all will be made right.

May 10, 2016May 10, 2016 by Kathleen Moulton

When I read this story and watched the video, the first thing that came to my mind was this: if we can be so moved by this and so many other heart-warming stories, doesn’t that tell us there is a loving God?

Yes, there are horrible tragedies many of us have lived through. It doesn’t negate your pain and suffering.

But life is not all horrific. We must also embrace the good and allow it to stay in our thoughts. It points to eternity with our loving God.

If such love can happen here, what does God have waiting for us in Heaven?

Keep looking ahead for that day where all that went wrong will be made right.

nurturing.

May 9, 2016 by Kathleen Moulton

when it hurts

Nurturing comes in many ways.

Even if you weren’t nurtured the way you needed by the people you needed it from … someone nurtured you along the way.

And then there is sunlight, water, and having your feet planted.

Then there are the times when you do the nurturing, and you feel nurtured yourself.

Look around. There are many ways to nurture and be nurtured. Sometimes we get stuck in how we think about things. That’s because we feel the emptiness and it hurts.

Give and it shall be given.

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friday quote.

May 6, 2016May 6, 2016 by Kathleen Moulton

There may be true faith where there are workings of unbelief;

but then faith will prevail; and being humbled for our distrust of God’s word,

we shall experience his faithfulness to it.

-Matthew Henry

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Grief in Western Society: Why we Feel so Alone

May 2, 2016 by Kathleen Moulton ♥ 2 Comments

The Other Side of Complicated Grief

Dr. Elisabeth Kubler-Ross said, “It is difficult to accept death in this society because it is unfamiliar. In spite of the fact that it happens all the time, we never see it.”

As an ICU nurse, I worked around death a good part of my adult life. I mistakenly thought I understood death, until it happened to me. When I was personally thrust into the unwanted, tragic world of grief, I was completely unprepared for the anguish and debilitating pain I experienced. But, what was even more surprising to me was the overwhelming number of friends and family who were uncomfortable with my pain and the changes it caused in my life. I realized that not only was I unprepared for death and the fallout that occurred in my life, my family and friends were also unprepared for how to support me.

Our Western culture has inadvertently conditioned us to…

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scripture friday.

April 29, 2016April 28, 2016 by Kathleen Moulton

In the beginning was the Word,

and the Word was with God,

and the Word was God.

The Bible

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teach your children well.

April 27, 2016April 28, 2016 by Kathleen Moulton

When you have children, you are sure to experience heart ache.

They will grow and make their own decisions. This is how it’s supposed to be.

But some of those decisions will not be good, bringing heartache to their mother and/or father.

I’ve been thinking a lot about this lately in terms of how God must feel when we do not make good decisions.

Jesus said: “Which of you fathers, if your son asks for a fish, will give him a snake instead? If you, then, though you are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in heaven give good gifts to those who ask him?”

God is a father, too.

When my child does something wrong, it hurts me.

When we do something wrong, I think it hurts our Heavenly Father.

The Psalmist says, I have hidden your word in my heart that I might not sin against you.

I don’t believe the Psalmist said that because he was afraid but because he loved God and did not want to be hurtful toward his Heavenly Father.

As parents, we invest so much into our children. There are sacrifices made because we love them so much. We teach them well.

God invested in us, too. He sacrificed a slow, painful death for the sin of all mankind. He left us the bible to teach us well.

To knowingly and willfully to go against God, to sin, is like throwing what God did for us in his face.

Like how our child can hurt us.

But God is also patient and enduring. He waits way longer than we would ever think of waiting for things to turn around.

Can you? Your patience will continue to teach your children well.

God will help you.

God will help them.

You, who are on the road
Must have a code that you can live by
And so, become yourself
Because the past is just a goodbye

Teach your children well
Their father’s hell did slowly go by
And feed them on your dreams
The one they picks, the one you’ll know by

Don’t you ever ask them why
If they told you, you would cry
So just look at them and sigh
And know they love you

And you of tender years
Can’t know the fears that your elders grew by
And so, please help them with your youth
They seek the truth before they can die

Teach your parents well
Their children’s hell will slowly go by
And feed them on your dreams
The one they picks, the one you’ll know by

Don’t you ever ask them why
If they told you, you will cry
So just look at them and sigh
And know they love you.

“Teach Your Children Well”

Graham Nash, May 1970

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the more I prayed.

April 25, 2016April 25, 2016 by Kathleen Moulton ♥ 2 Comments

I used to think the more I prayed the better things would turn out.

That is pretty much based on the scripture knock and it shall be opened to you.

Add this to the American culture conducive to performance and productivity, along with books written on someone’s experience of answered prayer, well… there you have it.

It wasn’t only the death of my son that got me wondering, but other prayer worthy situations which began balancing earnest prayer with just as much earnest acceptance.

Some of us have neglected the Lord’s prayer because of its common place of rote recitation. Words we might become desensitized to.

But the word of God stands forever. Each time it is spoken it has the power to refresh and regenerate.

Human nature is attracted to new ways of doing things. Bigger and better. Faster and sleeker. Out with the old and in with the new.

Those things excite our emotions – often fleeting and not solid enough to anchor.

When I have been faced with great difficulty and sorrow, I have been drawn to writers from decades ago. Elisabeth Elliot, Amy Carmichael, C.S. Lewis, Oswald Chambers, and others. I feasted on these books alone in my room when Chris died.

Our world has progressed in many wonderful ways. Yet, we need wisdom in what is good and what is not. And wisdom comes from God.

Nothing is new under the sun. When pain comes to us, we need to hear from people who knew pain.

New isn’t always better.

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