When was the last time you felt safe telling someone everything that was in your heart? It takes a lot of time and trust to reach that level of honesty with a person—someone with whom you hold nothing back.   God is that kind of person. He longs to hear everything, no matter how bad you think it is—even if it’s anger at Him for not fulfilling the desires of your heart. Jesus, who called Himself the Truth, said the truth would set us free.   We’ve been talking about God’s heart toward us in seasons of disappointment, revealed through Hannah’s prayer in the temple. She held nothing back when...

It’s Labor Day, cloudy and full of rain-laden wind and the cooler weather I longed for it to bring this weekend.   It’s so appropriately wistful.   I’ve been reading Robert Frost this morning. His autumn poems seemed to blow in through my open windows, settling around my soul with fresh understanding. I love poets: They express so well feelings and moments that might otherwise go unexamined.   In my last blog I wrote about my long season of “in between,” a characteristic of September simply and beautifully expressed by my lovely late mother—who did not often put her own spirit’s poetry...

This summer has been one long and challenging transition for me. So much has changed in my life over the past 18 months, and I’m still adjusting.   It may take me a while longer.   God is doing good things in my life, to be sure. But sometimes those good things are the result of hard things. I’m feeling a bit glad that the main months of summer have passed, hoping that my internal world will soon begin afresh like that first fallish morning with a hint of frost in the air. For that reason, I’m so glad it’s September.   Yet, I’m reminded that September is...

What feels impossible in your life right now? Getting a date or finding a husband? How about a job, a friend, a place to live?   Hannah’s impossible circumstance was infertility. Back then, there was no in vitro fertilization. There were no drugs or procedures to make the impossible possible.   Hannah believed that only God’s power could overcome the circumstance that she felt powerless to change. She believed that, against all medical and physical odds, He could make the barren womb conceive.   That’s why she asked for a son, and why she made a vow to give that child back to God as a...

If you grew up in the Church, you might feel guilty if you are disappointed because of your long-time singleness. You might feel selfish or sinful for desiring a partner, a lover, a companion.   Hannah could have had these same fears when dealing with her intense desire to have a child. Maybe her husband was right; his love was enough! Shouldn’t she be content with that? Wasn’t it enough to be part of God’s chosen people?   Yet, she dared to approach Him with the subject: “And she was in bitterness of soul, and prayed to the Lord and wept in anguish” (1 Samuel 1:10). What flowed in those...

Have you ever been disappointed about something—oh, let’s say, a date that didn’t happen, or the fact that you’ve just turned 30 or 35 or 38 and you still don’t have a boyfriend—and you make the mistake of expressing your feelings to an unsympathetic person?   “I guess it wasn’t meant to be,” they say. “There’s other fish in the sea.” “Don’t worry, you’ll meet someone sooner or later.” “God has a plan.”   Well, all those things may be true—or not. The point is that when you’re hurting, most of the time the first step for healing isn’t to paste truth over the wound like a Band Aid. The first...