Tag: Healing
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Caregivers Cozy Corner: Rest Is Not Betrayal
The Small Mercies That Keep Us Going There is a kind of weariness that settles into a caregiver long before anyone else notices it. It does not always announce itself loudly. More often, it comes quietly — in the ache behind the eyes, in the heaviness of the body, in the way even a simple…
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Peace in the Storm: When Grief Is Complicated
People can look at a woman lying quietly beneath the trees and assume she is resting, when in truth she may be trying not to come apart. Amanda Sherrell There is a certain kind of grief that does not come dressed the way people expect it to. Sometimes grief comes as panic. Then sometimes it…
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The Country Girl Who Really Did Go City
Caregiving Between Two Worlds When I first started writing under the name Country Girl Gone City, I meant it in a lighthearted way. A girl raised with mountain air in her lungs and dirt roads under her feet suddenly learning to navigate city streets, hospital corridors, and airport terminals. A country soul learning the language…
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The Healing Arts: Painting What I Couldn’t Pray
The Healing Arts Series #1 There are some wounds that do not loosen their grip through conversation. Some grief does not untangle itself through explanation. There are losses that sit too deep for tidy prayers. I did not paint this piece to decorate a wall. I painted it because I could no longer carry the…
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Tea Time with Mandy: Trusting God With the Outcome
Before we begin, let’s slow the moment. Put the kettle on and make yourself a cozy cup of tea. I recommend Twinings Orange & Cinnamon Spice, mixed with a bit of English Breakfast for warmth and a gentle lift. If you can, slice a piece of warm lemon cake or prepare a small snack, then…
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Peace in the Storm: When the World Feels Too Loud to Choose
There is a kind of exhaustion that doesn’t come from doing too much, but from holding too much inside. It lives in the chest, tight and unmoving, formed by thoughts that never quite find words and decisions that never feel safe enough to make. For many young adults today, the world does not feel short…
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Tea Time with Mandy: When Avoidance Looks Like Strength
Elizabeth Hunt had learned that grief did not always arrive with warning. At times it settled into her body before she had time to prepare, like those moments in the driver’s seat when the door was closed and the world waited just beyond reach. Her hands would rest on the steering wheel, fingers tightening just…
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Tea Time with Mandy: A Pause in the Middle of the City
There are places in New York City where the noise does not disappear, but it changes character. Where urgency loosens its grip just enough to remind you that you are allowed to pause. Sant Ambroeus is one of those places. Outside, the city presses forward—crowds folding into one another beneath towering buildings, voices rising and…
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Peace in the Storm: When Your Body Remembers What Your Mind Forgot
There are storms that roar in with wind and thunder, and then there are storms that arrive in silence—the kind that unravel you from the inside out long before you realize something is wrong. Trauma does that. It doesn’t always shout. Sometimes it whispers through numbness, fog, and dissociation—through a body that remembers pain even…
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Tea Time with Mandy: The Empty Chair
Sarah hadn’t felt much of anything for a long time. The house was quiet that December afternoon—too quiet, the kind of quiet that grief lays over a home like a heavy blanket. Lights from the Christmas tree glowed softly across the dining room walls, yet nothing in the room felt warm. It had been over…
Country Girl Gone City 