Grief & Growth
Posts that deal with loss, transformation, or vulnerability.
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Christmas Mourning: Some Notes on Grief In This Holiday Season
What happens when you don’t feel like celebrating Christmas because you’re dealing with grief?
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How To Stop Fear of Public Speaking from Stopping You
If you know the discomfort of having a room/auditorium full of eyes on you at once, and want to stop wishing for the floor to swallow you whole, keep reading.
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If you feel life is meaningless, read this.
I started a Ph.D. these past few weeks in Biblical Studies. I have worked hard to get to this point, following in step in God’s timing. But I also am not forgetting the support of family, friends, academic colleagues and mentors who have encouraged me. It truly does take a village. Preparing for this, as well as just trying to pace myself through my twenties—with the big three-oh in a few months—has taken much time away from blogging. However, with the onslaught of academic writing, I’ve realized a need to keep up leisure writing such as this.
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When You’re Told To “Pray More”: God Hasn’t Left
As a lifetime Christian, I can’t tell you how many times I’ve heard that when people are in despair, they just need to pray more. “Keep looking to Jesus,” they say. “God is still here.” “If you feel like you’re praying to a wall, He hasn’t left you, you’ve left Him.”
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When You’ve Hit Burnout
Somehow, it’s already the end of August. When the new year of 2018 rolled in, I had the best of intentions to post often and regularly. But somehow I hadn’t taken into account how my mind works, my schedule, and self-placed expectations. As we approaching the end of summer, I realize that I’ve hit a wall of burnout. Burnout isn’t always obvious. As a go-getter, you might be itching to get the next task done and jump over the next hurdle. Having a full plate of things to do gives you that special rush. And even though it’s a little overwhelming right now, you tell yourself that it’s for the short-term,…
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When Bad Things Happen: Las Vegas Shooting
It’s with a heavy heart that I write this post. I had a different topic planned. But after watching the news about the Las Vegas shooting this week, I knew I needed to postpone it. On October 1st, 2017, one man killed around 60 people, and injured over 500 at a Jason Aldean concert in Las Vegas. This set the record for the biggest mass shooting in U.S. history. As a Canadian, a ‘next-door’ neighbour, this story hits close to home. When terror strikes the world, a number of things happen. People get scared. People rally together. And people, more than ever, start to question why bad things happen. I…
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Looking at the Church: Do You Feel Like You Belong?
I walk into church and people are already talking to each other in their seats or in the lobby. They smile and laugh, happy to be in their own groups. Everyone belongs to a group. They sit together with the friends they’ve had for years. They make plans for lunch after service, patting themselves on the back for their good Christian efforts over the past week. And they nod as the pastor preaches his sermon, promising to do better, be more friendly this week. The pastor shakes their hands as they go out the door. And yet, no one has tried to talk to me. This is the scenario that…
