| The Grit and Grace Project

When Life Changes, Does Your Purpose Change, Too?

By Marlys Johnson Lawry / Purpose, Audio Articles

(Listen to the audio version of this article here.) An old, wooden door with a torn screen and chipped paint once graced our front porch. A birch basket of pinecones sat on a red chair in front of the door, and a “Welcome” sign hung from the top corner. The screen door that once slapped happily against the frame of a tired, old farmhouse had been repurposed into porch art. It received a few comments through the years, not all of them complimentary. One friend went so far as to offer to repair the screen door. (It seems that some people don’t appreciate good art when they see it.) What if you once knew what your purpose was? And what if you […]

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Dear Caregiver: You Don’t Have to Be a Superhero

By Marlys Johnson Lawry / Life & Culture

My caregiving roles overlapped and tangled. My mom moved in with us, slipping further into dementia. And then we heard these heart-stopping words from my husband’s doctor: “It’s cancer.” The season as caregiver for my mother was challenging. She was negative. And distrustful. She was sure my husband, Gary, and I were stealing her money. This wasn’t the woman who reared us kids with courage and imagination, who told us we could be anything God wanted us to be. There were plenty of fun memories mixed in with the challenge, though. Mom and I held a weekly Girls’ Movie Night. Little Women, Sleepless in Seattle, and Roman Holiday were among her favorites. Nearly every evening after the dinner dishes were done, we

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How to Feel Your Emotions in a Healthy Way With Dr. Zoe Shaw

By Tess Lopez / Life & Culture

We’re likely to bounce between feelings of happiness, sadness, anger, excitement, exhaustion or any number of other emotions every day. Some are fickle, while others might not be so temporary. No matter which ones you experience, they are all normal and they deserve to be listened to. Where we often go wrong is in our reaction to those feelings—either lashing out at someone or making an impulsive decision we later regret. Even when we choose not to react by suppressing our emotions, we are entering into dangerous territory. Dr. Zoe Shaw is a licensed psychotherapist and regular contributor to Grit and Grace Life through articles and her advice column, Ask Dr. Zoe. She has also been a guest on several episodes of This

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Your World Just Turned Upside Down—What Now? with Marlys Johnson Lawry – 197

By Smart Living with Grit and Grace / Podcast

Subscribe: Apple Podcasts | Spotify | Amazon Music | Android | TuneIn | RSS | MoreYour world just turned upside down. What do you do? Marlys Johnson Lawry has been there. Her and her first husband, Gary, were not only partners in life but in servitude to their community. Gary’s cancer diagnosis came on the heels of unemployment and financial strain—and for Marlys, an overwhelming sense of stress and uncertainty. She joins Darlene and Julie on this week’s podcast episode to share details of her rollercoaster ride through dating as a widow, and more importantly, the coping skills that helped her press on through the unexpected life changes and find hope and happiness again. Marlys Johnson Lawry is a speaker, award-winning writer, and

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A Letter to My Fellow Teachers in the Wake of the Texas Tragedy

By Amy Saxby / Life & Culture

After the recent tragic elementary school shooting in Texas, one teacher reflects on the hardships and responsibilities our educators face—and encourages them to find their “why.” #gritandgracelife

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A Note to Women Grieving on Mother’s Day

By Carey Melton / Motherhood

I won’t pretend to know or even understand all the situations that could make a woman grieve around the celebrations of Mother’s Day. I also won’t pretend to understand the unimaginable pain of losing a child. For Those Grieving on Mother’s Day What I can tell you is that I have grieved. Sometimes I still grieve, and not just on Mother’s Day—but maybe on a random Tuesday too. Like many of you, I’ve been on both sides of Mother’s Day being difficult to celebrate. I lost my mom; actually buried my mom four days before Mother’s Day 20 years ago. I’ve also grieved because I longed to be a mother so badly. Grief would rear its ugly head at pregnancy announcements for

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When You Feel Lost, God Will Find You

By Tess Lopez / Faith, Audio Articles

(Listen to the audio version of this article here.) It’s true what they say: God knows how to call his children back to him. He’s the one who created us, after all. With a week off of school for spring break (and no research papers, video projects or other tedious graduate work due), I finally had a chance to decompress. The previous six months had delivered an unending supply of due dates, elaborate holiday planning and writing opportunities that were too good to pass up. So, to make time for it all, I cut out anything and everything that I felt got in the way of me getting ahead. One of those was my morning Bible study. Big mistake. Stepping Back to

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How Do I Deal with Grief During the Holidays? with Nancy Hicks – 170

By Smart Living with Grit and Grace / Podcast, Relationships

Subscribe: Apple Podcasts | Spotify | Amazon Music | Android | TuneIn | RSS | MoreMaybe this is your first year—or one of several—trying to balance the joy of the holidays with grief over a loss. The conflicted feelings can make it difficult to celebrate or even consider being around others. Speaker and author Nancy Hicks joins Darlene Brock and Julie Bender to discuss how we can come to terms with our grief when the holidays are approaching. Nancy speaks from her grief journey after dealing with the loss of her son this year. She encourages us to give ourselves grace as we experience the vast set of emotions that accompany loss, and shares some ways we can cope with grief during

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How to Find Joy Even When Your Circumstances Hurt

By Sara Chapple / Faith

As I sat in the emergency room beside my dad’s bed, again, as he slept quietly, I asked myself and truthfully asked God, “Where is the joy in this?” Years before, God and I began a journey. It was a journey to find joy, and I was excited about the trip. I longed to have the joy I felt I had once experienced in my life. As God and I started journeying and I started learning and trusting Him more, the joy began to grow. But how do you stay on a joy journey when the man you’ve called dad and friend for 40 years begins a battle for his very life? Doesn’t the pursuit of joy get put on a back

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Our Plans Are Not Promises, But God Is Still Good

By Katie Loudermilk Roberts / Faith

Whether we realize it or not, we all plan ahead of time. Making plans keeps us organized and focused on the objective ahead, whether it’s determining what to make for dinner, organizing a family vacation, or achieving goals. I keep track of everything in my personal planner; I’ll forget something if I do not write it down, and I also need to know what to expect from the rest of my day. Any interruptions beyond what’s written in my planner annoy me because they take me away from what I need or want to do. But our plans are not promises. What happens if they don’t pan out? With No Plans in Place, I Was Worried For me, the past year has

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Now that I’m Grieving My Mom, I Wish I Appreciated Her More

By Amber Koehn / Relationships

Growing up, I had a tendency to act like a spoiled brat whenever I didn’t get my way. Many people have done this, I know, but what took my behavior to the next level was that no matter which parent made the decision to tell me, “No,” I would always take my frustrations out on my mother. It didn’t matter what the situation was or why I couldn’t have my way, my mom was always the victim of my emotions. In between complaints about how everyone else’s parents got them xyz or how everyone else’s parents let them do xyz, I would berate my mom with incredibly harsh and seemingly unforgivable words and sometimes even become destructive (on more than one occasion,

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Grieving Our Dog Revealed the Power of Family Love

By Melissa Solle / Motherhood

Unlike many families we know, our family, thankfully, has experienced very little death or illness. Our kids have been to less than five funerals in their whole lives, and as their parents, we aren’t too far off of that number either. We’ve lived relatively grief-free for decades. Recently, however, we had to euthanize one of our beloved dogs upon the advice of our veterinarian. For many people, dogs truly are a member of the family. It takes all of 10 seconds for a puppy to be forever a part of your heart. If you know, you know. Grieving our dog is hard, and sometimes still painful, but it’s teaching me a lot about the power of family love. Remembering Our Beloved Dog,

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the loss of my son is changing how i teach my children healthy emotions

Losing My Son Has Changed How I Teach My Children Healthy Emotions

By Cara Martinisi / Motherhood

I’m a mom of three boys, and while I know from experience that prepubescent girls have their own struggles, I am beginning to learn about the struggles of prepubescent boys. My ten-year-old middle son had one of those days today. It was one of those days where it feels like everything is going wrong. He got his first zit, didn’t sleep well last night, and everything just feels “icky” as he stated it. It makes me feel terrible to see him this way. My initial emotional reaction is always the same, “Quick, make him feel better!” Just as quickly as that thought appears, it fades and my reasoning takes over. In my head, I know that I am robbing him of integral

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Life Is Fragile: What My Mom’s Illness Has Taught Me

By Caroline Beidler / Life & Culture

In middle school, we had well-meaning, completely-out-of-touch teachers (according to us) who thought that it was important to include “life lessons” as part of the curriculum. These lessons included how to write a check (long before Venmo or PayPal), how to open a bank account, how to respond when our bodies started to develop and what on earth a maxi pad was—just to name a few. I Learned a Big Lesson in Middle School: Life Is Fragile One of these lessons we were unwillingly tasked with was carrying around an egg all day. We were informed that this smooth, white egg was representative of our baby child. “Raising a kid is tough,” one male teacher noted. “This will show you how very

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Behind Her Struggle With Alcohol With Lindsey Encinias – 161

By Smart Living with Grit and Grace / Podcast

Subscribe: Apple Podcasts | Spotify | Amazon Music | Android | TuneIn | RSS | MoreIs social drinking just a glass of wine at dinner (the answer is yes), or can it become something else (the answer is also yes)? Current statistics show that many women find themselves in a struggle with alcohol, experiencing a significant upswing after the stress of 2020. With this knowledge in hand, Darlene Brock and Julie Bender interview Lindsey Encinias, writer for Grit and Grace, who bravely shares her battle overcoming alcoholism. In this personal story, she recounts contributing factors- her family history, the tragic loss of her father while she was a teenager, and wrestling with her identity after leaving an exciting corporate role after becoming

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my grandmothers taught me the true strength of a woman

How My Grandmothers Left a Legacy of True Strength

By Katie Cress / Relationships

The other day I was in my spring-cleaning groove, jamming along to the new Taylor Swift album when suddenly, I found myself completely moved, crying over the Clorox… “And if I didn’t know better I’d think you were talking to me now If I didn’t know better I’d think you were still around” These lyrics are about Taylor’s grandma, Marjorie, and they resonated with me so deeply. My grandmothers both left this earth over a decade ago, yet that mark of time still feels strange. For those of you who have experienced grief and loss of loved ones, you probably can relate to how the moment of loss can feel like just yesterday or a lifetime ago all in the same minute.

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Julie Graham’s Untold Story of Heartbreak, Healing and Hope – 101 This Grit and Grace Life

By Our Grit and Grace Life Videos / HerStory, Purpose

In this gripping and emotional podcast, Grit and Grace Life‘s own Julie Bender (previously Julie Graham), brand ambassador and podcast co-host, talks about the sudden loss of her husband and the difficult season of marriage that preceded it. Now, more than two years later, Julie shares the heartache that accompanied raising her son as a single mom and how she turned to her faith to for strength and encouragement during a time that was anything but stable.

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