During the darkest days of our infertility journey, my prayers went like this: “How long O Lord? How long will you keep us childless?” There’s not a lot of joy in this. Asking for the same thing over and over. Being stuck. I’ve heard from a lot of couples dealing with infertility the feeling of …
hope
When You Find Yourself Stuck: What Then?
When you find yourself stuck: what then? Questions like these are ones that I’ve tried to teach through the past several years. I even did a email devotional series on this topic recently (which if you haven’t checked out, learn more here). And certainly they are the kind of questions that people seek my input …
How do you get through infertility? A Guest Post
Our National Infertility Week series continues today. (Did you miss the post from Chris Thomas earlier? If so, stop now and read it here). I’m so glad to introduce you to Maren McLean Persaud, my new favorite Canadian who tells a story of hope, longing and loss. Here are her beautiful words- _______________ This past fall, we …
What Are You Afraid to Say?
What are you afraid to say? I’ve been thinking a lot about the silence spaces that fill so many of our day-to-day conversations and relationships. We converse with a loved one about something overflowing with authenticity. But then for a multitude of reasons, we don’t speak of it again for years. An in between space. …
How Do Grieve During the Holidays?
Someone around you is grieving right now. Even if you don’t know his or her name. Even if you don’t know why. Even if you’ll never know why. So many people grieve on overdrive at this time of year. Recently, I was teaching at “Attending to the Grief We Don’t See” workshop at a congregation …
It’s Time to Wake Up
It’s Time to Wake Up . . my first sermon preached at The Palisades Community Church on Romans 13:11-14 There’s something about the pace of the summer that gives us all an excuse to slow down. We disappear at our favorite vacation spot for as long as our budge allows. We don’t answer emails right …
I Believe in Surprises
Today, I was at the Wild Goose Festival in Hot Springs, NC offering a group conversation about how you make peace with a life you have but may never have intended to be yours! I told the group that in my story, in particular the story I tell in my book Birthed, that I found …
Changing My Mind About Infertility: A Guest Post by Lara Webb
It’s National Infertility Awareness week. Welcome to several new readers of Preacher on the Plaza! And I’m happy to use this blog over the next couple of days to give others a platform to share their stories of grief, loss and deferred longing. Even if “infertility” is not your thing and you read my blog for …
Changing My Mind About Infertility: A Guest Post by Lara WebbRead More
Advent’s Peace: It’s Not What We Expect
Here we are: Advent week #2. Lighting the candle of peace each day. Though it’s the time of year that we sing “Let there be peace on earth.” Though it’s the time of the year when we hear Amy Grant singing about her wish for “No more lives torn apart. And wars would never start.” …
Birthing Hope: Meredith Holladay
Over the next 4 weeks of Advent, I’m thrilled to offer you the voices of some articulate storytellers— storytellers with wisdom to share about how their experiences of pain or loss is birthing in them something beautiful. Not in a Pollyanna sort of way of course, but in the spirit of what Leonard Cohen once …
Advent’s Hope
It’s the week of hope. Happy first Sunday of Advent, friends! Advent is one of my observances all year. And it’s not about the pretty decorations or the special candle lightings. . . . Advent is four weeks that slow us down when everything in our culture wants to speed things up. It’s four weeks …
Meet a God Who Makes Stupid Investments, or Not?
Money doesn’t grow on trees. Prepare for retirement. Have your nest egg for security. Always get the most bang for your buck. Such life management principles are what many of us adhere as if they were Bible verses. And, it’s common sense, right? Life is short after all. We need to make good choices with our money …