Category: Dealing with Hardships
10 Lessons I’ve Learned from the Past Year
December is usually the time of year when people get a little more introspective, reflecting on the past year and all the lessons that came with it, in preparation for the New Year. So here are 10 lessons that 2015 has taught me. Hopefully they resonate with you. 1. Be solution-focused. Some people are naturally ...
The One Who Wants You Present
Have you ever wondered if anyone would notice if you fell off the grid? If your presence truly mattered? If your whole self -- your thoughts, your being -- was valued? Have you ever felt like a puff of smoke that people walked through rather than a human being standing in a room? Have you ...
Hope: The Underrated but Necessary Virtue
"And now these three remain: faith, hope, and love." - 1 Corinthians 13:13I've heard this verse many times before and thought I understood it. But I didn't - not fully, at least. Because out of these three virtues, the one I took less seriously was hope. Let me explain:I always viewed hope as a type of ...
Do Your Challenges Propel You or Prevent You?
I wanted to share with you a letter written by Canadian national hero, Terry Fox, with the hopes of getting Adidas to sponsor his footwear for the Marathon of Hope. If you're not familiar with Terry Fox, he was a man who chose to raise funds for cancer research by running across the entire country of ...
Kintsugi Heart
Kintsugi (金継ぎ) is the Japanese art of fixing broken pottery. Rather than gluing the pieces back together in a way that conceals the cracks, Kintsugi makes the cracks even more visible by filling them with lacquer resin mixed with powdered gold, silver, or platinum. This results in a metallic design that runs across the surface of ...
Don’t Let Fear of "Not Knowing" Stifle Your Growth
Being okay with "not knowing" has always been difficult for me, as it is for many. There's just something uncomfortable about it. We fear taking risks because we can't foresee the future. We want to be able to plan, to predict, to prepare, and to control. We want to be certain and we want to know. ...
Christmas: Joy in the Midst of Suffering
As much as we'd rather sweep things under the rug and hope the sparkle of sequinned dresses and Christmas lights can distract us, the Advent season does not make us immune to stress, pain, mourning, loneliness, illness, and suffering. Life does not suddenly stop throwing curveballs just because its Christmas. No, life keeps on rolling, ...
Making Peace with the Ordinary Grind of Everyday Life
Sometimes we can grow frustrated with life, wishing we were somewhere else but feeling stuck in the same unglamorous grind of everyday life. Like plot points in a movie, we wish every moment could be jam-packed with excitement, that we could fast-forward and skip over the mundane, ordinary details of day-to-day living -- things that seem so ...
When God Won’t Spoon-Feed You
One of the toughest things to come to grips with is that God won't always spoon-feed us. It sounds funny, but many of us unintentionally approach the faith that way: as if God is some wish-granting genie. We question his existence when we don't get what we want.Of course, God is not indebted to us ...
Delayed or Right on Time?
Have you ever had a situation in your life where no matter how much you prayed, no matter how many goals you made, no matter what actions you took, your situation just wouldn't change for the better? Like all your attempts were being throttled, leaving you feeling like you were constantly swimming against a tide ...
Celine Diaz: Real Talk 