ARTICLES BY COLLEEN CHAO
**This article in no way intends to address the complex matters of mental health nor minimize the importance of modern medicine and psychiatric help that is available to those who suffer. I always encourage those who struggle with depression to seek professional support.** Depression first
I was 31 and it was Christmas Eve when we had The Talk. Everyone thought we were the perfect match. So even though I put on a happy face, my heart reeled as he told me we should “just be friends.” We wished each other a merry
It was the year Winston Churchill became British minister, Albert Einstein unveiled his theory of relativity, and Babe Ruth made homerun history. And while it didn’t make any news headlines, the birth of Henry Stuursma was no less extraordinary. Humbly begun in a small
I bet you’re waiting for something right now. And I don’t mean the traffic light to change or the water pot to boil. I mean, you’re really waiting, aren’t you? God wants me to want Him more than any particular outcome or hope fulfilled. I
If we could sit on a sunny patio and chat leisurely over iced coffees tomorrow, I’d want to ask you, “What’s the best part and worst part of this season of your life?” What would you say, dear one? What’s making your life painfully difficult
It was the last place on earth I wanted to be. I’d always loved flying, but this airplane, with all my worldly belongings crammed into the luggage compartment below me, symbolized the death of my dreams. Just two months before I’d scored a job as
Her message left me shaken. She said if we had just 30 minutes together, she could get things off her chest; she was angry and needed to tell me the specific ways I’d hurt her. We’d had this same conversation a couple of years before,
This Sunday, you will not be far from my thoughts, dear one. With every fiber of your being you long to be a mom. You were made for motherhood, and everything within you cries out against your barrenness. I remember. I was 35 when I
I walked reverently between gravestones, mindful that the soil under my feet was rich with history. My eyes scanned epitaphs while my heart filled in untold stories…. Two small siblings, taken just months apart. A beloved mother. A faithful brother. The wealthy were marked by ornate
He was old when the promise came, and it pierced through a lifetime of hope deferred. It was an unreasonable promise, laughable at best. (Both he and his wife took turns laughing.) But he believed. Against all hope, in hope he believed. And then twenty-five
**This article in no way intends to address the complex matters of mental health nor
I was 31 and it was Christmas Eve when we had The Talk. Everyone thought we were
It was the year Winston Churchill became British minister, Albert Einstein unveiled his theory
I bet you’re waiting for something right now. And I don’t mean the traffic light
If we could sit on a sunny patio and chat leisurely over iced coffees tomorrow,
It was the last place on earth I wanted to be. I’d always loved flying,
Her message left me shaken. She said if we had just 30 minutes together, she
This Sunday, you will not be far from my thoughts, dear one. With every fiber
I walked reverently between gravestones, mindful that the soil under my feet was rich with
He was old when the promise came, and it pierced through a lifetime of hope
