As a missionary for the North American Mission Board, we were required twice a year to participate in a World Missions Conference. In September 1998, we journey to Colorado to share with the Continental Divide Association what God was doing in Helen, Georgia. When we arrived, the director of missions gave us our assignments and he gave me a Ford F-150 to drive…
Recently, I was rereading my first draft of my book, Tears to Joy, and I realized that there were several chapters that were omitted in the final draft. I decided to share them on my website. It’s a little weird to post this first one about the early days with Michael, since I am now in the first few months of marriage to Jeff. I…
There are times in our lives when God asks us to do things that makes no sense to us at all. Remember Naaman in the Bible. He was a very wealthy man, but had been struck with leprosy. He went to Jesus for help and Jesus told him to go dunk himself in the river three times. This was ludicrous to him, and angered…
I’ve had so many hurting people come to me and tell me that they don’t know what to do. They have been diagnosed with an anxiety disorder and encouraged to take medication, but their Christian friends and family discourage it, saying, “The Bible says to be anxious about nothing. You don’t need medicine; you just need to trust God.” What do you say to that?…
I teach a Dating and Marriage course to high schoolers, and I am always reading about the subject in order to stay current. Most of the teenagers I teach, particularly the girls, believe that they will one day marry their current boyfriends. I recently read that out of 100 married couples, 22 said they married their high school sweetheart. Now before you say, “Ahhhh,”…
It’s a long running joke that pastors don’t really work, but two days a week. Being married to a minister, I must say that nothing could be farther from the truth. Most pastors are on call 24/7 and are asked to help in a vast array of circumstances – from holding someone’s hand while they die to rescuing cats from clandestine places. Sadly, many ministers…