I can still clearly remember the day my heart stopped. At only 17 years old, I had a cardiac arrest. I was a cheerleader for my high school, and our football team was playing for the district championship. It was an intense game. I was on the sidelines, willing our team to victory. Feeling every play. My senses on high alert. The clock was running out, the game was on the line, and a huge upset play turned the outcome…
Even with a growing number of only children, about 80% of Americans have at least one brother or sister. And like it or not, they are to some extent stuck with each other for their entire lives! For most people, sibling relationships are the most enduring of all relationships, outlasting that with parents, spouses, children, or friends. But sometimes, it feels like children were born not to get along with each other. As a parent, I am WAY too familiar…
Graduating from high school can be one of the most exciting times in a young child’s life, but it can also be one of the scariest! All of a sudden, your teenager is thrust into the world. They have to make decisions with potentially life-altering consequences. So how do you make sure your child does it right? The first step is avoiding some of the most common mistakes college freshmen make. Go over the different 6 points on this list as…
We all have challenging times in our marriages when we have to make tough decisions, and sometimes that can cause conflict. My marriage is no exception! When to start having kids. Whether or not to quit good, stable jobs to go into full-time ministry. How to discipline our children. What to spend our money on. Whether or not to adopt. How to run a ministry while raising a family and dealing with serious health issues. Mark and I definitely don’t…
I sometimes wonder how people survive without prayer. I couldn’t make it through a single day, much less a lifetime, without prayer. For me, praying is almost like breathing. I’m not saying that because I want you to think I am acing the Christian life. I’m not. I have to pray simply to survive and stay sane! Without prayer, I have no peace in my life. But I do have to admit that praying is not always my first response…
When I’m in a hurry and trying to get somewhere quickly, nothing irritates me as much as a speed bump—especially when it comes out of nowhere and takes me by surprise! While flying through life, attempting to balance the countless things on my plate, I sometimes get hit by a speed bump that reminds me I have to slow down. They’re never fun, but these speed bumps in our lives offer a perfect opportunity for reflection and evaluation. Over the…
Communication is the glue that holds a marriage together. But I can tell you that during our 28 years of marriage, there have been countless times when Mark and I have come a little unglued. Early in our marriage, I struggled to navigate the sticky communication situations we sometimes found ourselves in. I had to start by figuring out how to communicate…about communication! As crazy as it sounds, I learned that to improve our couples communication, we had to talk…