Debbie W. Wilson

Refreshing Faith

A Surprising Gift From an Untimely Death

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I called my friend Nikki anticipating her lively voice and was shaken to hear sobbing. “Debbie, we just found out our son died.”

I’d called in response to an earlier text. That was not why she’d texted me. But God had timed my call perfectly. Even though I couldn’t take away my friend’s pain, I could share in those initial moments of shock and grief.

Nikki felt the need to contact Justin’s birth mother. The woman was devastated. She’d never be able to meet her son on earth. She wanted to fly across the country for the service. With Nikki’s permission I share what she wrote about their meeting.Continue Reading

How to Find Your Way Through Grief in Divorce

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Today my friend Yvonne Ortega shares tips from her professional and personal experience to help those going through a divorce find their way through the stages of grief. Here’s Yvonne…

In 1991, I found myself in the throes of a legal separation and divorce proceedings. I rode an emotional roller coaster. My insides screamed, “Stop this thing. I want to get off.”

My friend told me, “You need to find your way through the stages of grief in divorce. With help, you can do it.”

How do you find your way through the stages of grief in divorce? I found it helps to understand what’s going on. The stages aren’t easy or quick. You can go back and forth through several or all of them.

By the time you finish this article, you’ll be able to identify the stages of grief in divorce, mark where you are, and feel more confident that you’ll get through them and the emotional roller coaster will stop.Continue Reading

How to Profit from Sorrow

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Today Larry shows us how to profit from sorrow….

Do you have sorrow in your life? Have you lost someone or something important to you? Do you have regrets over choices you’ve made or the person you’ve become? The Bible says sorrow is a painful yet profitable part of life. How can we profit from our pain?

Accept It

It’s not immature, weak, or unspiritual to be sorrowful. Jesus was a man of sorrows (Is. 53:3). Running from it or denying it causes us to miss the treasures God can bring from it. The Bible says, “sorrow is better than laughter” (Eccl. 7:3 NASB), and “the heart of the wise is in the house of sorrow, but the heart of fools is in the house of pleasure” (Eccl. 7:4 ESV).

I want to be encouraging and see the best so when I encountered a season of sorrow during my time in seminary I was in an unfamiliar place. As I was honest with myself, Debbie, and God I entered a place to experience real comfort.Continue Reading

A Promise for Those Who Mourn

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I attended the funeral of one of the most robust, energetic, and alive people I’ve ever known. Death for Bruce is incomprehensible. And yet, he’s gone.

The next day as our small group read John 11, the boldness of Jesus’ words to Martha struck me. Martha and Mary had buried their brother just days earlier. They’d helplessly watched Lazarus’s life slip away. They’d bathed and prepared his dead body for burial. They were way more familiar with death than they wanted to be.

Put yourself in Martha’s place as you read Jesus’ words to her:Continue Reading

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