Chances are, everyone who reads this will either have suffered themselves, or known someone who has suffered from depression. This blog is for both of you. Depression isn’t usually something people like to talk about. Those that suffer from it stay isolated with it and those that don’t are totally unaware of what to say about it or how to act around it, so it gets ignored, or even worse - judged. I can recall a time in my twenties when I was suffering from depression and kept

As many of you know, I love to hike. My hiking availability has been hit or miss this past fall/winter, and I’ve gotten a bit out of shape. This weekend when I hit the trail, I wasn’t even 100 yards from my parked car when I began wondering, “Why on earth do I think I like to do this?” The trail I had chosen was quite steep, and I found my legs and my lungs protesting quite quickly. From my home, I often find myself dreaming of being out in nature and exerting my energy climb

Do you remember the first time you kissed someone you love? Do you remember the first time you held your child, or the time you woke up early and unexpectedly caught sight of that amazing sunrise? What about the time when you met a goal you had set for yourself? Do you remember the time you heard THAT SONG that gave you goosebumps and really helped you finally understand your own feelings about something? Maybe you can remember the joy of running through the sprinklers on a h

Last week I had the pleasure of attending the Life Model Works Annual Gathering. At this conference they released a new “booklet” by authors Jim Wilder, Anna Kang, John Loppnow and Sungshim Loppnow called Joyful Journey Listening to Immanuel. Right off the bat, they had everyone engaging in a conversational prayer journaling “layout” that took the pressure out of “trying to hear from God”. It’s like a template for your quiet times that will enable you to build and strengthen

Did you know that fear can block joy? Fear is your brain's watchdog. This watchdog was put in place long ago in order to help you stay safe. The problem many of us face now is that our watchdog blocks us from receiving good things too. I have 2 dogs in my house. Not metaphorical dogs, real dogs. A mutt and a German Shepherd. My dogs love our family more than life itself. They are both really vigilant about making sure that we are always safe. Much of their day is spent lookin

I joined up with a movement of over #1000speak bloggers to write about #compassion today! This movement has inspired me to look deeper at compassion than ever before. I don’t just want to define it or explain it… I want to explore it. Last year on a hike with my step mom Maritza, I discovered a fish in a part of the creek that was no longer connected to the flowing waters. This fish was on its side, suffocating in just an inch or two of water. I felt a surge of compassion for

Have you ever felt like part of you really missed out on something in childhood? Like, maybe you weren’t allowed to jump on the bed, maybe you wanted nothing more than to grow up, or perhaps you had a childhood like mine that was robbed of the carefree wonderment of being a kid way too young. We spend the majority of our lives as adults, and the idea that childhood is fleeting doesn’t become understood until it’s much too late. There is such simple joy in the way a child look

Immanuel, “God with us” is both a name and a statement of truth. Do you know Immanuel, is with you? Stop for a minute and don’t just knee jerk that answer with a left brained knowledge of what the word means. Knowing that the sky is blue is something most of us can say with utter confidence. Right? But what about a blind man? Can he say for sure that he knows the sky is blue? Pretend you were born blind… and you have never seen the sky with your own eyes. You have never stood

If joy is the feeling that we get when someone is glad to be with us, How come so many of us don’t feel joy in situations with people who supposedly love us? When we learn all about this “joy” stuff, why do some of us start looking around and wondering where all the people are that can be glad to be with us so we can feel joy. Many of us assume that no one is ever glad to be with us and that must be the reason why we don’t feel joy. But I think we might need to consider turni

“Let go” He said. And in my head I knew He would handle my “stuff” better than I could. But something in my heart still tightened my grip. Something within had me convinced that I needed to be the one to hold all my “stuff” ... that only I could control it all and only I could handle it in the right way. We all do it. We all carry with us a burden of thoughts, worries, fears, angers, un-forgiveness, desires, secrets and memories that seem to make up our very being. Many of us