Relinquishing Our Right to Always Be Right

Life is very confusing. I feel as if I live in an upside-down world. What am I to believe or not believe? A drove of information surrounds me but very little truth. Everything seems to be relative based on who it benefits. Entitlement consumes our culture. We each shout loudly,…
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love beyond labels
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Learning to Love Beyond Labels

The human brain is an amazing superpowered personal computer tailored uniquely to each individual. It recognizes, analyzes, and labels inputted data within seconds. No matter how much we try to mimic it, nothing quite compares to the mind’s ability to imagine and create. For good or for bad, our brains…
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Abiding in a Bubble of Love

At a recent Christian writers conference, one of the speakers made a statement that touched my heart . It wasn’t at all about the craft of writing but about who we are as followers of Jesus. She said, “Remember (as Christians) we have a bubble of love surrounding us at…
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The Greatest Gift of All

The Christmas season is a magical time of year filled with twinkling lights, sacred music and children’s laughter. Gifts sit under carefully decorated evergreen trees ready for opening. If I’m honest, I admit to wondering what treasures lay hidden for me in these brightly wrapped packages. What will be the…
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Seeking Unity in Love

In early 2018, I started my blog Coeurageous because of all the fear and anxiety I was seeing in my patients. I wanted to offer them hope and encouragement. With the advent of 2020 and the pandemic, this fear has heightened. But, it has also morphed into a more dangerous…
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Comments Off on Through Loving Deeply We Become Real

Through Loving Deeply We Become Real

As a young girl, I learned what it meant to become real. When I was only 5 years old, I remember going to visit my great, great grandmother, Anna Peterson.  She had just turned 103 and many family members gathered to celebrate her birthday at my great Aunt Mena and…
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Comments Off on Choose to ‘Be the Good’ Anyway

Choose to ‘Be the Good’ Anyway

On a wall in my sister’s living room hangs a plaque. It reads: Believe there is good in the world. Be the Good. This mantra embodies her life’s message. We may not recognize the good in the world, but we can always choose to be the good anyway. As many…
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Free to Flourish At Last

I spent the early part of the morning pulling weeds in my flower beds. This mindless activity offered my brain some time to think … to process the events of the past eighteen months. Yesterday my sister took her last breath after a long, painful battle with cancer. It’s an…
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Comments Off on What’s Next This Year?

What’s Next This Year?

The year 2020 stands as a test of our resolve…and it isn’t even half over. Between my sister’s cancer, the Covid 19 pandemic, the economic downturn, and now riots in our cities, I can’t help but ask, ‘what’s next this year?’ How am I to respond personally as the world…
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Comments Off on Washed Clean by the Power of Love

Washed Clean by the Power of Love

Rain has fallen off and on all morning. One moment the sky drizzled while the next it poured. I sat at my computer watching through my window as I worked from home. Finally the sun broke through the clouds. Its rays made the water droplets on the plants in my…
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Comments Off on Love: A Choice of the Heart

Love: A Choice of the Heart

Every year Valentine’s Day falls in the middle of our frigid Midwestern winter. How ironic that a holiday celebrating fiery emotions, presents itself at this coldest season of year. But perhaps its timing isn’t a paradox but a symbol. Love in its purest form is a choice of the heart.…
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Comments Off on Time: The Most Precious Commodity

Time: The Most Precious Commodity

Time. It’s the most precious commodity. Yet often we appreciate it the least. People seek after wealth and fame but let time slip away. Even though we all understand that our days are numbered, we waste much of what we’re given. Only when life brings difficult circumstances, do we suddenly…
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Be Kind

Be Kind. Like sweet honey flowing from the comb, kindness satisfies an inner hunger. My tongue longs for its rare flavor. When someone opens a door for me or a stranger pays for my order, it sets my heart aglow. Nothing on earth affirms me like an unsolicited act of…
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Beautiful Feet

How beautiful on the mountains are the feet of those who bring good news, who proclaim peace, who bring good tidings, who proclaim salvation, who say to Zion, “Your God reigns!” Isaiah 52:7 NIV When my feet step out upon a mountain trail, I am at home. In the quiet…
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Comments Off on Love Came Down

Love Came Down

The Gift of Love at Christmas is permanent and priceless. All the presents are open. The festivities are complete. Everyone has returned to their regular routine after the whirlwind of preparation leading up to Christmas. Sometimes the calm after all the craziness leaves me a little melancholy. I enjoy visiting…
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