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Showing posts from April, 2019

A Season of Grief

  There is one thing I have been most afraid of my entire life, I have had a fear of death…and not just for myself, for those who are closest to me. It’s not because I fear that there isn’t a God who promises life eternal in heaven or that deep down I don’t believe I’m saved. I think it’s more to do with a fear there will be pain in dying, and being a highly emotional person, I fear the brevity of my emotions. So when my sister was first diagnosed with stage four cancer, I was suddenly forced to grapple what I had long feared the most, the potential of loosing a loved one. The confronting realisation that all of us will die, our lives are in God’s hands, and none of us know how long we have to live in this world. It was taking an abstract biblical truth and then putting flesh and bones on it. A lot of big emotions ran through me on a daily basis, and at first I found it to be a very confusing time as my relationship with my sister was very close but at times complicated. Cancer in ...

Is there a Giant in your life?

 I had a day recently where my youngest came home from school very upset and adamant he never wanted to go back; never wanting to see a particular person again. A previous painful memory of being reprimanded at school bought back strong emotions and when he was accused once more of doing something wrong (this time unfairly) his response was quite natural: flee as quickly as possible. The shame and worry that others thought bad of him seemed too much to bear. Even worse: the thought of seeing the person again. For him, facing a situation he feared was deemed impossible to do. Until, I shared with him I too have had to face giants - I still do as an adult.  This incident reminded me once again, that modelling humility and courage to our children is so helpful, especially when they experience challenges of their own. I wrote recently about being a good role model to your kids; speaking about how sometimes we fail to model helpful behaviours, or hope our weaknesses aren’t observed...