Perhaps this discussion will help you find a greater understanding of gentle parenting, what it is and what it isn’t, and how it most definitely fits within a biblical framework.  Gentle parenting turned out be one of the greatest blessings of my lifetime and not only did it help me to parent my children in a way that aligned with my biblical principles, but it also helped them thrive and grow up to be well-adjusted people who also love God.  In addition, it had the added benefit of helping me to see God as a gentle parent toward me and my relationship with him blossomed because of it. 

God is good when things go well for us and also when they don't. God is good all the time. Would it help those who are suffering if we recognize God's goodness despite our pain?

Although we give God credit for every good gift, including the gift of life, perhaps we should also in the same breath, recognize that others lost their lives and that is a very sad thing. Sometimes leaving out that part, leads a griever to begin doubting their own faith: Why didn’t God save or protect my loved one? Did he or she not matter as much? Did God love this person more than my person? Am I not worthy of God’s intervention? Fellow believers, let’s be careful not to cause another believer who is facing tragic circumstances to doubt their faith

This is not a punishment. God hasn't done this to you. God didn't set this journey in motion. He's just as angry as you are that you have to walk this road.

In our grief training, we’ve learned the idea to integrate grief into our lives which is the ability to live our lives holding onto the love we have for our loved one and simultaneously living in the pain of their loss. It’s not easy. It takes some effort to keep living, to find joy, to dream about happiness again and actually live in it.

We turn to Him, the One who knows. The One who knows the pain, the One who knows the sorrow, the One who understands the burden of walking this road like no one else can. The One who identifies with us in our suffering. What other good choice is there, but to lean on the One who has been here before us? To trust in His goodness and His ability to see us through.

Grief can seem quite intimidating to the outsider. We totally get that. It is overwhelming to us, too. We appreciate all your efforts to support us as we walk through the unimaginable. Thank you for your bravery to walk this journey with us.

I'm picturing this grieving kind of like giving birth in reverse.

And yet God came...to us...as a baby full of hope. It's that baby, baby Jesus, who makes all the difference. The baby born right into an incredibly broken world full of people with broken hearts. He came for me. He came for you.

It is necessary for faith in Jesus to be our anchor in the storm, not the other way around, or the boat just might sink, or at the least, run amuck in the storm. We can't have faith in the boat (ourselves, our lives, what we create) or in the idea that the storm (circumstance) will go away (because it might not). Instead, our anchor needs to be Jesus.

This dragonfly represents those opposites for me. It wraps up all of the beauty, grief, pain, faith, doubt, joy, courage, fear, and anything else I could possibly feel regarding my precious Hope.

Mamas, can I encourage you to just do your very best to make time for your kids? Soak in their presence. Love on them like no other. Treasure all of the memories you are making. I'm fairly certain that is something you will never, ever regret.

I keep pondering what the truth of those miracle experiences display and why we didn't get that same miracle for our Hope.

Father, help us today to show love everywhere we go. But first let us allow you to love on us and fill us up to the full. And may that love transcend space and time and even death. Perhaps love is the sustaining factor in all that we face. Help me and help my friends to tap into this powerful force that you offer to us freely.

But I wonder what it would be like to sit in the uncomfortable of Jesus' death and the utter hopelessness that so many felt on that Holy Saturday. How could the Messiah be dead?!

Because when we try to minimize our suffering compared to another, it minimizes what we feel and suppresses our emotion which does not lead us down the path to health.

If you are the griever, lean into it. Let it do its work in you for as long as it takes. It feels awful, but don't be afraid of it. You will be a healthier person for it.

Being faithful to God on a daily basis is what counts. It doesn't have to be big things as the world defines it, but just a commitment and faithfulness to the little things, to the everyday things.

As I've been on this grief journey for a little over a year now, I have realized more than anything that God is calling to me to live authentically and vulnerably. That's scary stuff right there!

Peace. It is something we very much long for in a world that seems to have gone quite haywire. I know how much we desperately want this peace for 2021 when all of 2020 has seemed the opposite of peace. And yet peace seems so elusive. Where is peace?