What we often don’t realize when we’re flailing in the ocean is that God is constantly sending us lifelines, but when we are in a state of panic, we may not be able to see them. The water and danger are real and there are currents and threats to our livelihood at every turn. It is easy to become overwhelmed and hopeless, but there is also God’s loving hand reaching out and trying to pull us from a sea of chaos and torment.

If you are struggling through a broken relationship, the need for spiritual fulfillment and peace can be intense while the possibility of the need being met can seem light years away. This leads me to the topic of the day. How do we fill our empty cups in the midst of a spiritual drought?

Divorce can feel like a terrible mark on our otherwise clean records, a failure, a rejection. On these low confidence days I look in the mirror and I think, Holy Cow, you’re fat! No wonder you’re single.

My grandfather was an eclectic gardener. I remember as a child that he had flowers growing everywhere in the front of my grandparents’ house. There was no rhyme or reason to his garden and it was a bit wild. He just loved the flowers and wanted to see them grow.

Whether you are the survivor of a broken marriage, a destroyed friendship, a severed family relationship, or tense partnership with a work colleague, you may find yourself in a place where you feel both disappointed in others and yourself. How do we navigate our way through the terrible emotional baggage that comes with broken relationships?

I had a bad day with humanity today, a very bad day. I went to the mall. The world after COVID isn’t quite the same, or maybe I’ve just been buried in my house so long that I forgot what the world was like.

“Those of us who are single are not exactly the walking dead but we are certainly made to feel like the walking incomplete. When I was still reeling from my separation from my husband, I remember feeling rather bitter and cynical as I looked at happy couples. “

Today, I am standing on the top of the mountain. I am feeling the incredible joy of creating a work I’m proud of and also enjoying the moment with a wonderful community of supportive friends and family. Four years ago, I was in a deep valley. I could barely get out of bed. I wondered if my life had any value at all.

When my ex-husband first dropped the bombshell that he was having an affair, I was in shock. After a few hours of processing the information in a state of disbelief, I started shaking. I was confused. My mind seemed fully intact, but my body seemed to have a mind of its own. I was lightheaded. I needed to lie down, but then I was hit with nausea. I ran to the bathroom and knelt at the foot of the toilet bowl gripping its sides. I vomited over and over again till there was nothing left to expunge.

I am the first to admit, when tragedy strikes, the journey through that tunnel of suffering is straight out awful. I have only compassion and care for other women and men going through the tunnel I traveled through, but my hope for you is to remember that suffering is not without purpose.

A marriage can certainly be saved, but you can never return to the relationship of the past. This is a difficult reality that every woman must learn to accept whether or not her marriage survives.

In a marriage, the pathway to infidelity is really a gateway to more secrets and more lies. Whether you’re the cheater or the injured party, both spouses enter a world where it feels necessary to lie and prevaricate at every turn. I became a liar because I didn’t want people to know the truth about my marriage.

There is nothing empowering about seeing yourself as a victim. This is not the story of your life. It is not honest and it is not true. This narrative will eat you for breakfast and spit out your bones as it leads you down the path of sin and misery.

We are the walking wounded, desperately trying to stop the bleeding of a gaping wound with a flimsy tissue. The intensity and realness of your crisis may simply cause too much strain on some friendships.

What we often don’t realize when we’re flailing in the ocean is that God is constantly sending us lifelines, but when we are in a state of panic, we may not be able to see them. The water and danger are real and there are currents and threats to our livelihood at every turn. It is easy to become overwhelmed and hopeless, but there is also God’s loving hand reaching out and trying to pull us from a sea of chaos and torment.

Divorce can feel like a terrible mark on our otherwise clean records, a failure, a rejection. On these low confidence days I look in the mirror and I think, Holy Cow, you’re fat! No wonder you’re single.