I've learned a few things since I said goodbye to anything close to normal when I became a quad amputee. I've learned how to sidestep spiritual and mental calamity when "normal" life is burned down: Rather than pouring myself into a search for an answer to an unanswerable question, I need to pour myself into a God that will never disappoint me and will always uplift those of us who are called to live a harder life. Jesus was unambiguous on this topic - humans are designed to

The church does a lot of things well, but helping people find their way through unrelenting suffering is not typically one of them. To my mind, the reason for this bewildering lack of help for those who suffer stems from modern Western Christianity's inaccurate definitions for concepts like suffering, healing, hard circumstances and miracles. Too often we see suffering  as something to be silently endured, never showing other believers just how far our pain grinds down our d

When I started having skin breakdown on my legs a few years ago I had no idea what to do. I'd finally started wearing my legs enough to sorely miss them when I couldn't wear them. But as an amputee and sepsis survivor I knew that I am particularly susceptible to complications, some of them extremely serious, if I don't take care of my residual limbs. In desperation I just started googling, and the Internet delivered! I found The Amputee Store : a one-stop shop for absolutel

My family says I'm a know it all. Unflattering yes, but an accurate statement. My natural tendency to point out other's flawed information blossomed when I became a grammar nerd after taking copy editing as a sophomore in college. I simply relish knowing obscure rules most people don't know or care about. One such rule is the difference between the words continuous and continual. If something occurs continuously,  if happens constantly without ceasing. If something occurs co

Every survivor must learn to think intentionally. If you don't, your emotions gain too much influence over your view of God and your circumstances. They'll push and pull you all day long while not actually taking you anywhere. To think intentionally, I learned how to use thought models  (sometimes called the CTFAR model). C is for a circumstance  you want to think about intentionally. thought modelsT is the thought you have (or want to have) about that circumstance. F is the

You may not think you have the strength to take on the challenge of the new life waiting for you. You may wonder why you can’t just limp along as best you can? Why should you have to try to reach for peace when peace is surely an impossibility for someone enduring what you are? The key to thriving lies not in changing your circumstances but in changing how you think and feel about them. This shift in mindset can unlock resilience, strength, God-given peace, and even growth in