Category: Pain

Sickness, Grace, and Healing: 20 Years of Experience

I recently came across some old films from two decades ago. These are not pictures of my family making memories or reminders of my youth. They are images of my brain, MRI films from an era when hard copies were mounted on a lit background for evaluation. 2002 was the first time I got an …

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Spring Always Follows Winter

In much of the northern hemisphere, spring has arrived. The seasonal change is certainly evident here in the Middle East. Last month, when we took a picnic up to a lone tree on a hill, its March branches were still barren. It was that week that we celebrated “Nawruz,” the “new year celebration” that coincided …

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Dark Saturday: Anguish and Anticipation

Teaching about trauma makes me think about what that day after Christ’s death was like for His followers and family. The emotions of grief, anger, and fear must have been overwhelming. Perhaps they wondered if they too were in danger. Suddenly, the call to “take up your cross and follow Me” was not just metaphorical. …

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To the Churches Whose Missionaries Have Come “Home”

It was 2001. My family had arrived in Kazakhstan in 1996, the first American family in our town, and been joined by other Americans and Aussies over the next several years. It was a fairly isolated place, and we certainly didn’t have Facebook and Zoom to remain connected to friends and family in our sending …

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Love and Suffering

Perspective: The Big Picture and the Beautiful Details

Recently, my husband and I took a hike near Joshua Tree National Park, intentionally staying away from the popular trails to make “social distancing” easier. Indeed, we encountered no one else along the way, and felt safe from any COVID-19 contamination. The downside of avoiding trails is that the terrain is not well-worn and rocks …

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Facing Fears from COVID-19

Over the last two months our perception of COVID-19 has been constantly changing, and with it, our internal and external reactions. When mostly isolated in China, it was something foreign, distant, and therefore not very threatening. But as its territory gradually started to expand, infecting people of our nationality, then appearing on our soil, then …

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Trauma According to Paul: Resilience in Relationships

We are equipped for survival in the present, but once the danger is past, it is not always easy to move forward “as usual.” Yet, we read of Paul’s accounts of being beaten, imprisoned, stoned and left for dead, and each time getting up again.

Trauma According to Paul: Reality and Reactions

I recently returned from Nigeria, where we work with many who have a heart to help the hurting, and who usually can relate from their own experiences of pain, fear, loss, and sorrow.

Humble Leadership (Part 2)

(To read the intro, click Humble Leadership, Part 1) When we think of influential people, rarely do we get a picture of someone asking for help. From the perspective of the audience, a powerful speaker may seem to have everything under control, to be fully in charge, and to be confident that what he or …

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