LIVING ROOM MEMORIES 275 (April 5, 2010) The best kind of friend you can have is someone who will cry with you when you cry and celebrate with you when you’re joyous. What amazing bonds can form when a friend is sympathetic to where you are emotionally! I have three friends like that now, and […]
Read More...I need people. Always have. Many of us, including me, wouldn’t survive our emotional distresses without the support of friends, counselors or the crisis line. Without having someone stay close to talk us through the pain, we might not survive. I might not have survived. It often takes another person to help us look at […]
Read More...When I was excluded from the group I had needed so badly I felt like an outcast. Not long after, when I retired from Living Room, I was told I could no longer come back as a peer, I wrote in my journal: “Now I have no group at all. I’m an outsider.” Unwanted. Left […]
Read More...Oh, I wish I could have received compassion like Jesus modeled. Jesus was in tune with the suffering of sick people, the suffering and needs of people who are judged by the world. How can people rightly judge a person they don’t understand – whose pain they cannot feel? How can they understand the pain […]
Read More...LIVING ROOM MEMORIES 254 (October 18, 2009) Our guest speaker at church today was David Collins. He talked about the sins of Sodom and Gomorrah, pointing out that the sins they committed were symptoms, they’re not the root of it. At the root was something else. Quoting Ezekiel 16:49: “Now this was the sin of […]
Read More...LIVING ROOM MEMORIES 231 (April 12, 2009) My roller coaster ride will not stop. I don’t feel so depressed that I don’t want to do anything. Just feel an overwhelming sense of sadness. Trouble with me is that I feel a need to reach out – to draw comfort from others. Yet that kind of […]
Read More...In the previous post I talked about the moods people with bipolar go through, like the depression that had been plaguing me for such a long time. “You wonder if you can ever be counted on again,” I told my fellow bloggers. I recognized that “I’ve been fortunate. I’ve had a lot of support – […]
Read More...LIVING ROOM MEMORIES 135 (February 23, 2008) Catholic theologian Henri Nouwen believed that our wounds can be a source of healing for others. Not only do they help us become compassionate, but they humble us. As we work toward healing in our own lives, we can help bring healing to others. I’m finding that so […]
Read More...He (God) comes alongside us when we go through hard times, and before you know it, he brings us alongside someone else who is going through hard times so that we can be there for that person just as God was there for us. 2 Corinthians 1:3-4 (MSG) We who live with illness and […]
Read More...What is more, I consider everything a loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whose sake I have lost all things. I consider them garbage, that I may gain Christ. Philippians 3:8 The other night I had a most uncomfortable feeling, one I’ve frequently experienced in the […]
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