Survival Guide: Melissa Niednagel Wolmarans
While I have experienced a fair amount of loss in my 35 years of life, I am not someone who is a victim of unjust suffering. am the person who has caused it.
World Stroke Day
Before April 21, 2008, Jay and I knew nothing about strokes. Do you? My guess is no. When my life and recovery hung in the balance, you better believe we got pretty educated on it. The sad thing is that many people may not have the chance to understand what a stroke is before it takes their life or changes it forever.
Redefining Ability
We are not alone in disability. It’s a reality all of humanity shares at its core. But more than that, we are not alone in our disability because God is there with us, to show us himself in ways that are hard to see when we are blinded by the illusion of our ability.
A Mother’s Day Card
The simple words on that Mother’s Day card belied a deeper meaning, a revelation that James was developing into a little boy who recognized his life and his Mommy looked a little different from those of his friends.
The Marriage Box
Marriage in Christ truly starts as an empty box, one which must be filled over time by the continued nurturing and struggle and fierce love that seeks to give of itself completely to another.
Returning to El Matador
Whatever mountain you may need to climb up or valley you may need to descend into, you should do it. The path will likely be worn and steep but the precious time spent there will be well worth the journey.
The Blessing of Neediness
And while I certainly needed a lot of help to show up in the world, I like to think I did my share of helping. I’ve learned that rhythm is called the mutuality of ministry, which forces us all to both ask for the help we need and to offer the help we can give.
Making Peace with Letting Go
If the alternative to a broken heart is an "unbreakable, impenetrable, irredeemable" one, then I suppose the choice is clear, but when our heart has been broken as the result of loving something then having to say goodbye to it, we can't help but question if the love was worth the pain.
Exploring Fatherhood
Maybe I should focus my highest efforts not on James' behaviors but on my own. Then perhaps I will have done something really transcendent for him. Rather than a list of rules, I might have given him a far more enticing model for living: a flickering reflection of his Heavenly Father, a life-long exploration of goodness and love.
John’s Birth Story
This story is the story of John Nestor Wolf and the day he arrived in the world. This is his story, our story, but it’s your story too. And ultimately, it’s God’s story—the one where new life is birthed from near death, where hope overflows from broken vessels. We are still pondering this profound revelation in our hearts as we hold him in our arms.
My New Face
Now I know my face tells a story far deeper and richer and more intentional than good genes or expensive makeup. My faces tells the story of survival, second chances, and suffering strong.
The Scars We Have and the Scars We Give
Maybe the best way to parent my boys is to not to hide the hurt, but to show the healing.
Redefining Waiting
Romans 5:3 teaches us that suffering leads us to perseverance and to character and, ultimately, to hope, which will never shame us and will never disappoint us. There is a promise and a purpose in the painful process of waiting, which means we can learn to wait well.
The Identity of Hope
The transcendent world of a life-giving God tumbles in tandem with a creation utterly decaying into death. As believers, how do we not shy away from whole-hearted living while simultaneously holding our tenuous existence with open hands?
Survival Guide: Lisa & Eric Barlow
Life isn't over. It took me some time to figure that out, and there were moments when I had wished it was. Looking at it now, I realize that we have been able to fulfill so many of our dreams, it has just looked different than we had planned.
Survival Guide: The Smiley Family
When you go through something hard, you’ll find a lot of well-meaning people are quick to reassure you that “God never gives you more than you can handle.” But if you’ve ever truly suffered, you know that’s not true. At some point in your life, even if you think you’re ready for it, God is going to give you more than you can handle. And then what do you do?
Survival Guide: Katherine & Jay Wolf
Hope Heals seeks to re-narrate the story of suffering by sharing the lives and lessons of real people—their honest answers, vulnerable struggles, and surprising transformations through enduring life's greatest storms.
An Abundance of Hope
As we suffer, we learn to depend, again, not on our own work, but on the work of Christ, and thus, we persevere, our focus shifts from ourselves to the reality of hope beyond.
Paying Attention to What We Remember
Responsible remembrance is a bit of past-changing magic that gives us the grace of distance, which leaves space for perspective and gratitude to redefine our past, present, and future.
We Are All Disabled
Solidarity is born when we agree to destigmatize inability and invite each other into the beautiful possibilities of interdependence.