I was in California on a business trip, just yards from the beach, eating ice cream and laughing as the conversation drifted away from business. Eventually, somebody mentioned a friend-of-a-friend who had died by suicide. The familiar ache and nausea filled my chest. My insides rattled when my coworker said he didn’t understand what would […]
I couldn’t simply shake these anxious feelings, as desperately as I wanted to. I couldn’t pretend I was okay. This felt all-consuming. If I didn’t deal with this properly, it would change into full-blown panic.
Dr. Holly Oxhandler has been one of the greatest surprises and delights of my work in the faith and mental health space. When we were connected by a mutual friend, I had no idea how much I would come to cherish Holly’s wisdom, tenderness, and ability to hold space for the pain of others. We’ve […]
Receiving a mental health diagnosis is never easy. Many of us feel irreparably broken, damaged beyond repair, or just plain not enough when we receive that label. But the truth is that our God-given dignity and worth is still fully intact and undamaged, despite how we feel. My friend Abigail Alleman knows what it’s like […]
Sometimes you need somebody to shoot straight with you, to talk about the hard things without flinching or looking away. We all need to know we’re not alone in our struggles, and that’s one reason I love Becky McCoy so much. She’s walked a road I wouldn’t wish on anyone, one full of grief and […]
Brutal as the pandemic was, it also thrust me directly into beauty and the ache of now time. Suddenly I couldn’t worry too much about next month or even next week; I was intimately tethered to the present moment…
Yesterday I pulled an old t-shirt from the laundry basket and a cry pushed past my lips. “I am not my failures,” it said, with the little #graceismessy beneath it. I hope you still knew that in your last moments, whatever ache they held. You gave that shirt to me years ago and I’ve worn […]
We who wrestle with the dark know too well that suffering often lingers longer than we would choose. That’s why my heart leapt when I heard K.J. Ramsey’s new book, This Too Shall Last, is about exactly that and I knew you needed to hear about it. K.J. was a healthy, happy college student when […]
I know you know what it’s like to think, “If I could just try harder, it would get better.” I know you know what it’s like to push as hard as you can, barely holding yourself together, feeling like it will never be enough. I know those feelings, too. That’s why I’m so thrilled to […]
The fact that it’s November means everyone is talking about gratitude. At least, it seems that way here in the U.S. Thanksgiving is almost here and the holiday season is upon us. Christmas lights and tree vendors are popping up around town. This week, many of us will be gathering with family to talk about […]
A few weeks ago, I asked you to share what you’re struggling with. I thought I might hear from a handful of people, but I was floored by the response. It’s taken me over two weeks to go through them. You flooded my inbox with your heartaches and challenges, prayer requests and questions. So many […]
