Tag: grief

Each one of us has a story

Someone I love in Ohio got into a car accident over the weekend. My first thought was to run to him. He’s okay, but I wanted to be there. To hug his neck and pray with him and reassure him that this accident at age 16 might keep him out of baseball for the season, but it won’t define the ... Read More

She’s 18. I can’t believe she’s 18. It’s like reading a book that has a Part 1 and a Part 2. We are reading the last chapter of Part 1 and are wondering what plot twists and new characters Part 2 will reveal.

I cried when I found out I was pregnant with a girl. Saul and I had tried to ... Read More

I slipped my hand into my husband’s and whispered, “You don’t need to say anything. Just stand here with me. I’m scared.”

He knew exactly what I was talking about. Despite being in a gym crowded with youthful basketball players and their excited parents and grandparents, it felt like it was just the two of us. A united front. Ready to ... Read More

I’m not above bribery.

This morning I woke up to find a note next to my computer:

“MOM

When I wake up ask me about Psalm 23. I know it but I will forget to do it for you if you don’t remind me.”

I have three children, but the one who left this note didn’t need to sign it. He knows ... Read More

I’ve talked a lot about my mom over the last ten years. The falling apart and the coming together and what God can do to mend fences, and the way he changes my rotten wood attitude before he hammers in that first nail.

This weekend, I got to visit my dad.

Five years ago, my dad had a stroke that left him ... Read More

I’ve noticed something over the past nine years of writing this column. Acts of Christmas kindness seem to have a special ability to stay with us throughout years and even decades.

Two women have shared just those types of kindness with me in the following stories. The first is from Gretchen Robinson from South Hill, VA.

“My kindness story happened ... Read More

From the time I was about 10 years old I can recall seasons where a sense of hopelessness would follow me through the morning.

It was the oddest thing. Some days I would wake up and there it would be, sitting in the corner like a cloak insisting on being worn. I couldn’t leave my room without it. Other mornings, it ... Read More

Have you ever been encouraged by someone else’s story? I bet you have. It’s a special brand of kindness to share our vulnerabilities because it reminds others in their scariest moments that we’re not alone.

Fargo resident Pat Pobst recalls a time many years ago that she needed to draw on another family’s story.

“Back in the late 1980s, The Forum ran ... Read More

I went to bed Saturday night filled with grief for my Fargo. I say “my Fargo” because after living there for ten years and having two babies in its hospitals, it became mine.

I began getting updates online when the peaceful protest turned violent. My heart ached for the downtown shop owners who waited to see if the front windows ... Read More