Loss is really painful in the holidays.
I was in a boat launching from shore this past summer when I got the call.
My brother-in-law died unexpectedly at 57 just months before we lost dad.
So, our family gathers this holiday season with two vacant chairs.
How do suffering folks cope in the holidays?
Continue Reading “What God Has to Say About Your Great Loss”
Pain like your life exists only in a moment.
But, you can triumph over pain with five unstoppable solutions.
Continue Reading “How to Swipe Traumatic Pain to Surprising Relief” Disaster is a graduation point because everything you have achieved is tested.
Perseverance, faith, endurance and maturity are stretched until this happens.
When disaster overwhelms, I use four lifesavers.
Continue Reading “How to Survive Your Worst Disaster! Part 2”
What a Secular Atheistic Jew Discovers About Pain and Endurance
If you are suffering from emotional or physical pain, relief is beautifully painted in Andrew Klavan’s autobiography, The Great Good Thing.
Seeing the great good thing doesn’t happen for Klavan until he comes to terms with his childhood pain.
Pain evolved despite the idyllic suburban life of the Great Gatsby neighborhood in Great Neck, NY.
His father was a super star DJ on the most popular drive time radio show in NYC. But, the white picket images of the neighborhood could not mask his father’s rage and his mother’s cold indifference.
Rarely do I read a book I can’t close. But, there are so many gems here, I must share three.
No matter what your emotional pain is, you must never give up on your passion. God made you that way. A great lesson from the book is to follow the story wherever it goes.
“But, a writer to find his voice, must first find himself.” Andrew Klavan
The human heart is story not science.
Story captures the inner life.
Klavan sees therapy and theology as markers for the path.
Some people need therapy before they are well enough to see theology.
Even in the middle of pain, anger and alcohol, Klavan practiced his passion and gift.
He wrote early and often even as he wrestled the demons.
Late one night over a cigarette, scotch and a Mets game, he is ready to end it all.
Exhaling the smoke around his drink, he catches a comment from the announcer.
Continue Reading “Emotional Pain Relief Found in Klavan’s Great Good Thing”