grief

When God Weeps With Us

Weeping With Us; 2013; 20" x 29 1/2"; mixed media: watercolor, charcoal, pastel. Many years ago, I painted this image about grief and finding God so very present, actually weeping with me in it. Now, please allow me to share with you about a book written by a dear friend of mine that powerfully captures…Read more When God Weeps With Us

Grieving With Those Who Grieve

Grieving With Those Who Grieve; 2021; 10" x 13"; mixed media: watercolor, acrylic, graphite, crayon. Today I grieve… For women widowed too soon and fatherless children, For victims of senseless violence and those who love them, For children wounded, battling lies embedded before conscious thought, For millions across the world who lack access to healthcare,…Read more Grieving With Those Who Grieve

Shattering Into Joy

When I brought him home five years ago, I was broken too. His leg had betrayed him, shattering mid-stride when the thrill of the race outpaced his physical capability. His passion had disintegrated into pieces. I, too, scrambled to collect the shards of a dream. Hope for someone I dearly love had collided with her…Read more Shattering Into Joy

Of Loss and Hope

  The grief, the loss of what she had hoped for, lapped as relentlessly, as inevitably, as the breakers crashing again and again—minute after minute, day after day. Repeating their reach and retreat for millennia. Tumbling like so much seaweed, all of what-almost-was washed ashore, only to be drug back out again. Over and over.…Read more Of Loss and Hope

The Final Portal

Just a few days ago we visited a friend in hospice care. I recognized the signs: he stood on heaven's threshhold. Today he crossed over. Strange, the straddling of two worlds. The one leaving, caught betwixt and between, seeing one and then the other. While those who walk with them weep for the coming reality,…Read more The Final Portal

Loss

I began this painting about a week after my grandma transitioned from this life to the next. Since then, we've been working together as a family to hold an estate sale and prepare her house for the market. But last week, I set aside the logistics for a few mornings to complete the painting, to…Read more Loss

Always (Love Never Ends)

  It's been about five years since my Dad left this earth. His departure shocked me and shook me to the core of my being. Of kindred spirits, he was one of the closest. The current of mutual adoration running between us was so abruptly cut off, I was left disoriented and blind, suddenly lost…Read more Always (Love Never Ends)

Knee Deep in Ashes

I'm standing knee deep in ashes. The shards of shattered dreams now crumble over scorched earth. Years ago, I dreamed, I yearned, I claimed. I clutched my heart's desire. But sometimes challenges twist into diagnoses, early tremors quicken into full-blown quakes. I stand here, not at all sure I remember the heart once beating strong…Read more Knee Deep in Ashes

Painting Courage

The trouble with courage is that we don’t know if we have it until the moment we need it – until we’re teetering on the edge of a cliff, ready to plunge to depths below, or to spread our wings and fly. And really, it’s not until the desperation passes that, looking back, we see…Read more Painting Courage

Sifted Into Gold, again

I return to an old, rutted road marked with a faded sign, almost hidden in untamed overgrowth: "Welcome poor in spirit." But with just one step, my eyes open in wonder. The promise isn't posted on a sign, for it is evident to all who dare stumble down its mysterious twists and turns, "for theirs…Read more Sifted Into Gold, again