Guest Author 5 Minute Read by Pam Vredevelt Miscarriage. Stillbirth. Infant death. They all rock your world. I’ll never forget hearing these words from my doctor: “I’m not picking up a heartbeat, Pam. There doesn’t appear to be any fetal movement. I think the baby is dead.” In disbelief, my emotions began to run wild and unchecked. Engulfed in a…
Guest Author 5 Minute Read by Ashleigh Slater Our fourth baby was due in late October. By the time this fall due date arrived, though, my husband Ted and I had already said goodbye to our preborn child, without ever saying hello first. It happened in my tenth week of pregnancy. After a Doppler failed to detect a heartbeat, an…
Callie Mitchell 11 Minute Read “And her offspring will crush the head of the serpent…” (Genesis 3:15) The opening three chapters of Genesis are known to most of us for their purpose in describing the origin of life, and establishing the character of God as creator. The depth of these few chapters; however, is as unending as God is eternal. …
Natasha Metzler 4 Minute Read There are so many stories. They pile up and run over and leave aching sorrow behind. And sometimes I think the hurt that grieves God the most is that which is inflicted by believers. We speak so rashly, words slashing and leaving bloodied hearts behind. We’re broken human beings, but unfortunately, some of us forget that truth…
Elisabeth Adams 7 Minute Read Why do I love reading love stories that really happened? Is it the part of me that enjoys real butter, homemade bread, chicken soup from scratch . . . or the fact that a little suffering creates a great big desire for authenticity? Most of all, I think it’s the fact that true stories show…
Jenni Marie 3 Minute Read I had the pleasure to be with grandma through five of her last days. My arrival from the opposite side of the country was unplanned, but a welcome season of togetherness. She didn’t really know I was there — most of the time, anyway — and when she did acknowledge my presence, it was only…
Natasha Metzler 3 Minute Read There is singing as we slip in the back. We’re late, which is normal for evening services. The cows can only be milked so fast and we can only start so early. The congregation is singing, “Low in the grave He lay, Jesus my Savior…” Our bench soon fills with other farmers, also late with still-damp…
Elisabeth Adams 3 Minute Read Yesterday, I sat in a dentist’s waiting room, while the clock ticked two hours past my appointment time. It was packed: at least a dozen people sat waiting, watching TV with Hebrew subtitles, while the dentist punctuated the subdued murmur with repeated cries for his very busy secretary, and I tried not to watch the…
Gretchen Louise 3 Minute Read I was awakened by the phone call on September 11. I’d known it was coming. I’d even been expecting it. But that morning, it caught me by surprise. Grandpa and Grandma had celebrated their fifty-eighth wedding anniversary that Sunday. And early Thursday morning–a little over a month before his seventy-eighth birthday–they reached that moment of “death…
Callie Mitchell 5 Minute Read I will never forget the first sight of her itty bitty wiggly body, or hearing the sound of her dainty feminine cry! At long last, my baby was here! The doctor scooped her up and laid her on my chest. As we snuggled on our living room couch, skin-to-skin, full of tears, joy, relief, and…
Jeannie Pederson 2 Minute Read 2014 was a wonderful year, but it was also a very hard one. Looking back to pinpoint my favorite moment, I see grace upon grace, beauty in the pain, and God’s unfailing love and faithfulness. Christmas of last year: we were all sick, my husband was working night shift over the holiday (so he slept…
Natasha Metzler 3 Minute Read My father bought it for her after one of the hardest years of her life, when she was struggling with feeling rejected and unheard after years of service. The pearl ring was worn on her finger and she would whisper the story sometimes, if you caught her in the right mood. “There are many times…
The End.
The End.