Posts by Merrill
At best, it’s a difficult mess…
A friend and I were doing the “catch up” text yesterday, you know the, “How are you’s?” When he responded with, “Struggling due to a good friend whose young child has cancer.” UGH. One of the hardest to swallow and make sense of. Then he went on to say, “Feeling, life at it’s best, is difficult.” That stayed with me all day. Boy, is it difficult. I hear it from clients, friends and ones I hold dear in my heart. We all have wounds whether we offer them up to others, inviting them into our lives or keep them hidden in the depths of our being for no one to see. None are wound-less. I believe that one of the keys to...
Read MoreGood God
This week my dad had surgery. I won’t go into the scary details because the outcome was better than we could have ever hoped for. When it was all over we heard lots of, “God is Good!”. I even said it myself and texted it to my family and friends. It made me ponder. Yes, God is good. But, he’s not just good in the happy events, easy moments, and the “margins are clear” times. He is also good in the difficult, fearful, painfully lonely, I can’t catch my breath moments too. Are we brave and faithful enough to believe in his goodness then? I started thinking, why is it that we tend to give shout outs of God’s goodness only...
Read MoreTunnel Living
Have you ever had a moment when hope or faith got a bit difficult to carry on your own? Or maybe you just decided to put them down because you didn’t see any reason to keep holding them so tightly. These moments can be the most scary and lonely places we find ourselves in. The other day I happened to have one of those moments, and when I feel one coming on there are a handful of people I reach out to. People who have earned the right to hear and be a part of my story, the good, bad and the very ugly. This time I tagged my sister in. I called and asked her if she could come over, thankfully she lives about 10 doors down. She said, “I’m on my...
Read MoreWhat do Blueberries have to do with Obedience?
Recently I took 21 kids from our youth group to SIFAT (Servants in Faith and Technology), in Lineville Alabama for what I would call a mission “Experience”. Now I have been on many mission trips, in country and out, but this was the most powerful and difficult thing I have done. I am still processing all that cracked my heart open and left my head spinning. One of the many lessons that I took home was something that was presented to us after the “Experience”. The program director, Addison spoke a lot on what missions meant, which for me came down to loving, no matter where I am or who I am with. It is what we are called to do. Then he brought up a...
Read MoreWe get wet, we get dry…We get dry, we get wet.
This past week I was hanging out, drinking coffee with this hip, funny, creative young man. We are friends. Actually he is friends with my big boys, but he somehow tumbled in became one of mine. We enjoy getting together for coffee to share, encourage and inspire each other. He reached out last week but I was busting a breakout to NC and could not meet until this week. When we finally got together and found a great perch to drink our coffee, I asked him, “What’s up?” He explained what the challenges had been the previous week and the messy emotions he didn’t quite understand yet, but said he was better. Time settled and heals most things. As we...
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Merrill Is a mother of 5 who has found her calling in sharing her experiences from life with others. She can help you break out of your routine to live life to its fullest potential.