Guest Post by Rita Schulte Kathy was an addict, but she wasn’t addicted to drugs or alcohol. Kathy was addicted to relationships. She was codependent, hooked into an endless cycle of rescuing and fixing all the dysfunctional people in her life. What is codependency? According to Melody Beattie, a codependent is a person who has […]
Author: Jo Ann Fore
Where we are bold and gentle
Column Post by Lakin Easterling There’s a constant struggle within my being to be a solitary creature. It’s not that I don’t like people, or love doing things with those who are close to me; I absolutely do, and sometimes being with those people brings me great blessing and joy. Sometimes, though, I start to […]
When wisdom says it’s time to cut ties
Column Post by Laura Hyers It happened again. For the hundredth time, I trusted that person—you know the one, the one you so desperately want to trust, the one you keep coming back to in hopes there’s been a change and now you can have a normal relationship. Well, I trusted her and I thought she […]
Do I Really Matter {Or God’s Rx for Insecurity}
Happy is the (wo)man who has broken the chains which hurt the mind. ~Ovid, a 17th century Roman poet Father help me to be intentional about praising you, like an arrow seeking its target. Regardless of the occasional drop of gale-force wind that threatens my path, may my thanksgivings shoot straight forth and penetrate […]
When you’re being splashed across a canvas
Column Post by Lisa Easterling A small green paintbrush captured me today Brushed me across a canvas rough but welcoming Moved like music over the whiteness and left it with a face Not quite smiling, but far from sad The lines blurred slightly, but it was me Colors thrown across the surface With purposeful abandon […]
How to really learn best
Column Post by Glenda Harbinson What is your area of passion? About what topic can you just not stand to hear others spouting knowledge when you are absolutely certain they are wrong? Do you jump in and speak up? Count to ten and walk away? Perhaps close your computer and go wash dishes or bury […]
When you dare to be generous with grace
Column Post by Lakin Easterling “So if there is any encouragement in Christ, any comfort from love, any participation in the Spirit, any affection and sympathy, complete my joy by being of the same mind, having the same love, being in full accord and of one mind…Have this mind among yourselves, which is yours in Christ […]
What to do when your heart wants to open your mouth
Column Post by Laura Hyers There is something within me that refuses to admit my brokenness, some rebellious part that clings to this idea that everything is fine just the way it is, nods hello and says I’m doing just fine, thank you, pushes the hurting parts way down deep and ignores them as much as […]
We Grow When Life Steals Our Control
Live. Like. Jesus. As Christians we hear it all the time, “We should strive to be more and more like Jesus.” Really? How hard is that! My friend, Mary DeMuth, says it best, “How can we, people weighed down by insecurity and sin and stress, live like Jesus?” Ever feel like it’s impossible to turn […]
My Words: Balm or Napalm?
Words hold great power. Power to lift up, to heal, to encourage; power to diminish, to discourage, to destroy. We cannot possibly grasp the potential for healing, or for damage, contained within the words we speak. This is even truer of the words we write. I wrote a poem a few years ago. I don’t […]
