This is the start of my newest article for Risen Motherhood.

When my friend experienced a sudden loss, her family was plunged into crisis. Her days were lived out in a fog, and she desperately needed the help and support of the church. As one of her good friends, I was often over at her home, helping to navigate the practical and spiritual needs of their family.

Crisis is, by its very nature, unexpected. When someone we love loses their job overnight, suddenly finds their marriage in shambles, or receives a devastating diagnosis, their world effectively stops. As a friend, we have the powerful opportunity to “bear one another’s burdens, and so fulfill the law of Christ” (Gal. 6:2). This is the opportunity to shoulder the weight of this crisis together so that our friend does not break under the weight of it alone.

The calling to tangibly be the hands and feet of Christ to a friend in crisis is both beautiful and challenging. As mothers, our days are already filled with the stressors and responsibilities of motherhood, and it can feel overwhelming to support someone else, even if it’s a friend we dearly love. But with God’s help, we respond with wisdom and grace.

While there is no one-size-fits-all approach for loving our friends well through crisis, there are helpful ways that we, as moms, can come alongside of them and support them during one of the toughest seasons of their lives.

Read the rest of the article at Risen Motherhood!

This is the start of my newest piece for The Gospel Coalition. You can read the full article here, at TGC!

My husband’s job unexpectedly ended and, along with the sadness of disappointed hopes that his job didn’t work out, I’m struggling with fears over finances, the transition of moving (again), and the fight to stay emotionally stable for our children and each other with so much change. How can I trust the Lord through all of this? 

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Our family recently went through a similar circumstance, and it felt like every security button I’d ever had was pushed: How would we pay the mortgage? Would we have to move to a new state? What would this mean for our kids? Our marriage?

As someone who craves stability, fear related to change is common for me, and the questions threatened to topple me at times. While I longed for a quick fix, it was seven months before God gave my husband a new job and set our family in a new season. And although I wouldn’t have chosen that path for our family, I am grateful for how the Lord increased my trust in him during that time.

I came out of that season knowing three things in a richer and deeper way.

1. Nothing Surprises God

The Scriptures are clear that God is sovereign. Nothing surprises him, and while we may not understand why he allows certain trials to take place in our lives, we can trust that he is not thrown off by them. The God who sees and knows the end from the beginning (Isa. 46:10; Rev. 22:13) knew exactly when your husband would lose his job (Ps. 139:16). But even better is that God knows what is next for you and your family. He has a plan that will unfold in his way and his timing.

When my husband lost his ministry job, I thought that if I could just see a year into the future, I would be able to walk in peace, because I would know what was up ahead and could cling to that. But that is not how the Lord works; his mercy keeps the future shielded from our eyes. In not knowing what was ahead, I had the opportunity—and ultimately, the choice—to hang onto to God rather than to any circumstance.

That is the gift in front of you right now, hard as it is. Hold on to the Lord. You can trust that his plan for your family is being worked out with beautiful precision.

Read the entire article here, at The Gospel Coalition!