(IN NO PARTICULAR ORDER) 1. I have learned to love God for who He is and not for what he gives me. 2. I have learned that when I am weak, He is strong. 3. I have learned that it is not only OK to need others, but God planned it this way. In Genesis, God said, “It is not good for man to be…
Nine years ago this month, I received a phone call that changed the course of my life. Michael called to say goodbye; with every fiber of my being, I thought that we would find Michael and get him to a hospital where he would received help. Never in my wildest dreams did I think that phone call would be our last conversation ever. Since that day,…
For many years, a coke bottle from the 1998 Nagano Olympics sat on my mantle. In a curio cabinet I kept a bottle of water from the Jordan River. I didn’t keep these in my home because I was an avid bottle collector, nor for the value of the contents inside. I kept the bottles because of the memories associated with them. A dear friend…
I watched as the sun slowly disappeared behind the acacia tree. As I stood peering over the tall grass, fighting to keep my skirt from blowing up and my hair from flying in my face, I knew that I would never be the same. When I first started going to Kenya with my church, there were no evangelical churches among the Kuria tribe. Over the…
A sure-fire way to hurt your marriage is to engage in stonewalling. This is the final horseman that Gottman uses as a predictor for divorce. Stonewalling is when we build a wall and refuse to let others inside. We often do this by making comments such as “I don’t want to talk about it; Enough,” or “End of story.” When we cut others off and…
A couple of months ago I began writing about the four horsemen that threaten to destroy marriages according to researcher, John Gottman. Life has been so busy that my good intentions of doing this 4-part series in a month was delayed. The third “horseman” that wants to kill your marriage is defensiveness. We are all guilty of this one. “It’s not my fault.” A wife…