pain – Temp Arbor

On Suffering, Loss, and Being Okay

[featured-image link=”null” link_single=”inherit” single_newwindow=”false” alt=”suffering”]123rf.com[/featured-image] I’m developing a capacity for suffering, for losing people I love, and yet I know deep down that I will be okay. In fact, I know it because of the suffering and loss. I know you’ll be okay too. I want to share with you how I’ve come to know this. AContinue reading “On Suffering, Loss, and Being Okay”

Sermon: Don’t Miss the Horizon

[featured-image link=”null” link_single=”inherit” single_newwindow=”false”]123rf.com[/featured-image] This is the text of a sermon I preached on July 27, 2014. [Audio here] Good morning, nice to be with you again. Sorry I had to bail last week. As most of you know by now, a really, really important person in my life died 2 weeks ago this comingContinue reading “Sermon: Don’t Miss the Horizon”

Eight Things to Do to Work Through a Depressive Episode

[featured-image link=”null” link_single=”inherit” single_newwindow=”false”]123rf.com[/featured-image] I am depressed. (Are you? Find out here.) I don’t just mean sad, down in the dumps, etc. I mean I am struggling, right now, with a major depressive episode. I take medication for it. It’s an ongoing reality in my life. Especially now. I’m sleeping 12-16 hours a night andContinue reading “Eight Things to Do to Work Through a Depressive Episode”

Your Gift of Darkness: What To Do With Your Suffering

[featured-image link=”null” link_single=”inherit” single_newwindow=”false”] My post idea today comes from a reader, who emailed a heartbreaking note to me. She attached the quote at the top of this post, and wrote: I came across this quote not too long ago and it stopped me in my tracks. As a teenager I was sexually abused by [identity clipped] for [lengthContinue reading “Your Gift of Darkness: What To Do With Your Suffering”

Remembering 9-11

When speaking of 9-11, people sometimes say “May we never forget.” As if, for any of us who lived it, who saw those buildings fall, who saw people jumping out, or walking dead, covered with ash — as if we ever could. I remember going to the store the next day and noticing that peopleContinue reading “Remembering 9-11”

Letting Go

Nothing is as difficult, or as necessary, as letting go. At this moment you are burdened by things from your past — damaging words, destructive arguments, hurtful parents and other role models, painful situations. These things build and build in your life, starting in childhood. You put them on the back burner so you canContinue reading “Letting Go”

Heartquake

Until the moment my first child was born, I didn’t have the capacity to love a child. I know this because of the magnitude of the heartquake I experienced when I first saw her. In that moment, everything began to shake. All of my assumptions about myself. All of my selfish worries that I couldn’tContinue reading “Heartquake”

Dealing with pain

I have a group of fellow pastors I meet with once a month for breakfast. We socialize and talk shop, but mostly we just hang out. That’s right. We hang out. It’s not usually very “spiritual.” It’s not usually what a person might expect from a group of pastors hanging out together. No one bringsContinue reading “Dealing with pain”