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On Anxiety: Why I'm Not Ready For Kids
I’m not ready for kids because I have anxiety. I never thought I’d share this information publicly, but I never thought I’d be married and dealing with this problem privately. As some of you already may know, I was single for 12 years, 10 months, and 24 days. That’s a long time to forget about having children. Also long enough to realize I probably won’t have more than one or two kids when I do get married. I’m 30, so it’s not like I don’t time to figure out this kid business. I never realized my doctor would tell me I shouldn’t have kids. It’s not enough to know that…
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On Anxiety: Celiac Disease
[Guest Post by Casey] – At the age of 24, I had everything I wanted; and all of a sudden, none of it meant anything. I had just finished up my master’s degree, received a great job offer and moved in with my boyfriend of three years after dealing with long distance most of our relationship. If I wasn’t feeling anxious, I wasn’t feeling anything at all. I dreaded going out; I was snapping at loved ones and it took every ounce of discipline I had to drag myself out of bed. Nothing was fun anymore, including me. There was no Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde. I was straight up…
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On Anxiety: An Adulterous Relationship Breakup
[Guest Post by Rebecca Halton] – Entangled in an adulterous relationship in my early 20s, I was no stranger to anxiety. I lost unhealthy amounts of weight and sleep. I isolated myself, sequestered by secrecy and shame. I was drowning under the weight of worry, fear, paranoia, shame and self-loathing. And even as a believer already, I felt too “disqualified,” too unworthy, to seek the One who I knew could rescue me. What then? That’s when I started to “circle the wagons”– to rally people in my life for prayer and counsel. The concept isn’t mine, but I know it’s inspired by the defense mechanism of settlers pioneering the West.…
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How To Cope When Anxiety Returns
[Guest Post by Laura] – In the initial months after surviving a home invasion, which included rape and kidnapping, I expected anxiety. I learned to deal with the anxiety, to force myself to do things I didn’t want to do. At the time going to the shopping mall alone required conquering anxiety. Basically my entire life revolved around pushing through the anxiety and learning to live without fear. Almost three years later I felt like myself again. Not much anxiety. I’d been able to conquer several anxiety-inducing life situations–staying alone overnight, living in a foreign country, traveling to new places. Plus, I was headed home to the States for nine…
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10 Tips Online Dating
[Disclaimer from Renee] – Since I have tried and failed at online dating–including a date where the guy literally tried to get me to sleep with him –I wanted to paint not only a positive but godly view of online dating. That doesn’t mean that eHarmony is the ONLY place to meet a future spouse or that Christian Mingle is correct in their advertising slogan “Find God’s Match For You.” It’s up to you and God to figure out if online dating is right for you. Please welcome my friend Julie as she shares her success story. [Guest Post by Julie Anne Wilson] – 10 Tips Online Dating There are…
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Hey Christian Girl
Just because you’re single doesn’t mean you’re alone. Shocking, I know. Let’s re-read that first sentence again–but this time say it out loud until you believe it! I want to let you in on a little secret: after a year of marriage I can say with full confidence I now have less time for friendships. My favorite February 14th was the one where I got together with a group my girlfriends. There were about eight of us. Some knew each other, and some didn’t. Some were single and happy and some–like me–weren’t. I don’t even remember the movie we saw, but I remember sitting at Panera Bread beforehand chick chatting…
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On Dating: Let Him Be A Gentleman
[Guest Post by Bethany Jett] When it comes to dating is it impossible to let him boyfriend be a gentleman? Dating. That mystical world where every glance, word, and touch is analyzed, over-analyzed, and remembered on a repeat cycle until the next time the love of your life crosses your path. It’s a system of doubt, joy, excitement, butterflies, and sometimes heartache. What if the odds of getting our hearts broken could be reduced? Is there any way we can steer the course of our dating lives to a place of ease and wonderfulness? Ideally, yes, but in a system where the traditional gender roles are kicked and trampled in…
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On Dating: Should We Talk About Sex?
[Guest Post by Lisa Velthouse] – Should we talk about sex? If so, when? And how? And what is OK to say, and what isn’t? And what, oh what, would our youth pastors think if they heard us now? Christians in a dating and marrying world are typically aware that the Bible’s teaching on sex reserves it for a married husband and wife. They are often also aware that the Bible celebrates married sex unabashedly. Song of Songs, anyone? As to the practical implications of all that, however, the clarity quickly fades into big questions and big confusion. But let’s get our grounding here, and begin by remembering that the…
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On Dating: My Parents Don't Approve
[Monthly Columnists – Wendy van Eyck] My parents don’t approve of my boyfriend. I’m not the best person to write dating advice because I didn’t go on my first date till I was 26. And then I broke up with him four weeks later. I’m not the kind of person who plays games with peoples feelings but I didn’t know what else to do when my parents didn’t approve of my first boyfriend. As a young teen, I’d decided that dating for the sake of gaining a long list of boyfriends just wasn’t me. I settled that there were two boxes that needed to be ticked in my mind before…
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Two NEW Books
Announcing Forgiving Others, Forgiving Me book cover and my fourth book, Loves Me Not: Heartbreak & Healing God’s Way. I can’t believe I’ve been working on Forgiving Others, Forgiving Me for over ten years. It’s been through four re-writes and two publishers, and the Jerry B. Jenkins Christian Writer’s Guild when I was 19. I remember when my friend in DTS (discipleship training program), Ericka said, “God told me to tell you to write your second book on suffering.” And when my previous publisher contracted it–I thought “thank you God!” When they canceled it, the verse I got was from Isaiah 43:19, which says “See! I am doing a NEW…
