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Panic Attacks: My Fight Against Fear
[Guest Post by Dr. Gail Bones – We met through our mutual friend and mentor Pam Farrel. I appreciate Gail for her heart of integrating ministry between older women and younger women. Also, this is an excerpt from her new book that JUST RELEASED this month on Living Cross Wise. Hope you are encouraged!!] I’d just put my baby down for a nap when a tsunami of irrational dread and fear swept over me. A feeling of impending doom, accompanied by a terrifying sense of unreality took hold, and my heart began to pound. As the room spun, a suffocating panic gripped me. My mind raced to find an explanation…
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The Pit of Depression
[Guest Post by Amy Schaffner – This post is for anyone, like Amy, who has ever felt trapped in the pit of depression. Be encouraged.] There is a pit of depression that I sometimes desire to fall into. The lure can sometimes be so overwhelming that I don’t know how to combat it. The days that nothing seems to go my way, when I my body feels like an 80 year old woman, when the kids just won’t stop yelling, my bed calls to me. Tears call to me. Do I like this? No. Is it my personality to battle this daily? Yes. For the longest time I thought struggling with depression…
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Life, life, and more life
[Guest Post by Wendy van Eyck – When my good friend from South Africa told me that she published her first book–Life, life, and more life–AND is giving it away for free at ilovedevotionals.com, I asked her to share with us. Enjoy and be encouraged.] How God found me in my darkest time I was 21 when I realized that I did not want to kill myself anymore. After months of struggling with depression the darkness was beginning to lift. For months my soul had been in a place where light didn’t penetrate and I couldn’t see hope. When I was growing up–blowing bubbles, climbing jungle gyms and jumping on…
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Mental Illness Does Not Define You
Over the years I have learned a very important lesson that mental illness does not define me. It does not define you either. Yes! There are days, weeks, months, and even years when it doesn’t feel that way–but it’s true. Pastor Rick Warren said in a recent sermon, “Your [mental] illness is not your identity, your chemistry is not your character.” That quote means even more when you realize he has lived it. His son Matthew recently took his life. He was only 27 and struggled with mental illness his whole life. I highly recommend that you watch the video sermon in its entirety here. I wanted to share the 6…
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On Suicide Prevention: You Matter
[Guest Post by Jami Witherell – I “met” Jami when I watched her episode on Extreme Makeover Weight Loss Edition. She inspired me to try running for the first time. Her story was so real, so honest (my kind of friend). She shared on the show about dealing with suicide. I asked if I could share her story and she said YES. You can read her original post in it’s entirety here.] I am reminded it’s much easier to pick out flaws in others than it is to accept them in myself. And realizing that is helping me–not so much forgive (that will take time), but press on into today’s post…
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Top 10 Blogs for Christian Women
After blogging for almost 10 years, I (Renee Fisher) thought it was time to make a top 10 list of the top 10 blogs for Christian women! Every year there are a few websites that list the top Christian blogs, but they’re usually based on how much traffic you receive. That may be what attracts you to read a blog, but that is NOT what attracts me. For me, it goes much deeper than that. + Are they women of integrity? + Does she actually care about you–the reader? + Does she stay away from gossiping or slandering other Christian blogs to get more hits? + Is she accessible enough…
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Why Sexual Harassment at Work is Wrong
Two things happened today that have caused me to write this blog immediately. The first is that Mayor Filner of San Diego is resigning as of 5 PM on August 30th. The second is that I ate at the restaurant Karl Strauss for the first time since I was sexually harassed in their parking lot many years ago by a former coworker. I am infuriated that men like Mayor Bob Filner think it’s okay and appropriate behavior to sexually harass women in the work place. As a woman who has been sexually harassed in the work place twice, I am not only offended–I am downright angry. Some of you may…
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Host a Small Group on Forgiveness
I recently recorded Chapter Videos to go along with my new book “Forgiving Others, Forgiving Me” for those of you who want to host a small group on forgiveness. They go along with the Discussion Questions at the back of the book (pages 175-178). You can cover each chapter a week for seven weeks or space it out as you desire. Since forgiveness isn’t a fluffy topic, but weighty and often times difficult–hear me when I say this–feel free to go at your own pace. Without further ado, here is the first Chapter Video, and the rest can be viewed at http://www.forgivingme.com. Ch: 1 Video & Chapter Discussion from Renee…
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September: Mental Health Month
Starting this September, I am looking for guest posts on the topic of mental health. I have shared my story along with many other stories on anxiety, depression, and mental health. Since I started the recent transition of getting of my anxiety med, I thought it would be encouraging to gather more stories to encourage those of us who are going through it. If you struggle or have lived or loved others who struggle and would like to share please send your query to me at: renee (at) devotionaldiva (dot) com. Requirements: 500-750 words including a 3-4 sentence bio and picture. [Photo: Aban Nesta, Flickr]
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Why Married Sex is the Best
[Guest Post by Aurora Vilchis – I love my friend’s heart. Not only has she has experienced both kinds of sex, but she knows which one is best and shares why. *This post was originally featured on Girls Using Their Strengths blog here).] I like sex. There, I said it. We live in a culture that leads us, as women, to believe that men are visual creatures who want to unclothe us by any means, and we just have to accept that even if we don’t want to. We have heard that women are forced to have sex and would rather be doing anything else but the act itself. I’m here…
