James OConnor

Pray for a gentle welcome and a friend by lunchtime.

She has been with us as a foster placement for fourteen months. Today the judge said the words. We cried in the hallway and a stranger handed us a tissue and didn't ask why. She is three. She has a …

Pray for resourcefulness and steady nerves. #healing

Tests this week. Pray for peace and clear answers. #healing

It's about boundaries — too much overtime and not enough thanks for it. I have been carrying it for months and I am not good at saying the hard thing. Pray for honest words from me and an open mind fr…

Pray for patience as the body heals more slowly than I expected. Trying not to push too hard. #healing

She is loved. The caregivers are tired. There is a particular weight to caring for someone who doesn't always remember you, and who is sometimes scared of you because of it. Pray for soft hands and sl…

It still doesn't feel real most mornings. I open my phone to text her about something silly maybe twice a week. Then I remember. Some days I am okay. I work, I cook, I laugh at a thing on the radio. …

We had the conversation last weekend about hiring a part-time helper. It did not go well. They feel managed; we feel scared. Pray for the next conversation — for softer language and for us listening b…

Not crisis, just slow. We are both tired in different ways. We have stopped reaching for each other in the small ways and neither of us is quite sure how it started or how to step back across. Pray fo…

It was not the year we imagined. We had two job losses, a small loss in the family, and a long stretch where we both just survived next to each other instead of with each other. Pray for the second y…

May rest find you tonight. May tomorrow be a little gentler.

It still doesn't feel real most mornings. I open my phone to text her about something silly maybe twice a week. Then I remember. Some days I am okay. I work, I cook, I laugh at a thing on the radio. …

It was not the year we imagined. We had two job losses, a small loss in the family, and a long stretch where we both just survived next to each other instead of with each other. Pray for the second y…

It was not the year we imagined. We had two job losses, a small loss in the family, and a long stretch where we both just survived next to each other instead of with each other. Pray for the second y…

We didn't tell them how stretched we are; they wouldn't accept the help if they knew. Pray for sufficiency for everyone. Pray for me to do this without resentment, even on the months when it is hard. …

It's been four years. Some weeks are bearable, some are not. This one has not been. Pray for the appointment with the new specialist on Monday — for fresh eyes and for me to ask the right questions in…

Three weeks in, we finally got the full story out of him on Sunday night. He had been carrying it alone, which is the part that breaks me the most. We meet with the school on Wednesday. Pray for the …

It was tight all the way to the last day. We had a quiet dinner of rice and eggs and we were grateful and a bit shaken. Pray for those still walking through scarcity. We have been there and we will be…

He had a hard week at school — sensory overload on Tuesday, then a misunderstanding with a classmate on Thursday. The teachers are kind but stretched. Pray for one breakthrough this month, and for a s…

It was not the year we imagined. We had two job losses, a small loss in the family, and a long stretch where we both just survived next to each other instead of with each other. Pray for the second y…

After six years of saying I would. After three years of saying I should have. The first invoice goes out next week. Pray for steady hands and steady customers. Pray for me to learn how to charge what …

We have come through one almost-match and one full match that fell through at the last week. We don't know what to call any of it now — hope, grief, tiredness. All of those at once on most days. Pray …

It was not the year we imagined. We had two job losses, a small loss in the family, and a long stretch where we both just survived next to each other instead of with each other. Pray for the second y…

Hospice last Wednesday. He still has good hours. He told a joke yesterday and we all laughed too hard, the way you do. My mother is sleeping next to him every night. My brother flew in from Sydney; h…

I keep replaying it. Pray for me to lay it down without dropping the boundary. There is a version of forgiveness that is just self-erasure and I don't want to do that. There is also a version that hol…

We saw him work so hard. Thank you for praying. #thanksgiving

We didn't tell them how stretched we are; they wouldn't accept the help if they knew. Pray for sufficiency for everyone. Pray for me to do this without resentment, even on the months when it is hard. …

Nine months in. The CV is now in a folder that I open less often. The early kindnesses from friends have settled into a quieter awkwardness — they don't know what to ask anymore. This week I almost t…

May help reach them quickly. May they not feel alone.