Almost Peaceful: My Journey of Healing from Binge EatingFriendship, Listening, and Empathy: A Prayer GuideDraw Near: A Lenten Devotional Two Hands: Grief and Gratitude in the Christian LifeSabbath Keeping: Finding Freedom in the Rhythms of Rest Fasting: Spiritual Freedom Beyond our AppetitesA Renewed SpiritualityNurturing Hope: Christian Pastoral Care in the Twenty-First CenturyThe Power of ListeningJoy Together: Spiritual Practices for Your CongregationPrayers of the New TestamentPrayers of the Old TestamentPersonality Type in CongregationsSabbathA Garden of Living Water: Stories of Self-Discovery and Spiritual GrowthDead Sea: A NovelDeadly Murmurs: A NovelDeath in Dunedin: A NovelBeating Burnout in CongregationsReaching Out in a Networked WorldEmbracing MidlifeFriendingAdvent Devotional

My grief journey thus far

Lynne Baab • Thursday July 23 2026

My grief journey thus far

My beloved Dave passed through the doorway to the next life on April 9 of this year. I was so curious what my grief would look like. After all, I’ve written and taught about grief.

What happened in the first six weeks was quite unexpected.

I was so relieved when Dave’s life on earth ended. He was in so much pain from cancer that had spread to his spine and hip bones. He could have taken higher doses of the painkiller prescribed for him, but he hated the way he felt on those high doses. And he couldn’t paint when drugged to a...

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Praying about the flow of time: Our Lady of Sorrows

Lynne Baab • Tuesday September 10 2024

Praying about the flow of time: Our Lady of Sorrows

I have been thinking a lot about sadness. My family moved 12 times in my first 15 years, and my mom was sad about the moves and affirmed my sadness as valid. Other than that, sadness was always viewed as a failure of thankfulness. I was supposed to be thankful that I wasn’t poor like my mom was in her childhood and teen years. Grateful that I had nice clothes like she didn’t have. Thankful that we could go on nice vacations like she never got to do. Grateful that I didn’t have to do farm work many hours a day...

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Can we feel sad when we have something we longed for?

Lynne Baab • Friday December 10 2021

Can we feel sad when we have something we longed for?

Heather went through three rounds of exhausting in-vitro fertilization before her healthy baby was born. In the months after the birth, she experienced post-partum depression, but she felt she couldn’t tell anyone about it. “I just felt I should not be feeling this way. After everything we’ve been through, why should I have any kind of depression?”

Kristin, mother of one child, lost a baby at 39 weeks of pregnancy, then miscarried. A year later, when her daughter was born with significant digestive issues and cried a lot, Kristin just about went crazy. She wanted to be thankful for having a child...

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The pivot between grief and gratitude

Lynne Baab • Saturday November 27 2021

The pivot between grief and gratitude

Imagine you are crying about something, perhaps the death of a family member, the loss of a dream, an argument with a friend, or something deeply frustrating that’s happening in your body. Perhaps you feel distant from God in the midst of this sorrow, and you wonder if God sees what you are experiencing. Then imagine some time passes, and you are now laughing at a joke, relishing a delicious meal, or gazing awe-struck at a blazing sunset. What got you from one place to the other?

Almost all of the psalms of lament pivot from sadness/grief/anger to thankfulness/praise/joy. Some of them...

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Featured books

Almost Peaceful: My Journey of Healing from Binge Eating Almost Peaceful: My Journey of Healing from Binge Eating I've never written a book like this before! A personal story with photos from my life and Dave Baab's beautiful watercolors. I pray it will bring encouragement and healing to readers. Buy online » Sabbath Keeping: Finding Freedom in the Rhythms of Rest Sabbath Keeping: Finding Freedom in the Rhythms of Rest Sabbath Keeping is Lynne's most popular book, available in paperback, audiobook, and for Kindle. Grounded in her 18 months living in Israel, it is practical, biblical, and reflective about why rest matters so much today. Buy online »

Featured articles

Meeting God in Grief and Gratitude

Lynne Baab • Wednesday January 22 2025

By Lynne M. Baab, author of Two Hands: Grief and Gratitude in the Christian Life

Nurturing a contemplative stance for navigating challenging times

Lynne Baab • Friday August 11 2023

By Lynne M. Baab

Yes, Jesus Told Us to Pray in Secret. But He Also Prayed with His Friends.

Lynne Baab • Saturday October 9 2021

By Lynne M. Baab. Originally published in Christianity Today, July 8, 2021