COVID-19 and the Gospel
Two weeks into the “Safer at Home” order, COVID-19 became more than news and statistics. I had been taking precautions (social distancing, face masks, sanitizing), making grocery store runs that felt surreal, telecommuting on Wednesdays and Thursdays. But that Monday morning, it became personal when I found out that a friend was hospitalized and intubated,... Continue Reading →
Wedding Tears
Over 2 years ago, the tsunami of my father’s death crashed upon me, after which through God’s strength, I kicked my way to the surface, gasping for air. The water roared and foamed (Psalm 46:3) almost relentlessly that following year, sometimes wearying my soul and sapping my strength until all I could do was the... Continue Reading →
David Powlison on Psalmic Faith versus Venting Anger at God
No Psalm encourages the venting of hostile anger like the self-help books encourage. [Don’t censor your feelings and language; say it like you feel it so you won’t be a hypocrite]. In the supposed vent your anger psalms—for example, Psalm 44—what comes through is how faith in who God is and what he promises cries... Continue Reading →
A Psalmic Faith
Published on the Biblical Counseling Coalition Website on January 24, 2018. https://biblicalcounselingcoalition.org/2018/01/24/a-psalmic-faith/ What is a Psalmic faith? I learned the term from Biblical Counselor Dr. David Powlison, who stated that there is a quality in the Psalms that often does not meet the "godliness" definition in the church proper. A Psalmic faith is a Coram... Continue Reading →
The Valley of Vision
I find this particular Christmas season a paradox. It is the time to prepare Him room: Christ, the brightest light came down into the darkness of a fallen world so that his perfect life and atoning death would give life. I seek joy for this Gift of life, all the while sorrowful of the loss... Continue Reading →
This is who asks us to trust Him when He calls on us to suffer…
This is a powerful excerpt about the gospel and suffering from "When God Weeps: Why Our Sufferings Matter to the Almighty" by Joni Eareckson Tada and Steven Estes. ...the Son is innocent. He is the model of blamelessness itself. The Father knows this. But the divine pair have an agreement, and the unthinkable must now... Continue Reading →
A Grief Sanctified: Through Sorrow to Eternal Hope
The below are excerpts from the chapter "The Grieving Process" in J. I. Packer's A Grief Sanctified: Through Sorrow to Eternal Hope - Including Richard Baxter's Timeless Memoir of His Wife's Life and Death (Crossway, 2002) What does it mean to grieve properly when one has lost a daughter, a son, a close companion, or the... Continue Reading →
Links to songs that minister to me in my grief
Be Still My Soul - by Katharina Amalia Dorothea von Schlegel, sung by the traditional acapella boy's choir, Libera Before You Call - by Daphne Rademaker (Vineyard), based on Isaiah 65:24 Dear Refuge of My Weary Soul - Words by Anne Steele, Music by Kevin Twit, performed by Indelible Grace Faith to Believe - by Shane and Shane He Will Hold... Continue Reading →
A Psalmic Faith 