Blog: trouble
Posted: August 4, 2024
Disappointments are part of every day life. We didn’t get that parking spot, the food didn’t match up to the price, and your flight was delayed or cancelled. The new outfit doesn’t look as great as you thought and the summer company you were excited about ended up causing chaos. Often we glibly say: “We need to just get over it.” But disappointments can leave us mildly irritated or they can crush our soul. Because there are disappointments that are life changing. They may not be a death but it actually feels like it. The Doctor told you it was multiple myeloma or brain tumour, you find out your grandchild is addicted to drugs or gambling, you discover your business is going bankrupt and you will lose the house you love. Your spouse tells you he/she don’t love you anymore. Those disappointments are like a death. I’ve talked to many…
Posted in: anxiety, chaos, crisis, cry, darkness, death, decisions, depression, despair, disappointments, empathy, empty soul, Expectations, feeling bad, Finding Truth, focus, friends, grief, lamenting, listen, mourn, Overcoming Struggles, relationships, seasons of darkness, sympathy, thankful, trouble, weeping
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Posted: June 10, 2024
We want to be nice girls so we stuff our feelings, paste on a plastic smile and carry on. Inwardly the heart churns and toxic fumes accumulate as we drink our own poison hoping the other person will die. Resentment is the number one killer of relationships, especially marriages. I consider myself an expert on this topic as I learned how to recognize and survive this toxic crisis in my first marriage. I recall how each time I felt resentment, I wanted to pick up a rock and throw it toward my enemy. But because I tried to have harmony in the home I hid the rock (my anger) and put it into a pretty little imaginary box where it would be nice and safe. I was clueless about the dangers of ultimate explosions. I did not know that resentment was: Feeling heartbroken after exerting a great deal of effort…
Posted in: accusations, adversity, angry, Anticipation, anxiety, ask God, Assumptions, betrayal, confront conflict, disappointments, do the hard work, don't give up, Expectations, faulty thinking, Finding Truth, forgive one another, frustrations, grit, healing, honest, Hope, messes, Offenses, Overcoming Struggles, power of words, relationships, Resentment, set free, shame, take care of your heart, Tension, trouble, Understanding each other, worry
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Posted: March 12, 2023
What does it even mean to be “beyond ordinary?” The last 3 days I’ve been involved in a Global Conference with women around the world from 45 countries with the theme CALLED: BEYOND ORDINARY. I know we would all like to wake up one day, look in the mirror and reflect a woman that is smart, capable, enchanting and beautiful. After hearing many testimonies and keynote speakers, here’s what’ve learned about becoming “Beyond Ordinary.” BECOME UNCOMFORTABLE. Well, that’s not what we want to hear. To become something “more than ordinary” we have to step out of our comfort zone. Often times it’s with fear and trembling as we step into the unknown. Like stepping out of a plane and soaring effortlessly as Miss Wheelchair Canada Vahen King did so courageously. LOVE ME TO DEATH SO THAT HE CAN KISS ME TO LIFE. That’s a radical powerful statement made by Kathy…
Posted in: achievements, be a blessing, be a follower, Beauty through Boldness, beyond ordinary, brokenness, circumstances, Come to Jesus, comfort zones, disappointments, Encouragement, God's creation, God's goodness, God's love, Hope, hurting world, kiss of life, Lord, Overcoming Fear, Overcoming Struggles, pain, praise, seasons of darkness, success, thanksgiving, transformation, trouble, uncomfortable, victory, worship is a weapon
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Posted: January 15, 2023
Some days life feels like this doesn’t it? Immersed in fog, without clarity and everything seems eerie and quiet. Especially when Covid has hopefully seen it’s last visit, and there are hopes, dreams and expectations for the coming year. How do you find your way? Me? I want to be like the rhinoceros and zebra. Let me explain. I want to be like the rhinoceros and zebra. Rhinoceros – Though there no official statistics on how far a rhino can see, from research it is estimated that they can’t distinguish between a man and a tree at a distance of 20 meters. How is that good? It’s similar to being in a fog, if we can’t see what’s ahead of us, we don’t need to worry. The Bible tells us: “Don’t worry about tomorrow, because tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of it’s own” (Matthew 6:34). This…
Posted in: accumulate experiences, adversity, Anticipation, anxious, ask God, circumstances, Conflict, darkness, decisions, don't give up, each day has enough troubles of its own, Expectations, Fear, focus, foggy life, frustrations, gloomy days, God's promises, Hearing God, Hope, hurting world, live one day at a time, Making Wise Choices, Overcoming Struggles, rhinoceros, seasons of darkness, step into the future, trouble, trust, trust God for today, worry, zebra stripes
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Posted: July 11, 2021
People are breaking out of their confined Covid spaces and it’s sheer, delicious craziness. My first international flight after a year and a half was a mixture of absolute delight and madness. When I flew to visit my daughter Michelle’s family at Easter, I was the only person going through security. This time, in the Kelowna airport the line-up for security went all the way back to Baggage Claim. Physical distancing at the Seattle airport was out of the window, and Starbucks line-ups made it impossible to grab a cup before the boarding gate closed. In the normal quiet, laid back mentally of Montana, the hidden jewel of the Northwest, we couldn’t get a dinner or National Park reservation. Coffee shop line-ups are out the door and kayak rentals are almost non-existent. All this to say that people are bursting out of their homes to once again experience all the…
Posted in: anxiety, boundaries, break free, Christ, Covid-19, Fear, Freedom, fresh joy, Friendship, isolation, live one day at a time, loneliness epidemic, momentary trouble, nature, Overcoming Fear, physical distancing, recapture your joy, trouble
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Posted: June 14, 2020
I knew there was trouble the moment I woke up and set my feet on the floor. The room was spinning and the earth moved under my feet. I’ve had dreams where I’m stuck in a wobbly elevator or trying to walk over an unsteady foot bridge, and I intensely dislike the feeling of my body being out of control. If you’ve ever had vertigo you know the feeling. Hanging onto walls while walking from room to room and fighting the nausea. When you turn the wrong way you spiral into a dark, black hole. I know many people feel like they are in “vertigo” mode right now. With Covid-19 nothing feels solid and trustworthy. We’re trying to hang onto what normal we had, but find ourselves venturing into bottomless unknown territory. How do we stop the spinning? To find what is solid, good and true we have to be…
Posted in: ask for help, ask God, companionship, Covid-19, decisions, disappointments, Faith, Fear, Finding Truth, focus, Friendship, God's promises, Making Wise Choices, new normal, Overcoming Struggles, thankful, trouble, trust, vertigo
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Posted: April 19, 2020
In the last month Amazon has run out of bread makers, we’ve pulled puzzles out of our closets and even stopped scoffing at paint by number projects. In my own family my granddaughter has taken to painting rocks, we’re learning German, canning pickles and there’s heated bread-baking competitions. During this harshly imposed isolation I am left to live alone. I’m an extrovert and I love being involved with people and events, and within a week all my speaking and travelling events were cancelled. My calendar was wiped clean. After gasping for air and realizing none of this was a joke I made a deliberate choice. This Covid-19 would not wreck me. First, I had to settle some truth and facts. In our family when there is an unexpected or unpleasant turn of events we use this phrase, “accept and allow.” To “accept” the Covid situation I had to be real…
Posted in: accept and allow, adversity, all alone, alone, anxiety, ask for help, be creative, Christ, companionship, Covid-19, crisis, decisions, Encouragement, Expectations, Faith, Families, Finding Truth, friends, heart of God, homes, isolation, Jesus, loneliness, love, make your bed, Making Wise Choices, Overcoming Struggles, temporary, trouble, trust, trust Good, we need each other
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Posted: March 22, 2020
Nature abhors a vacuum. The last two weeks have sucked the air out of many of us. Suddenly our calendars are empty, sports events gone, meeting with friends in a restaurant no more and all church activities stopped. Our entire rhythm is off kilter and it’s startling. So let’s be careful how we fill that unexpected and shocking vacuum, because an empty soul is a danger just waiting to happen An empty soul is danger just waiting to happen. Let’s play the movie forward by eight months. Were we a fearful hoarder or a helper and a beacon of hope? Did we see this time of isolation as a gift or were we angry that it disrupted our perfect plans? What did we model to people around us, our children, grandchildren and friends? Were we like chicken little screaming that the sky is falling or did we point people to…
Posted in: be creative, chaos, Christ, Covid-19, crisis, Faith, God Who Is, intersection of faith, Making Wise Choices, resilience, trouble, vacuum
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Posted: September 30, 2018
A place I worked in for twenty-one years is being torn and shredded until it is non-existent. Gone. The office and people to which I dedicated those years have gone on with their lives, and so have I. It’s hard to accept that this successful and fulfilling era of my life was only temporary. If you don’t agree that everything in life is temporary, just pull out an old photo album. This year I’ve started almost every day saying: “Today is the very best day I’m going to have.” It doesn’t always turn out that way, but if I have dedicated that day to God, then everything happened the way it was designed to unfold. Again, if you’re not sure today is your very best day, look at a photo of yourself 15 years ago, and you’ll probably agree: “Hey today is pretty good!” Today is the very best day…
Posted in: Encouragement, God's promises, grief, heart of God, Hope, Jesus, joy, loneliness, love, momentary trouble, Overcoming Struggles, pain, temporary, thankful, trouble, weeping
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Posted: July 9, 2018
If you only had 30 days to live what would you do differently? I’m quite certain the first thing you would do is quit your job and lean into people and things that are most important to you. Many people are not really willing to live fully alive, until they know they’re going to lose what they already have. So why not start living full out, not stuck in the “if only’s”, letting go of resentment and past hurts and using your past adversity as a springboard into your very best life? Our world is infatuated with comfort and well-being. But we need to embrace our adversity. Each and every form of our trials brings a great opportunity to be seized for something much better. You and I, with the transforming power of the Holy Spirit, can turn every affliction and pain into a new advantage and lasting joy in…
Posted in: adversity, ask God, Balancing life, Beauty from the Inside Out, Christ, companionship, God's love, happiness, happy, honesty, joy, Kindness, Making Wise Choices, Prayer, relationships, resilient, self worth, trouble, trust, victory
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