Kristin Saatzer

Purposeful Encouragement

  • Home
  • About
  • Speaking
  • Contact
  • Books I Love
  • Savor the Savior Book
  • Hear The Savior Book
You are here: Home / Archives for trials

How’s Your Bounce?

December 30, 2019 By Kristin Saatzer 2 Comments

The end of the month.
The end of the year.
The end of the decade.

As I glance back and think about the three “ends”, I find a running refrain in the story of my life – resiliency. I bounce back. I rebound. I get up again. And again. And again… I share not to brag but with awe because this is not who I think I am- the one who bounces back.

Adulting looked glitzy from the stands. Oh, the independence and fun that awaited. But once I took the field, the curveballs came – relationship rejection, job and college struggles, depression, intense physical pain and health trials, and the divorce of my parents. Although my twenties held so much joy (wedding and baby at the top of the list!) the curve balls bruised and sometimes derailed me.

Those years are distant in my rearview mirror. However, each year, each decade, threw in its own array of curveballs to gaze back upon.

“I get knocked down and I get up again…”

You too, huh?

They tried to bury us but they didn’t know we were seeds
~Mexican Proverb

Continue Reading

Share this:

  • Click to email a link to a friend (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on Facebook (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on Twitter (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on Pinterest (Opens in new window)
  • More
  • Click to print (Opens in new window)

Fight for It!

July 29, 2019 By Kristin Saatzer 10 Comments

What was her name?

This woman who fought for it?

For her to touch anyone was prohibited. She was considered unclean in her culture because of her sickness. She had used all her money visiting healers who offered no cure for the condition that consumed her for twelve years. Even still, she possessed a tenacious faith.

For she said within herself, if I may but touch His garment, I shall be whole.

Matthew 9:21 Webster’s Bible Translation

The garment she wanted to touch belonged to Jesus Christ. Jewish men of His day wore cloaks with a required blue-tassel hem to remind them of the Torah (the law of God) and that they were God’s people. As an animated throng swarmed around the Savior, this woman pushed past her fears and cultural laws and grasped the hem of the healer.

And healed she was.

I see echoes of myself in this woman (how I wish we knew her name). My journey, strewn with one painful, draining condition to the next. And not all physical. There is a slew of emotional afflictions painted on my life’s canvas.
This painting of pain began early. Dark shadows trail in my mind of cruelties delivered to a little-girl-me by one I loved dearly. I recall abuses from my kindergarten teacher, like the day she wrenched my arm and dragged me out of a bathroom stall as she uttered nasty words. As I retrace these moments and many more, my heart feels the feels all over again. Oh, how grateful I am that the paintbrush rendered many cheerful colors along the way, but the blacks and grays are consistent in the mix. At times, I felt downright wrecked, as if my soul was broken.

Wreckage is a repercussion of pain. The damage is incalculable, the fallout overwhelming. It can hit us like a truck and leave us bleeding on the pavement with no oomph to seek help, and without the desire to get well. The wreckage in my life showed in different forms: depression, low self-worth, loneliness, emptiness, fear, nightmares, bad decisions, and the list goes on.

But God

My God has shown me beauty in my broken.

You see when we flip the fall-out and allow ourselves to view our brokenness with a changed lens, our perspective shifts as we discover the fingers of God holding the paintbrush. This requires a tenacious faith, as the woman in Matthew 9 displays. Such a daring move by this long-suffering believer. This fighter.

We too must fight to be whole.Continue Reading

Share this:

  • Click to email a link to a friend (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on Facebook (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on Twitter (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on Pinterest (Opens in new window)
  • More
  • Click to print (Opens in new window)

Just a Little Longer?

May 28, 2019 By Kristin Saatzer 4 Comments

I knew he did not want to face his mother falling apart that early September morning (or any day, really). But there I was in the kitchen, in my oh-so-attractive green robe, sporting wild bedhead, willing the tears to stop. I watched as my beloved third son pushed back his chair from the table and carried his cereal bowl to the sink.

Senior Year was already picking up steam. I learned with sons one and two how this final year of high school feels like it’s only two weeks long. During this kitchen-moment, as I observed my boy move through ordinary actions, I was struck anew with pointed awareness that this season of my life with Josiah would soon be finished. Emotions rushed to the surface as I pondered how unready I was to say good-bye to the everyday-ness of mothering this young man.

“Please let me mother you a little longer!”

No, I did not say these words aloud because, you know, psycho momma in the morning and all. Yet, this desire to hold onto him, to care for him, lives in me daily.

In reality, not much “mommying” happens the last year of high school. Senior Year Mom is a secretary, a cook, a cheerleader, and a money dispenser, who cries a lot.

Senior Year Mom takes morbid delight when her kid gets sick or needs her to take him to the dentist or doctor. She relishes the time spent together doing anything because he is gone so darn much and is terribly independent. She delights in his presence and hangs on his every word. Even when he rolls his eyes or gets irritated with her when he loses his own car keys, Senior Year Mom doesn’t mind. As much.

I savor the small moments: hearing him laugh with his little brother, listening to him playing the piano as I cook dinner, and watching him greet the dog as he steps through the door.

If I could measure the hours spent in prayer for this son and his three brothers, it might equal months. If I could hold the tears that fell while on my knees, they might fill a small pond.

I prayed for my sons to be men of character. That they would have hearts for the broken. That God would shape them and refine them. But I did not want them to undergo refinement by fire. My plan was not to fill a pond with my tears. I wanted safe, happy, wholesome lives for my precious ones. Yes, I knew some trials must happen, and I conceded to the Lord there. But God, no biggies, please.

God did not obey.

Continue Reading

Share this:

  • Click to email a link to a friend (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on Facebook (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on Twitter (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on Pinterest (Opens in new window)
  • More
  • Click to print (Opens in new window)

My Sis, Neil, and the 4th of July

July 4, 2018 By Kristin Saatzer 5 Comments

“Our mouths were filled with laughter, our tongues with songs of joy…”

Psalm 126:2a NIV

 

My sister Jeni is sunshine and smiles and one of the best gifts the Lord has given me. She paints levity and joy in every room she enters. God’s good medicine is my little sis.

She and I together have celebrated America’s birthday oodles of times. However, our experience two years ago was the best one out of all for me. A day of God’s sweet grace, hope,  and healing.

The week of July 4th, 2016, my sister and her family drove  down from Oregon to SoCal for vacation and time with loved ones.

Less than a month earlier, my family of  six experienced  trauma. The deepest waters of my life. As the awful continued, I believed I would never laugh again. Maybe a chuckle here or there I conceded, but sheer, deep belly- laughter vanished forever.

I was in a pit so deep that I had to push myself out of bed in the mornings. Nights of insomnia and tears were my consistent companions.

But when one has family in town, one must rally. And so I did. We enjoyed beach days, went to a Neil Diamond cover band concert, and ate and ate and ate.  A sweet diversion from the ache and reality of our circumstances. God used our dear ones from Oregon as a healing balm over our seeping wounds.

On July 4th, we gathered at my dad’s house for a day of swimming, tennis, food, and then fireworks. A day burned beautiful in my mind and heart. To my surprise, I howled that day; full belly-laughter all day long! God used my sis to shine a light in my tunnel of darkness. We were silly sisters once again: inside jokes, conversing in our own “language”, dancing, and singing. I joined Jeni in her infectious world of joy and delight. The group of us played, sang and danced to Neil Diamond music, and introduced our kids to him in our weirdo way. I felt unfettered, carefree and yes, surprised by my laughter.

As we drove home that evening, tears of gratitude fell. My boys, concerned after witnessing so much sorrow in me in the last weeks, asked me what was wrong with fear in their eyes. The words would not come as I sobbed,  the mix of emotions overwhelmed me. Yet, in that moment, my heart understood that we were  going to be okay.

We are okay.Continue Reading

Share this:

  • Click to email a link to a friend (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on Facebook (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on Twitter (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on Pinterest (Opens in new window)
  • More
  • Click to print (Opens in new window)
Next Page »

About Me

My prayer is that this place and the words written here will bring you a measure of encouragement, friendship and desire to live out your life with PURPOSE. more about me

Subscribe to Blog and Updates

Follow Me

  • Facebook
  • Instagram
  • LinkedIn
  • Twitter

Instagram

A beautiful Tuesday with my Ethel. 🌼
A beautiful Tuesday with my Ethel. 🌼
kmysaatzer
kmysaatzer
•
Follow
A beautiful Tuesday with my Ethel. 🌼
3 days ago
View on Instagram |
1/16
Baseball team dinner with the BEST boys. 🤎💛
kmysaatzer
kmysaatzer
•
Follow
Baseball team dinner with the BEST boys. 🤎💛
3 days ago
View on Instagram |
2/16
🙌🏼
kmysaatzer
kmysaatzer
•
Follow
🙌🏼
1 week ago
View on Instagram |
3/16
A lovely morning with the loveliest ladies! Thanks for having me THCF.
A lovely morning with the loveliest ladies! Thanks for having me THCF.
A lovely morning with the loveliest ladies! Thanks for having me THCF.
kmysaatzer
kmysaatzer
•
Follow
A lovely morning with the loveliest ladies! Thanks for having me THCF.
2 weeks ago
View on Instagram |
4/16
Saatzfam7 celebrating the launch of #hearthesavior!
kmysaatzer
kmysaatzer
•
Follow
Saatzfam7 celebrating the launch of #hearthesavior!
4 weeks ago
View on Instagram |
5/16
What do you want for your birthday? This. This is what I want. 💚
kmysaatzer
kmysaatzer
•
Follow
What do you want for your birthday? This. This is what I want. 💚
4 weeks ago
View on Instagram |
6/16
This morning in Temec. Shot taken by Scott Padget. #timestoodstillphotography No filter!
kmysaatzer
kmysaatzer
•
Follow
This morning in Temec. Shot taken by Scott Padget. #timestoodstillphotography No filter!
4 weeks ago
View on Instagram |
7/16
A sweet reunion after far too long! We never dreamed we’d both be authors some day. #hearthesavior #ALTAR’d
kmysaatzer
kmysaatzer
•
Follow
A sweet reunion after far too long! We never dreamed we’d both be authors some day. #hearthesavior #ALTAR’d
1 month ago
View on Instagram |
8/16
No C&K visit is complete without #grease.
kmysaatzer
kmysaatzer
•
Follow
No C&K visit is complete without #grease.
2 months ago
View on Instagram |
9/16
Lovely day in a darling town with the bestest friend.
kmysaatzer
kmysaatzer
•
Follow
Lovely day in a darling town with the bestest friend.
2 months ago
View on Instagram |
10/16
SAY WHAT???
kmysaatzer
kmysaatzer
•
Follow
SAY WHAT???
2 months ago
View on Instagram |
11/16
Happy February! 💜
kmysaatzer
kmysaatzer
•
Follow
Happy February! 💜
2 months ago
View on Instagram |
12/16
“A sister is worth a thousand friends.”
~Unknown
Happiest birthday to a sister worth TEN thousand friends. I love you. 💚
“A sister is worth a thousand friends.”
~Unknown
Happiest birthday to a sister worth TEN thousand friends. I love you. 💚
kmysaatzer
kmysaatzer
•
Follow
“A sister is worth a thousand friends.” ~Unknown Happiest birthday to a sister worth TEN thousand friends. I love you. 💚
2 months ago
View on Instagram |
13/16
Spectacular Sunday in SoCal.
kmysaatzer
kmysaatzer
•
Follow
Spectacular Sunday in SoCal.
2 months ago
View on Instagram |
14/16
SD has my 💙#americasfinestcity
kmysaatzer
kmysaatzer
•
Follow
SD has my 💙#americasfinestcity
3 months ago
View on Instagram |
15/16
Happy 2023! May the Lord bless and keep you this year. 💙
kmysaatzer
kmysaatzer
•
Follow
Happy 2023! May the Lord bless and keep you this year. 💙
3 months ago
View on Instagram |
16/16
View on Instagram

Categories

  • 4 For You
  • Advent
  • Blog Series
  • Books
  • Can We Talk About?
  • Christmas
  • Devotionals
  • Easter
  • FIGHT!
  • Friendship
  • Goals
  • Health
  • Lent
  • Light
  • More of God
  • Mother's Day
  • New Year
  • Parenting
  • Planning
  • Prayer
  • Repost
  • Scripture
  • Seasons
  • Summer
  • Surrender
  • Thanksgiving
  • The Practice of Gratitiude
  • Uncategorized
  • Wisdom

Archives

  • March 2023
  • February 2023
  • January 2023
  • November 2022
  • October 2022
  • August 2022
  • June 2022
  • May 2022
  • April 2022
  • February 2022
  • January 2022
  • November 2021
  • October 2021
  • August 2021
  • July 2021
  • June 2021
  • May 2021
  • April 2021
  • March 2021
  • February 2021
  • January 2021
  • November 2020
  • October 2020
  • September 2020
  • August 2020
  • July 2020
  • June 2020
  • May 2020
  • April 2020
  • March 2020
  • February 2020
  • January 2020
  • December 2019
  • November 2019
  • October 2019
  • September 2019
  • July 2019
  • June 2019
  • May 2019
  • April 2019
  • March 2019
  • February 2019
  • January 2019
  • December 2018
  • November 2018
  • October 2018
  • September 2018
  • August 2018
  • July 2018
  • June 2018
  • May 2018
  • April 2018
  • March 2018
  • February 2018
  • January 2018
  • December 2017
  • November 2017
  • October 2017
  • September 2017
  • August 2017
  • July 2017
  • June 2017
  • May 2017
  • April 2017
  • March 2017
  • February 2017
  • January 2017
  • December 2016
  • November 2016
  • October 2016
  • September 2016
  • July 2016
  • June 2016
  • May 2016
  • April 2016
  • March 2016
  • February 2016
  • January 2016
  • December 2015
  • November 2015
  • October 2015
  • September 2015
  • August 2015
  • July 2015
  • June 2015
  • May 2015
  • April 2015
  • March 2015
  • February 2015
  • January 2015
  • December 2014
  • November 2014
  • October 2014

From the Blog

  • A Time to Rest and Refuel
  • A Time to Reset and Refocus
  • Four for March!
  • The Gift of Lent
  • Hear the Savior!

Popular Tags

#annualbooksblog Advent Books Christmas Christmas Season Comfort Courage Darkness discouragement Easter Faith FIGHT Four for You Friendship Giving Grace grateful Gratefulness gratitude Headlines Holy Spirit Hope Hope series Intentionality Jesus Journaling Lent Light Lingering New Year Parenting Praise Prayer Pslamist Pslams Purpose Reading Surrender thankful Thanksgiving The Cross The Practice of Gratitude to-do's trials wisdom

Find it Here

Copyright © 2023 Kristin Saatzer