Some people LOVE roller coasters. They stand in long lines waiting to climb aboard. They crave the thrill of the ride –the anticipation as the car climbs that first long hill, the adrenaline rush as they reach the top of the track and then that racing straight down feeling, everything out of control and crazy….
Have you ever been told that the things happening in your home are “figments of your imagination”? That’s not very validating, is it? Not very affirming. But that is what we hear sometimes when we actually get up the courage to tell someone what’s going on behind closed doors. “Oh no,” they say. “That’s…
“Just slip out the back, Jack. Make a new plan, Stan. Hop on the bus, Gus. Just get yourself free.” When artist Paul Simon sang those lyrics in 1975, he probably was NOT thinking about domestic abuse. No, I KNOW he wasn’t. He was thinking about something completely different than survival. Leaving the abuse can…
I was blessed to attend the recent Restore 2022 Conference at Judson University. The subtitle, A Conference Restoring Faith in God and the Church, hinted at the truth that our society is experiencing right now – many people have lost faith in our loving God, because of abuse in the church and in the home. …
Valentine’s Day came and went. Messages of romantic love and Pal-entine love, even Gal-entine love were sent across the cyber spaces among young and old alike. Bouquets of red roses and heart-shaped boxes of milk chocolates, edible arrangements of chocolate-covered strawberries, candle-lit dinners and whispers of “I Love You”…. We love our families, our friends,…
Like a child wanders from her mother in the store to look at what catches her fancy, so am I when I glance at the trappings of this world…and I’m gone in a flash. Just like that child on a path leading to destruction… It looks like a vast beach, and soon I realize the…
Okay, my imagination or has the month of January 2022 actually turned out to be THREE months rolled into one? The longest 31-day span in history, I believe. Time has stood still and perhaps not in a good way this month. A month of cold, a month of sickness, a month of sameness if you…
Mary and Joseph were expecting. Maybe they weren’t exactly sure of the full implications of the baby she carried in her womb, but they had the word of God, the promises of God that this Son would be the Messiah who would save all mankind. They expected that God would keep His promises to them: …
Just thinking about life as I made some turkey vegetable soup. Funny that soup would remind me of the years I’ve been blessed with. My life has had a delicious flavor; there have been so many components or ingredients that have been added as with all of our lives and so each pot is unique. …
We have all asked the questions. Those hard questions. “Where was God when my husband hit me?” “Where were you, God, when I was all alone and nobody believed what was going on in my home?” “God, do you even know what he’s doing to our family?” “Does God even care?” I asked those questions…