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Name Your Thirst
Whenever I ask a man to make a list of what his soul is thirsty for, I may as well be speaking Cantonese. Early in my own healing journey, my counselor encouraged me to talk about my longings. It was like trying to describe gravity. So to give men a place to start, I explain that people generally share seven core thirsts. Though this list is not exhaustive, it offers a straightforward way for you to begin to put words to what lies below the surface of your life: Attention—I long for people to like me. I long for your embrace. Affection—I long to be enjoyed. I long to be…
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Praying to Be Able to Walk in Faith
What if this Jesus thing is all a hoax? I thought to myself in horror one day nearly two years after I accepted Christ as Savior. What if none of it’s true? What if the pastor suddenly says, “This is all a joke, and you fell for it! Jesus isn’t real and you’re not really saved!” That day a wall of doubt settled around me like steel bars separating me from my future. The possibility of a life of nothingness became a temporary reality, and I panicked. What brought this on all of a sudden? I wondered. I struggled with that flash of doubt for days, and the more I thought about it, the…
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Senior Makes Friend’s Dream Come True
Senior Brandon Qualls of Caddo Hills High School in Arkansas can now go to school with much more ease than before thanks to a significant gesture and act of friendship by his classmate Tanner Wilson. It was Tanner’s wish to make things easier for his good friend Brandon, who would often tire maneuvering his manual wheelchair. So Wilson started saving to be able to give his best friend the surprise of his life: an electric wheelchair. Tanner saved up from his job at a local mechanic shop for over two years in order to give such a generous and selfless gift. “They came in, and my face just blew up,” Brandon…
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He Made $35,000 in Four Days, Donates $7K
Watch the latest video at foxnews.com David Holston is an 18-year-old entrepreneur from Idaho who started a landscaping business in Coeur d’Alene last spring. He recently made a good amount of money in 4 days, more in than many make in a year, from plowing snow. The proactive teen decided to travel to Seattle with his truck and a plow right after the city got hit with historic levels of snow – up to 10 inches in some parts. Holston made a total of $35,000 in four days work and said he plans to give $7,000 of that “to God” through his local church and other Christian organizations. “I plan…
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White As Snow
As a Central Louisiana and former East Texas resident, I don’t have many opportunities to see snow, unless I’m traveling further north. What really strikes me as I sit at home today on a rare snow day, especially on a day when the sun hasn’t stolen the white crystals away yet, is the brightness I see when I look outside. It may not be apparent in the picture I posted, but the dreariness of the sky does not affect the piercing glow of the snow-covered immaculate landscape. Time off from school. Time to think and pray and ponder. Catching up on emails, reading blogs, looking at pictures of other snowy yards, watching video…
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How To Re-ignite The Fire
Remember the day you gave your life to Christ? You were filled with such joy and excitement! It felt like you were ready to take on the world and share with everyone you encountered the greatness of Jesus. I’m sure just thinking about it right now is probably nostalgic, what happened? What happened to that fire inside of you? Where did it go? All is great at the beginning but somewhere in our journey our fire starts to die without us realizing it and within a blank of an eye we can be left fireless, and stuck in our relationship with God. This happens to most of us, but…
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Patsy Clairmont and Me
It was a dark and stormy night… No, it was a gloomy, rainy night… Ok, maybe just a dark night in a rental car driving on a winding road I’d never traveled before with another woman I had just met a few minutes ago. It was an adventure I had been looking forward to for several months. A trip to meet Patsy Clairmont at her home for a writing workshop. I’ve loved Patsy Clairmont since the early days when her speaking engagements were aired on Focus on the Family radio broadcasts. I’d read her books and seen her at many Women of Faith events. Recently, I had become one of…
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Our First Date
After letting everyone know that I married my first date, it occurred to me that folks may be interested in our first date. Fitting for me, even still, our date didn’t go exactly as I had planned. It was a Saturday, October 10, 1975, and I had just gotten off work at my grandmother’s dress shop. The rest of my family was out of town, due to return sometime that evening. When my grandmother dropped me off at home, I realized that my house key was missing. Oops! How was I to get ready for my very first date when I couldn’t get into my house? Fortunately, I brought home…
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I Married My First Date
It was a steamy August afternoon when I spotted the tall handsome senior drummer the first day of marching band practice. One of my giddy fellow freshman girlfriends pointed him out to me, since she had a crush on him. Of course, he had no idea any of us wide-eyed ninth graders existed as he strutted on the field a head above all the rest of the band. The summer sun had kissed him in the color of bronze, and his long locks of brown still celebrated a break from the school dress code. Wow, I thought, how could my friend ever think he would notice an awkward fourteen year…
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Sinful Opportunities
I realized something today. I need to accept my biggest weakness. Accept that the sin that I keep turning to time and time again is something I will continue to struggle with. It’s a cycle really: I repent sincerely and am forgiven, then end up committing the same sin. I tear myself apart. I think this is partially because when I sincerely repent, I have every intention of leaving that struggle behind – cold turkey. The next time I give into that same temptation I feel like a quitter, a failure, or even a traitor. I need to accept – just as we all do – my struggle. If I…
