My Dad has battled Parkinson’s disease for the last 10 years. While he’s had an amazingly resilient attitude about it all, I’ve watched his frustration with losing the capability to do things he loves, and as it’s progressed, even simple daily tasks. I often think about how helpless it must feel for him to still have a mind that is fully alert, but trapped in a body that slowly loses its functioning. Any kind of physical bondage has an immense…
I’ve had a dull toothache for months now. Months. The pain ebbs and flows. Sometimes when I drink something cold I’ll get a shooting pain, but other days it goes completely unnoticed. I’ve even learned to adjust to it by only eating and drinking on the left side of my mouth, and that’s actually worked pretty well for me. Is it getting worse? Probably. Should I get it checked out by a dentist? Most definitely. But I’m scared. If I…
Last night I sat in my Mom’s hospital room with her, staring at the ceiling. Her machines were beeping and buzzing, I knew she was in pain, I was worried about what the future would hold, and I couldn’t sleep. As I sat there I thought back on a few days earlier when I found out the news that my Mom was very sick and had been admitted. I was scared, I was heartbroken, and my friends came running to…
It happened again last week. Another client sat across from me in my counseling office, and with panic flashing in his eyes, said, “I feel like I’ve let God down. I’m terrified that I’ll get to the other side and He’ll turn me away because I wasn’t enough. Because I failed Him.” Different forms of this fear have become increasingly frequent disclosures from my clients. I see their heads bow in shame as they share these concerns. I feel their…