Separation Anxiety

When my son was  two-years old  he went  through what’s commonly known as separation anxiety. If I stepped out of the room for a brief moment and he lost sight of me, he would panic. This panic took the form of blood-curdling screams, not the kind that are soliciting attention, but guttural, terrified calls for help. These screams and […]

Joyful Anticipation

During the throes of my divorce, I was in so much pain, all I could do was drag myself into daily Mass and sit there in an almost catatonic state. It hurt even to try and form the words to pray. I was completely overwhelmed. My feeble prayer was simply “Lord, please make all this stop. […]

Just Not My Time

 “Of course I want intimacy. Every man and every woman does…I look in the mirror each morning and I tell myself, it’s just not my time. God’s got someone out there for me, it’s just not my time.” says Kerri, a 40-ish, divorced, single parent appearing in the Voices of Hope DVD. When sharing her attitude toward dating […]

Turn On The Light

At any given time, everyone has some aspect of their life that could be described as in “darkness”. It could be physical darkness due to an illness with yourself or a loved one. It could be financial darkness due to the loss of a job. Or, it could be emotional darkness due to a divorce. Whatever your […]

The Way

The house was stone quiet. I was all alone. Even though it was past midnight, I could not sleep. I lie there staring up at the ceiling in the dark. I had no peace. It had been a difficult couple of years. I had tried lots of different things. The new relationships, the new house, […]

Heavenly Slingshot

Do you think that you’re not getting God’s attention by your prayers? We pray heart-felt prayers for intentions that we feel certain God should answer. We pour out our hearts day after day, yet we feel as though nobody is listening. Sometimes we wonder if God even cares. Well, consider the story of St. Monica. St. […]

Miracle in Disguise

I bet the guy (Mr. Murphy?) who came up with Murphy’s Law went through a divorce. How else could he have known how to so perfectly describe what going through a divorce is like? Ol’ Murphy said: “Everything that can go wrong will go wrong at the absolute worst possible time.” Yup, that sounds like […]

Key Ingredient

When presented with significant problems, many of us tend to consider only what we can do on our own to solve the problem. That is a very narrow perspective that has a very limiting result. This is what happened with the apostles. Jesus told them to “give them something to eat” and they freaked out. […]

Be Not Afraid

One of the most common reactions to divorce is fear.  That is very understandable. Who wouldn’t be scared if their entire life came crashing in around them? The problem with fear is not being scared, that’s normal. The problem is acting on fear. That’s when fear becomes a lousy strategy. Here is a better strategy: hope.  Hope is not about […]

The Path

Life after my divorce was so uncertain and disorienting. So much had changed. Most of the familiar routines, people, and traditions disappeared. My life felt awkward, almost alien. It really was as if I had been dropped onto Mars. I spent most of my energy numbly fumbling around trying to make sense of the my new life’s landscape. I […]