Does that make me a good communicator or a fool? Pushing through to find identity from the Lord. (And little error correction: Miss Bates shows up in Emma, not Pride and Prejudice. I should have said, "Jane Austen's character.")

It took six years of asking: Lord, what should we be measuring? But one day, the answer came!

I wasn't sure. Then I went to church, and found a compelling answer.

The Lord has space for us to grieve. Yes, we can be thankful for the provision and the mercy, but that doesn't require we pretend the grief isn't there.

I mentioned this idea in Episode 54, but some additional practical thoughts on what to do when the alarm goes off.

What resources, ideas, or inputs have you been given in the last month to help make the choice? And if you can't think of any: perhaps the moment hasn't yet arrived in which to make the decision.

Deal with the underlying griefs and hang-ups. Healing prayer, perhaps. Or face the feelings and actually feel them. Give them attention.

Take the time to synchronize with the Lord: and my best attempt to describe what that looks like.

Give yourself time to think, and recognize what variable carries the most weight.

Operating in a place I'm normally good, until I wasn't: so humbling. So painful. So in need of God's gracious pouring out.