Blog
Rx for the Holidays: Cultivate Gratitude
Thanksgiving kicks off the holiday season, and with it, festive times with friends and family. However, for those living with chronic disease and illness, unrealistic expectations, difficulties with travel, and busy schedules can add up to increased pain and fatigue,...
Can Art Heal? Using Art to Transcend Chronic Pain and Illness
Can tapping into our creativity help us transcend chronic pain and illness? Can art heal not only our bodies but also our soul and spirits? Questions like these have been part of my ongoing quest to live well with chronic pain and illness. While some answers remain...
Harnessing the Power of Place
Not long ago, during a time when stress and fatigue had taken their toll on my body, I booked a weekend away at a local bed and breakfast. Nestled in the shadow of the Blue Ridge Mountains, I watched breathtaking mountain sunsets, delighted in deer frolicking in the...
Holy Listening as a Spiritual Discipline
What if our greatest gift to others is how well we listen not the wisdom of our words? "Christians have forgotten that the ministry of listening has been committed to us by Him who is Himself the great listener and whose work we should share.” ~Dietrich Bonheoffer,...
Living from the Inside Out — Huh?
“What does it mean to live from the inside out?” people ask me. First let me tell you what it's NOT. It is not about trying harder, and it’s not about praying more, serving more, doing more. It is not which church you attend or whether you tithe or give to missions....
Rule of Life: Part 1 of 2
*This is a first draft. Grace please. “Take your everyday, ordinary life—your sleeping, eating, going-to-work, and walking-around life—and place it before God as an offering. Embracing what God does for you is the best thing you can do for him . . . fix your attention...
Rule of Life: Part 2
*This is a first draft. Grace please. If you've not yet read part one, you can read it here. “Your personal rule of life is a holistic description of the Spirit-empowered rhythms and relationships that create, redeem, sustain, and transform the life God invites you to...
Coming Home: Part 2
I've been taking a class on essay writing that has opened up a whole new world of possibilities, self-reflection, and a world of fun. This is part 2 of a draft, written for my first week's assignment. In more ways that I cared to admit, I had embraced an expression of...
Coming Home: Part 1
I've been taking a class on essay writing that has opened up a whole new world of possibilities, self-reflection, and a world of fun. Here's a first draft of my first week's assignment. As a side note, it's interesting that three or four of us in the class...
A Place Called Home
Jennifer Lauck opens her memoir, Blackbird, with these words, “The only house I’ll every call home is the on Mary Street.” It led me to ask the inevitable question, “Where or what is home for me?” It is a question I’ve been asking myself since childhood, because as...
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