From an article originally posted December 22, 2013…
The fog is slowly fading, the stress lifting with each passing moment. My new medicine is giving me some crazy insomnia and hot flashes. I spend it all during the day, and I come to bed exhausted, but I am like a flaming inferno from the inside out. That’s no fun, but it’s my treatment plan, and I’ll take it.
To my friends who are suffering relationally, to those of you who feel rejected, alone, lonely. To those of you who have few or no friends, who have tried and tried to make friends but can’t seem to get there, to those who are stood up and cancelled on, who are never asked out on a coffee date. To those whose phones are painfully silent with no texts or calls coming through. To those who have realized that they aren’t loved like you thought, who have friends come into town without telling you or whose friends get together and leave you out, who can’t seem to make heart connections no matter how hard you try.
From an article originally posted December 19, 2013…
Today we head up to Denver to meet with a leader in his field in metastatic cancer to get a second opinion on my treatment options. We are doing battle against the micro-cells of cancer that have entered my blood stream. It’s a quiet battle, a battle of constantly looking. A battle that can steal your peace and make every ache and pain feel like something new to worry about. I have never been that person. I don’t like that person, but I’m not sure how to walk away from her. My new doctor heard my story and made an early appointment available. Like I said yesterday, the cancer in my brain isn’t gone, which we hoped would be, but it’s half the size, and all my docs are on vacation. We get it. We aren’t really in a hurry to jump back into treatment, either.
Question: I’ve been wondering how to build deeper friendships—how to go from casual friend to more intimate.
Answered by Caitlin Lieder
What a great question! In my experience, a lot of people do not know how or do not want to go deeper and have intimate friendships. It’s exciting to me to see that you desire this because there is a treasure cove of love and safety and understanding God more when you have a deep friendship.
From an article originally posted December 17, 2013…
I have grown a new love; actually, it’s a love I’ve had for a long, long time. Putting these words I’ve been given on paper has grown into a great love of my heart. Like a pastor who preaches over himself in the hopes of taking hold of a new truth of the gospel, writing is a place I write beyond myself. I write my hopes, my fears, my longings to take hold of truths. Some days I meet the expectation of love I write about, others days I fail extraordinarily and find myself in the glorious humble place of repentance.
