Directionless or Directed?

God doesn’t seem to be leading me anywhere right now. It has been almost two years since I left my church staff position. At that time the only direction I had was to write a book based on my curriculum designed to grow women’s influence. I spoke at women’s conferences and retreats—opportunities which God clearly provided by his sovereign hand. I am now completing the final edits on the book to self-publish it. But what is next? No doors have opened; no voice has spoken; and no sign has appeared in the skies. I don’t like being in limbo and am getting impatient with this waiting. Have you ever felt that God left you without a compass?

How do we navigate such times? What path do we take without clear direction? How do we maintain faith when God seems to have forgotten that we are available? How is God guiding when he seems so silent?

Grieving the Older Generation

Two weeks ago my ninety-four-year-old father-in-law passed away, only three-and-a-half months after his wife. I have been in their family for forty years now and am very saddened by their deaths. My own father died when he was sixty-three, an age when he should have been enjoying his grandchildren. I have learned a lot about grief in the ensuing years. I am certainly no expert; I am merely one journeying through the loss of the older generation.

What have I learned so far?