loneliness
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Intensely Private With God — Psalm 27
By Ann Hutchison Last week I watched the funeral, online, of a man of God. This man's wife was in ministry with him. They ran a church together. Perhaps this man was a little like King David. He left a fascinating legacy. But there was one phrase that stuck with me out of the whole…
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Shift our Focus – Part 4: Don’t Walk Alone
Photo courtesy of Abel Tan Jun Yang at Pexels.com Hello dear friends. Ian, from a chilly Sydney here. First day of winter and the southern part of Australia has got caught in a cold snap that’s come up from Antarctica. Brrr … This is the final part in my little series on shifting our focus…
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Oh, the Sweetness of a Friend!
Hi everyone — Ann here, and a happy Advent season to you all! In the spirit of Christmas, I'd wanted to pick one of the stories from the Gospels to talk about today, but which one to choose? These stories are all so full of wonder. After some thought, I finally landed on a favorite…
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“And My Hands Dripped with Myrrh”
If you were to open Google earth right now, you’d see a picture of earth from on high. Zoom in, and you’d see New Zealand, Auckland, then a suburb. Zoom in. You’d see a house. Oh, and there inside that house, there’s a girl, me, where God placed her. Zoom out. Zoom in again. India.…
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When Survival Is The ONLY Option…
First, I would like to thank you for the opportunity to share my heart with you all. I am so blessed and even more grateful for the door that God has opened for me! The Holy Spirit has given me many spiritual gifts but there is one that I cherish the most. He has given…
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Advent – Sharing the Longing
Image courtesy of 9comeback at FreeDigitalPhotos.net One Bible story that I keep coming back to each Advent season is the one that features Zechariah and Elizabeth. I hadn’t spent a lot of time reflecting upon it until a few years ago when I began to observe Advent. Most of you will know their story is…
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Going To Church Alone
Today, I want to chat about another big issue. This is a re-post for our newest family members. (Jan, 2016) GOING TO CHURCH ALONE. Gang, can I just say – Grrrrrrrrr This is so hard. I know that for me this was an area that was of intense and great struggle. Even today, I truly…
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Broadening our Horizons
Image courtesy of namakuki at FreeDigitalPhotos.net Being a SUMITE is full of interesting conundrums that can at times lead to much discouragement. One of these conundrums is our commitment to various Christian communities. I use the plural here to reflect both the church we attend plus other relationships (one-on-one and group) that we may partake…
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GOING TO CHURCH ALONE
Today, I want to chat about another big issue that was mentioned back in December when we began this journey. GOING TO CHURCH ALONE. Gang, can I just say – Grrrrrrrrr This is so hard. I know that for me this was an area that was of intense and great struggle. Even today, I truly…
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First LOVE
We have been chatting about suffering. It can truly blow up your mind to consider the reasons of God for suffering. Not too long ago the Lord spoke to me about my unequally yoked marriage. It was likely in a challenging season when I was complaining to God about His delay in saving my pre-believer.…
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Want Some Gold?
We have been contemplating loneliness and marriage. And wow, some great comments following the last post. Go read them!!!! I’m in a place of contemplating – Suffering. Gulp! I think I struggle to even speak this word aloud. I wrangle with the implications and shrink back. I consider the life of a Christian in the…
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Loneliness and What Jesus Says
Can I just say: Amazing! Our annual fast never fails to disappoint. So many great testimonies were shared of how the Lord moved in our lives. Many of you received a “word” for their year and I know many of us were loved on by our Lord through this community experience. I’m convinced our fast…
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Moments of Delight and Moments of Despair
The Christmas tree at Rockefeller Center. My friends, it’s great to be back with you! I had an amazing week in New York City with my mother and dear friend Sally, who is also my son-in-love’s mother. Definitely a family trip filled with special surprises and blessings that I know came from God’s heart to…
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Holiday Aloneness
Christmas is only two weeks away, let’s begin our discussion about loneliness and take a look at aloneness during the holidays. And SUMites it’s not only our community that feels alone during this time of year. For different reasons, The Holidays punctuate loneliness in many hearts. Those of us who walk through life with a spouse that…
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Yep, We Are Lonely
Hi SUMites, Well it looks as though I hit upon a deep need. The responses to Monday’s post, asking all of you about loneliness in marriage were vast and passionate. The comments on that post as well as the private emails that arrived, are filled with tremendous emotions. I sat down and wrote down…
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Are You Lonely In Your Unequally Yoked Marriage?
Hello SUMite Family, I want to talk about loneliness in marriage. I may be off in my thinking. Do we, the unequally yoked, live in a kind of perpetual loneliness? I know for me, I’ve battled against loneliness for years. I’m coming to understand some common denominators that are present in our kind of marriages.…
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Reader Question: Struggling with Shame and Regret
Hi Lynn and Dineen, I am writing this email because I feel an incredibly heavy burden. Right now I am struggling with a great deal of shame and an amount of regret over my decision to marry an unbeliever last year. It is tough for me to really believe that through this mistake, God will…
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Never Alone
I remember a day years ago, sitting in a restaurant with our church youth group. I watched and smiled as they talked and joked around. And as I sat there in the midst of this group, I felt totally alone. I’d recently jumped in to church with gusto but my husband hadn’t. He’d decided to…
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God Answers Me. A Supernatural Encounter
Good Morning, On Monday we chatted about how to recover from enormous disappointment. And in the comments some of you shared how this unequally yoked life is filled with loneliness. I think I will have to write about walking alone because truly I found myself facing a future, perhaps the rest of my life, empty…
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An Open Letter from Courtney
An Open Letter from Courtney: Hi Lynn and Dineen, I never thought I would say this, but I'm going to miss this season being in a spiritually unequal marriage in some ways. It just dawned on me this morning during a very precious and tear-filled quiet time with Jesus. As the Lord has been impressing…
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That Old Familiar Ache
It snuck up on me again, that old familiar ache. The one I used to walk around with constantly early on in my mismatched marriage. I thought I’d made peace with it, made the choice to trust God with my husband’s salvation and the future of our marriage. I’d learned to bring that ache, that…