Category Archives: LOSS

#lovelytracesofhope, Bible stories, Excuses, God showed up, life stories, Lovely Traces, Open hands, Pay Attention, Psalm 77, Questions?, Red Sea

What Happens When You See God?

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HOPE & HEALING IN THE HOLIDAYS

If you are just now joining us, I encourage you to start at the earlier posts (links are included in the box below) to build the foundation for the thoughts I share here.

1. Looking at the BIG moments that Change Your Life
2. What Happens When a Moment Changes Your Life?
3. Hope & Healing in the Holidays
4. Have you noticed what you need this holiday?
5. Say It Like It Really Is
6. Little Words that Will Make a Big Change

I started this series with a post about looking at the BIG moments that Change your Life.  What is marvelous, as you finish reading Psalm 77,  once again we are reminded of tha RED SEA moment.  (Check out the #1 post listed above if you need a reminder about the Red Sea. Or read the book of Exodus.  Fascinating telling of history. )

After Asaph, the writer of Psalm 77, chooses his response by

  • noticing his need (post 4)
  • expressing his emotions (post 5)
  • and pivoting his perspective  (post 6)
  • He sees God!  O God! (also post 6)

Then he gives an example of an O GOD moment, one that would be familiar to his audience.

When the Red Sea saw you!

The Psalmist once again is reminding the reader of that big God moment when the children of Israel stood between death – and death; between the RED SEA and the Egyptian army. A moment when they couldn’t imagine a way out.  They couldn’t begin to fathom how God could intervene.

And then He does. Continue reading What Happens When You See God? →

grief, healing, Holiday, Hope, stuck

Say It Like It Really Is

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In the last post, we were taking a look at Psalm 77 and considering what it had to teach us about our response the losses and hard places in our life.  If you are just joining in this post- you will want to go back to the posts linked below to get caught up.  Then you can join us again and things will make more sense.

This is the third post in a series called
Hope and Healing in the Holidays. 
The first post: 
Hope & Healing in the Holidays
The second post: 
Have you noticed what you need this holiday? 

But actually you might want to start here to get some background on where this series is going:
Looking at the BIG moments that Change Your Life

Let’s continue on in Psalm 77:7-9 to see another way he teaches us to respond.  This is where the Psalmist, well, some people might say he was throwing a tantrum.  But actually he is  showing us how to get ‘unstuck’ by honestly EXPRESS our EMOTIONS.

Ok!  Make a fist again.  Open up the pinky finger from yesterday (NOTICE THE NEEDS) and this time open the ring finger as well to… Continue reading Say It Like It Really Is →

grief, healing, Holiday, Hope, Psalm 77, worry

Have you noticed what you need this holiday?

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The holidays often bring with them this expectation of sparkle.  The tables are beautifully set, the food is perfectly delicious, the relationships with family and friends are glowing.

But just looking around my church  this weekend, I saw face after face that told me that it wasn’t that way for everyone.  Most homes are fortunate to get 1 or 2 out of 3, but the person who has all three- is probably not reading my website.

For many, the holidays only accentuate the awareness that things are not right, relationships are broken, money is tight.  Life is not what you hoped it would be. Instead of the feelings of joy and delight, we feel fear and disappointment. The greater the expectation of sparkle, the deeper the funk we get in when it is not.

Instead of smiles and bright eyes, we often have furrowed brow and hands made into fists.

So how can we expect to find hope and healing in these holidays?

In my last post, (You can read it here) we talked about how our defining moments do not have to be those situations or losses in our life that we have no control over.

But we can do something about Continue reading Have you noticed what you need this holiday? →

grief, healing, Holiday, Hope, respond

Hope & Healing in the Holidays

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Days before Thanksgiving, I am noticing many people are writing or sharing posts and articles about ways to find hope and healing in the holidays.Honestly, the holidays are still one of the most difficult moments in my grief.

Our daughters, Caitlin and Brielle, come home – though often not at the same time. They are both married so we’ve also added two special son-in-laws. But when we are all together we are more aware than ever that Leisha is not among us.

After some earlier losses in life, I could still “manufacture” some of sparkle and gratitude of the holidays. I could still muster it mostly because I’m a positive person and I don’t have to work too hard to at least ‘appear’ happy.

But after Leisha died, it was not possible to even pretend to make that happen.

I’m sure I’ve shared this before, but for me grief was a feeling of being in a really dark tunnel where the mud was up past the top of my head and I couldn’t move a finger let alone breathe.

The harder I tried to get out the deeper I got Into the mire, into the mud, into the darkness.

Maybe you are reading this because you are Continue reading Hope & Healing in the Holidays →

Bible stories, fear, God showed up, grief, healing, Hope, life lessons, Lovely Traces, Moses

What Happens When a Moment Changes Your Life

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In the last post, I talked about the big moments we can recall in vivid detail.  We remember who was with us, what happened, how it felt.  Often, we share how that moment changed our life.

I shared one moment that is talked about a lot in scripture- I call it the RED SEA story -when the children of Israel were caught between death – and death.  It was that moment when God showed up like he had never shown up before and they were saved. (You can read more about that in the post from yesterday)

I’m guessing that even as you read that description, you immediately think of one or more occasions in your own story that changed you.

I wish we could sit over a cup of coffee and share those moments together.  I would love to hear about the moment that changed you in the comments section or via email at kathy@greenhopecoaching.com.

For now, I’ll share my story RED SEA moment with you. It was the day my 15 year old daughter, Leisha, died.

I didn’t know how I was going to survive the grief tunnel any more than the children of Israel knew how they were going to get out of Egypt, or get through the Red Sea.

God had to show up! And he had to show up differently than he ever had before! Continue reading What Happens When a Moment Changes Your Life →

Bible stories, fear, life stories, Lovely Traces, Moses, Psalm 77, stuck

Looking at the BIG Moments that Change Your Life

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The discussion Rennie & I shared  with a small group of friends turned to moments in our life we remember really well.

We each shared stories of special events- concerts, sporting events, etc. that we recalled in vivid detail.  We remembered who was with us, what happened, how it felt.  Often, someone would share how that moment had changed their life. 

Like the young man who as a boy was with his father at a baseball game when a world breaking home run was made.  He remembered the permission he and the entire grandstand had to celebrate the moment in a loud and crazy fashion.

Or the young woman who just experienced a training event over the weekend that seems to have had a life-changing impact on her future. She spoke with excitement, passion and tears about the moment she knew this was was she needed to do next.

Then our leader asked, ” What is the arena where God shows up in our life?”

Life events – Tragedies – Celebrations

We all had moments to share.  And most of them were the Big Moments.  Moments we could recall in vivid detail.  We remembered who was with us, what happened, how it felt.  Often, someone would share how that moment had changed their life.

I immediately thought of my MOMENT. Actually a series of moments that I consider to be my RED SEA moment. Continue reading Looking at the BIG Moments that Change Your Life →

#lovelytracesofhope, Hope, influence, Jeff Goins, make a difference, Offering Hope, Tribewriter, Writing

Tribewriters at its Best: Weird, Brave and Creative

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I’ve recently returned from TRIBEWRITERS 2017, otherwise known as #tribeconf.

The Tribe Conference is a marketing conference for people who don't think of themselves as marketers. It's a gathering for writers, artists, and creative entrepreneurs to grow their craft, share their work, and get the attention their work deserves.

I would describe TRIBEWRITERS as a community of weird, brave and oh so creative men and women who have ‘stuff’.  It is the kind of ‘stuff’ that is made up of real, often messy, mostly ordinary people and events in our lives that make up our story. 

And yet, in the telling of the ordinary, Continue reading Tribewriters at its Best: Weird, Brave and Creative →

Be Inspired!, Excuses, GHC opportunities, Goals, Heroes, influence, Jennifer Wenzke, life lessons, Limiting Beliefs, Living Intentionally, Questions?, s.n.a.p., Worth/Value

More Story to Share 3

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Story to Share 2:The Story Began…

In last week’s blog post (posted above), I started to tell you the story about a woman, a champion, in my life by the name of Jenn.  We talked about our value in that post- yours and mine. The three questions Jenn asked me on our very first meeting were…

Do you know your value?

Do you offer value to those in your world?

Are you getting paid what you are worth?

(If you want to know what we said about that, check the link above to that blog post.)  

But I also said that when I hemmed and hawed with my answers to those questions, the next thing she said to me was,  

“When you are done making excuses, you can get down to your business.” 

Yep! That was the bottom line!  I was making excuses about why I wasn’t being successful or seeing the kind of difference I wanted to see. 

Are you doing that- making excuses instead of doing the things you really want to do?  


Isn’t that true of most of us though?  We don’t know our value because we don’t realize who we are.   I thought I did.  I had spent a great deal of time and money going to workshops, reading and researching personalities and strengths seeking to understand, and to help others understand who they were made to be.


We don’t know our value because we don’t realize who we are. Click To Tweet

Yet here I was…
Continue reading More Story to Share 3 →

100 Days, Jennifer Wenzke, Limiting Beliefs, make a difference, Questions?, s.n.a.p., So Now Professional Network of Women

Live Out Your Value in 2017

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I’m talking a lot about VALUE these days.  Mostly that is because a woman in my life dared to ask me these questions.

Do you know your value?

Do you offer value to the people in your world?

Listen in as I share with you some of my insights this summer as I processed the answers to these questions.  I invite you to answer these questions for yourself.

New S.N.A.P It 5 Day Challenge begins 9/11/17

Find out more about the Five Day S.N.A.P it Challenge!  Register today to get set up for our first S.N.A.P it video on Facebook Live, Monday at 9:00am.

GHC opportunities, grief, Hope, influence, Living Intentionally, LOSS, make a difference, wrestling

6 Reasons to Be Grateful at a Funeral

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I recently attended the funeral, actually, the celebration of life of a 23 year old daughter of a friend.

The uncanny timing of this particular event was not lost on me.  As I sat at this funeral, I was reminded of another that took place just one week shy of 11 years ago- in the same church- led by the same pastor.  It was a funeral I was very much a part of since the life being celebrated was my 15 year old daughter, Leisha. Continue reading 6 Reasons to Be Grateful at a Funeral →