The Journey

Photo by: Mark Basarab Have you ever wondered what makes you, well, you? What inspires laughter and what induces tears? How can something so trivial cut so deep or how such a minuscule gesture can warm your very soul? What makes your whole day bright and what can make for a stormy week? Those things that make your blood boil versus the action or person that can set you perfectly at ease? What makes you strong? What makes you weak? What gives you security rather than anxiety or confidence rather than inferiority?  I have questioned many of these emotions as the past few months have felt like a spiritual pruning, a stripping away. During the process, emotional and spiritual layers have been peeled back to reveal a person I do not like. A person I do not want to see. A person that I had hoped no longer existed. My heart doors slammed shut as fast as a security gate at the threat of a robbery and closed with a seal as tight as that of a bank vault door. The walls that had slowly lowered

Photo by: Tyler Nix When trudging through difficult situations, I find myself searching through scriptures for some sort of comfort. Something to ease the pain or to bring peace or even to confirm I am right and the whole world is wrong, I am searching for validation. Grasping, really. Anything that will quiet the storm brewing in my mind and the whirlwind of my emotions. One passage always brings easement no matter the battle. Hebrews 4:15-16 (NIV) states, "For we do not have a high priest who is unable to empathize with our weaknesses, but we have one who has been tempted in every way just as we are--yet he did not sin. Let us then approach God's throne of grace with confidence, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need." Did you know we have a sympathetic Savior? Typically, this passage is preached to encourage us in our struggles with temptation, assuage condemnation, and to open the altars for repentance. While that is certainly app

Photo by: Chris Lawton No words can be uttered when the proverbial final nail has been deliberately, maliciously, or even haphazardly hammered into the coffin. What is there to say? The end. Game over. Death. Seasons change bringing an end to one phase of life while ushering in a new beginning for the next phase of life. Sometimes we are not prepared for such a transition. Sometimes we pray for change. We often grieve with bittersweet tears either way. Unexpected, major shifts blindside and bring imbalance to otherwise steady ground because the humdrum of everyday life renders a false sense of security. Alas, life is a continuous cycle, ever-changing until death. Then I say, thankfully so, life is ever-changing. Otherwise, death might be forever, and resurrection cannot occur. As a small child, did you ever hide in a closet, a secret fort, or in a small space allowing complete darkness to cover you like a warm, winter blanket? Otherwise, such a space would be frightening, but when