Becoming Who Your Relationship Needs You to Be
What do you need to do in order to bring your best self to the people who matter most? What…
regrets
What to Do About the Three Kinds of Suffering
You are suffering. Surprise! Welcome to the human race. And of course that’s not at all reassuring. Our culture trains…
How You – and God – can Deal With Painful Regrets
Do you know anyone over 30 who has absolutely no regrets? I don’t. There’s stuff you experienced that you wish…
How Sex Has Lost its Glory: Intimacy Gone Wrong
God created you for something good, a level of goodness we can only begin to imagine now. He built into…
How to “Forget the Past” When it Haunts You
You’ve messed up. Perhaps you’ve messed up a lot over a long period of time. You’d like things to be…
Broken Creche, Broken Heart at Christmas
The little olivewood creche was special to me ever since I had purchased it at a little tourist shop in…
Finishing Your Marriage Without Regrets
Marriage is for our benefit here on earth. Marriage can sometimes seem endless and tedious, but it is temporary. And…
How to Receive Healing from God
We all need to receive healing from God. (And if you believe you’re the exception, you need an extra special…
When Your Marriage Fails Anyway
Sometimes all you’ve got is not enough. Sometimes even God can’t fix it. Sometimes all your tears and work and…
7 Things to Know if your Spouse is a Christian and Abusive
God-talk and violence – physical, sexual, mental, or spiritual – have mixed for centuries. Sadly that same mixture shows up…
7 Mistakes to Avoid When You’re Worked Up
It’s a rare person who never gets emotionally flustered. And I’m not sure such a person truly exists. Some people…
How God Deals With the Consequences of Bad Behavior
In this world we all face bad stuff. Sometimes others wound you, and those scars are painful. But what can…
How Would You Live If You Knew . . .
Most of us really don’t know. And perhaps that’s a good thing. We don’t know when the next life-altering event…
Christianity in One Word
Denominations. Cultures. Traditional vs. contemporary. Grace vs. good works. Community. Just love everyone. What is Christianity really about anyway? Controversy…
How to Say “I’m Sorry”
I’m not proud of it. I gave someone I didn’t know a difficult time, and I had to say “I’m…
Six Things I’d Say To My Younger Self
I just had a birthday. At my age that’s both good news and bad news. I’m glad I’m still here.…
Who Will Be Around You On Your Deathbed?
No one wants to die alone. It may feel a bit morbid, but thinking about your last earthly days is…
Why Do Religious Teens Have Unprotected Sex?
Why do religious teens have unprotected sex? Parents, teachers, pastors, and more would love to know. Ask the average teenager…
Christian Doctor Addresses Sex, Contraception, and STDs
As an OB-Gyn physician I am privileged to talk with women about some of the most intimate issues of their lives.…
13 Things On A Bucket List For Christians
Wanting to “kiss at the top of the Empire State Building,” or “learn to play guitar” may be great goals. But if you believe that God has a purpose for your life, there are some other things that should be on your “bucket list” for sure. Here are some things you don’t want to get to the end of your life without having accomplished:
How to Find the Freedom of Forgiveness
You’ve been wronged. Badly.
There comes a time after every such horrible wrong where you must make a decision. And it’s yours alone to make. You have only two choices. Do you remain hurt and miserable, or do the hard work of forgiveness.
Forgiveness sets you free. It does much more for the one doing the forgiving than the one needing to be forgiven.
Forgiveness is also one of the hardest things for most people to do. There’s a sweet misery in nursing your wounds. Having been hurt is a wonderful excuse for all kinds of bad behavior.
When to NOT Discuss Things With Your Spouse
You are supposed to communicate together as husband and wife. And that’s a good thing. But there is a difference between communicating and dumping.
However, some women (and a few men) use the principle of communication to unload on their spouse. That may place a burden on your spouse that is not their place to carry.
Communication lets your spouse see and touch the difficult things in your heart. Dumping tries to force your spouse to carry what is yours to own.
7 Sure Ways to Stay Young(er)
Yes, you are only as old as you feel! But none of us enjoys having to face grey hair, skin wrinkles, loss of strength, or “senior moments.” People have been searching for the fountain of youth for centuries.
There are many things you can do that either speed up or slow down the aging process. No, none of them will make you live forever. But they will make a big difference in how your body, mind, and soul look and feel. Here are seven ways:
Sleep – Good for Your Body, Mind, and Soul
I’ve never especially liked going to bed. There’s so much to do.
We all know that our human bodies need sleep and rest. But that’s not all. Your mind, emotions, ability to handle stress, and how you relate to your children, spouse, God, and others are all affected.
5 Things You Don’t Want To Regret
It’s not the years in your life that count: it’s the life in your years that’s important.
3 Things that are NOT Small Stuff
Rule Number 1: Don’t sweat the small stuff.
Rule Number 2: It’s ALL small stuff!
There are very few things in life worthy of being excluded from the “small stuff.”
We were reminded of this today when we heard from a friend of ours that his father had passed away this morning.
Being REAL or Being Helpful
Do I share my feelings completely? ALL the time? Will it hurt other people if I do? If I don’t, will keeping secrets hurt me – or them? If I know this, shouldn’t I share the information?
So how can you know if this is a “secret” you should keep or not? Maturity, wisdom, counsel, and prayer are all very necessary for some of these tough decisions.
The Fragility of Trust
Trust takes a long time to build. And it can be lost in a moment.
Sitting in the airport not long ago, I couldn’t help overhearing one side of a phone conversation.
We were witnessing a young man in real torment.
5 Times to NOT Care What Anyone Thinks
I might not say it in quite those words, but it’s really true: “I don’t care what you think!” In fact it HAS to be true, or I’m no good to you or anybody else.
For a people-pleasing person like me, that conclusion is a hard one to come to.
Here are some specific situations where it’s important to NOT care others think:
The Bad (or Good) News about STDs
There’s one part of my job as an OB-Gyn physician that I dread. And I’ve had to do it several times in the last two weeks.
I dread telling a woman that she has just been diagnosed with an STD.
Within just the past few days I’ve had to address HIV, HPV, herpes, and chlamydia. There’s just no easy way to tell someone that kind of news. The tears, the physical distress, the fear, often the shame, in a woman’s face just tears at my heart.
Alzheimer’s Disease: A Scary Thought
What was I going to write about? Oh yes, I remember. I just had a senior moment there.
Have you ever felt like that? Are you worried about whether it’s “just” a “senior moment”, or something much more scary – Alzheimer’s?
Losing one’s mental capacity ranks near the top on any list of fears about the future as people get older.
