Faith
How to hold on to faith in the midst of uncertainty
Let’s be real: we are coping with an abundance of ambiguity right now. 2020 taught us to live with open hands like we never have before.
And with so much loss in the last year, we might (understandably) be struggling to hold on to our faith. Trusting God with our needs, and the needs of those we love, might feel harder than it did when 2020 dawned.
So how do we hold on to faith as we look to the future?
The answer is surprisingly simple:
Read MoreLessons from turning 50… in a pandemic
I had a birthday last week. A BIG birthday. To celebrate (COVID-style), and nod to my 50 years treading the earth, I decided to walk 50,000 steps. (When I hatched this hair-brained scheme, I had no idea it would amount to about 22 miles. Yes, I was tired and sore when I was done.)
I invited some of my friends—from all chapters of my life and all parts of the globe—to “walk with me” by phone for part of my nearly eight-hour effort. The calls were sweet and all-too-brief but soul-filling (and blessedly distracting). This was exactly what I needed to mark the moment in a way that wouldn’t fade into the blur of sameness that 2020 has become.
Afterwards, reflecting on my calls with the wonderful women who joined me, I waxed philosophical. Below are 17 tid-bit insights extracted from a glorious day rich with fellowship-by-phone, recorded here for my posterity and—I believe—the benefit of us all:
Read MoreTrying again: Faithful perseverance in seasons of difficulty
We’re sitting amidst another COVID spike, wondering, perhaps, whether we’ll ever clear this thing. I’m not an epidemiologist (and I don’t even play one on TV) but I do see something in the Bible that might be helpful right now—whether you’re frustrated with COVID or dealing with an entirely different challenge.
I wrote earlier this year on some applications from Noah and the account of the flood. I recently revisited the same passage and saw something new:
Noah released a bird four separate times as the waters began to recede.
Four.
Only on the fourth time did the dove not return, serving as evidence that soon the land would again be dry and inhabitable.
Whether you are
- grappling with the fits and starts of a new business venture,
- launching your children into the world,
- taking on a new role in the workplace,
- making friends in a new hometown,
- or merely antsy for a post-pandemic reality…
Overcoming our Divisions
These are difficult days on our planet and in our country. We’re divided over so very much. Frankly, the fractures in our community are making my heart ache. I mean it: this stuff genuinely keeps me awake at night.
Author (and fellow Our Daily Bread writer) Elisa Morgan generously offered me the opportunity to write to her readers about that ache and how I’m learning to lean in to differences between me and those I love. I trust those words will help you, my readers, too.
A Life of Addition
I wasn’t sure what her perspective was. Should I emphasize we were required to wear masks? Would that make her feel safe? Or was it more likely to cause her to decline the invitation if she didn’t agree? It was the first time we’d tried to spend time together in person since March when COVID sent us home.
I guessed incorrectly, tried to “sell” our gathering with the wrong assumption. The tension between our vantage points pulled heavily on my heart; the excitement at being together for a fun outing suddenly blunted by the realization that we held different opinions…
Read the rest of the post over on Elisa’s blog.
(And if you missed Elisa’s guest post here on my blog, be sure to check that out here.)
Clingy. In the Best Way
Y’all know I love words. They’re kind of my thing.
I was drawn to explore a Hebrew word last week after reflecting on the story of Ruth. The imagery of Ruth “clinging” to Naomi was compelling. Though Naomi had instructed her daughters-in-law to stay in their native Moab instead of accompanying her back to Bethlehem, Ruth clung to Naomi.
The women wept together, parting was clearly difficult—they’d buried their husbands together, too.
Clingy.
It’s a word that, in our modern use, seems to have connotations of desperation.
We often view desperation as a negative thing.
Read MoreWhen things change…but maybe you don’t want them to
Change is hard.
Even when it’s good, it can be difficult to let go of what we’ve known and planned for.
But sometimes it’s necessary.
Sometimes we don’t even know why it’s necessary.
If we know (even through circumstances) that God has called us onward to a new thing, a new season, a new place, how do we cope with that change?
Read MoreA prayer for heavy hearts and troubled minds
The last few weeks have been a wild ride for my household—in every way, shape, and form. Two kids off to their college experiences (altered as they may be), and one going back to school part-time in person. Shifts in our professional landscapes. Spiritual challenges. And health procedures… to name just a few.
It got the best of me the other day. I ended up in a heap of tears. And when that happens I’m honestly not much good at praying… the words just get tangled up in sobs.
Read MoreWhen We Share Our Broken
Be encouraged by these words from one of my fellow Our Daily Bread writers, Elisa Morgan, and her podcast co-host, Eryn Eddy. What I love most about their words here is how they looked past their “obvious” differences and shared their stories with candor to find common ground—something we all need to be doing more of today. And in the process they unearthed the profound treasure that God loves us in spite of our messy brokenness. Learn more about Elisa and Eryn and about the God Hears Her podcast at the foot of the article.
Guest post by Elisa Morgan and Eryn Eddy
Our first meeting was something like a friendship blind date. It happened on a summer day in Grand Rapids, Michigan—home to neither of us. We’d each been tapped by Our Daily Bread Ministries to pilot a podcast for women as co-hosts. After flying in late at night from our home states of Colorado and Georgia, we introduced ourselves early one morning over coffee at the hotel’s breakfast bar.
From first sight, we knew we were different. One old, the other young. One blond the other one brunette turned gray. One artsy and tatted and cool, the other edgy but pretty status-quo.
Would this work? Could we become a team together—cracking open and connecting our hearts so that women listening—who we hadn’t met either—would receive what we all desperately long for? To be seen. To be heard. To be loved just as we are?
Read MoreHow to build friendships when you can’t see each other—or just don’t see eye to eye
Friendship during COVID has presented an incredible challenge. Recently updated research from Cigna showed that a staggering 61% of people feel lonely. And that loneliness is as detrimental to our health as smoking and other well-known health problems.
And those findings were BEFORE coronavirus. I can’t imagine those statistics have improved in recent months.
We need each other. That’s been true since the earliest days of humanity when God said it wasn’t good for Adam to be alone. The Bible speaks a great deal to our being designed for community (and offers much wisdom on how to do it well). I’ve often written and spoken on friendship because of how much I value it.
COVID is testing friendships in unprecedented ways (though it’s certainly not the only challenge to relationships; political divides and geographic distance are too.). I saw a post on social media in which a person lamented the collapse of 40-year-long friendships because of the differing perspectives on COVID. This makes me ache. While we can avoid topics of conversation we know create conflict (I have friends who’ve agreed to not talk about politics because they both get a big too angsty), coronavirus cannot be avoided as a conversational topic because our (potential) differences affect whether and how we interact at all.
So, how are we to build friendships right now? How do we make new friends if we’ve recently relocated? I’ve got a few guiding principles to share and then a handful of tips to offer.
Read MoreHow Christians can respond to COVID-19
What guidance does the Bible have to offer us in the midst of a pandemic?
How should Christians respond to the challenges presented by COVID-19? When (and how) will this resolve? We’ve all got far more questions than answers. The novel coronavirus isn’t specifically addressed in Scripture. But the Bible does offer the timeless, applicable wisdom we need–even for the situation we face.
I’ve been reading (and writing!) my way through the book of Genesis this summer. Noah’s “quarantine” in the ark in chapter eight felt oddly relatable (though I am not drawing a comparison between the flood and the coronavirus). So, I determined to follow his lead and discovered some practical nuggets that will help us continue to weather our current circumstances.
Read More