean a way out of this valley. As December drew to a close, I’ve been pondering what would happen to my faith if this is our new reality....