“You ate it!?!”

Feet stomped up the stairs, a door slammed, and muffled cries came from my daughter's bedroom. Meanwhile, in the kitchen, my husband was making dinner and wiping crumbs from his face, cupcake crumbs. Crumbs from the last cupcake that had belonged to my youngest daughter - the one crying upstairs.

Yesterday, he had told her she could have it, then today he ate it.

She didn’t understand. 

I knew her pain. I distinctly remember there was a 24-hour rule when I was growing up if we had sweets in the house and it was laying around we had 24 hours to eat it or it was free game and any dibs on it or sharpie written names expired. This rule, however, had not been established in my house. 

Tracing her steps I gently knocked on the door, "it’s Mom can I come in". She mumbled something. Her head was buried under the pillow and she peeked out at me. Her tear-streaked face was puffy and her lips were pouty. 

“I’m sorry Dad...

We’ve all lost something or someone dear to us and when we experience loss we grieve. Time will heal our hurting hearts and while some may get stuck, many of us will get through it.

Here’s what I know about grief, my own and those I’ve walked beside: many of us don’t know we can expect something good to come out of our grief.

We can?  

Yes.

Listen to Jeremiah 31:13, "...I will turn their mourning into gladness; I will give them comfort and joy instead of sorrow." (NIV)

The Message Translation says, "I’ll convert their weeping into laughter, lavishing comfort, invading their grief with joy."

Amplified says: "For I will turn their mourning into joy, And will comfort them and make them rejoice after their sorrow."

God promises to give us:

• Gladness and laughter.
• Lavishing comfort.

Then, He says he will invade us with joy and make us rejoice. 

I don’t know about you but, not all my losses have ended like that.

Sure, after the loss...

Does this crisis feel like we’re in the middle of the unknown? 

From the corner of my eye, I caught my daughter dancing in the kitchen as she puts away dishes. She’s leaping and sliding across the floor with glasses, and plates, and silverware.  With headphones on, she is unaware she has an audience. I see her take a deep breath, filling her lungs with air just before she belts out:  “Into the Unknown, Into the Unknown, Oh-oh-oh-oh, into the unknown.”  She spins and stops with huge eyes locked on me questioning how long I’d been watching. Then, she bows.  Oh, that kid.

“Into the Unknown” is the song from Disney’s new Frozen 2. We find Elsa standing in the darkness, it is beckoning her to step into the unknown, towards something that is calling her. 

She must face her fears. 

She must trust she will be ok.

The unknown will answer questions of her identity

The unknown holds her destiny only if...

Robbed. We'd been robbed. Or at least that's what it felt like to me. Our Virginia house had been on the market for longer than it should have been and we'd had no offers. Then, finally one came and the buyer wanted all my curtains and the appliances in our basement kitchen. The listing had clearly said these didn't convey. I had plans for those draperies in my new house, my Colorado house. And in my heart I'd already given those appliances to a family who needed them. She couldn't have them. What was the most irritating was she wanted the wrought-iron bench in my front yard. The bench was a gift in remembrance of my dad. That sent me over the edge. I dug my heels in. I didn't want to budge. 

It is silly really, but it was my reality and feelings aren't always reasonable. The pending cross country move and looming uprooting from family and friends was already so painful. Now this, this was taking even more from me. I was grieving, losing a big piece of myself in...

When I lost my job, it was devastating on us. 60% of my family’s income just disappeared. POOF! It was the biggest trial my life, my marriage and my family had ever faced. Maybe for you it wasn’t a job loss, maybe it was something else. We are all hit by circumstances that send us into a tailspin.  You can get control back. You can bring order to the chaos. And you are already equipped to do it. 

Hebrews 13:21 says “God has equipped us with everything we need. Your trial did not surprise God, and mine didn’t either. He has already equipped us with what we need to win. Scripture says 3x he trains my hands for battle. How encouraging. God not only saw this coming, he made sure we were ready.

How are we ready? Here's how.  

In Ephesians (6:16) Paul tells us to, “take up the shield of faith, with which you can extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one.” Whatever the enemy fires at us can...