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Single Mom by Choice
[Guest Post by Krista Pettiford – We met each other through the San Diego Christian Writer’s Guild. She is a gifted and talented writer, and I am absolutely thrilled to have Krista share her story about her family. If you know of any broken families who might need encouragement, please pass this one along!] I was married and had four children when I became a Christian. Before that, I was very worldly. Though I had been raised by religious parents and even went to Catholic school for my early education I never had a real example of godly living. When I met my husband I was an unwed mother of…
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Forgiveness: The F Word
[Guest Post by Nicole Reyes – I can’t wait for you to hear her later this month as one of the speakers for Quarter Life Conference. She is an advocate for the local church, and I can’t wait for you to hear why. In the mean time, read her powerful story about forgiveness.] Forgiveness, also known as the F word, can be a hard pill to swallow. Archbishop Desmond Tutu knows what he’s talking about. He said, “Without forgiveness, there’s no future.” Many of you are thinking… “Well, you don’t know the pain I’ve been through.” I don’t know your past pain, but I do know what’s even worse than…
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My Relationship Idols
[Guest Post by Alyx Vergara – I’m pretty sure we met for five seconds at my former roommate bridal shower years ago, but have stayed connected via Facebook ever since. It’s been fun to watch her journey over to Hawaii and become the person God wants her to be. Today, if you’re struggling to let go of any relationship idols, be encouraged by Alyx’s story.] My name is Alyx, I am 22 and I live in Hawaii. My journey here started with heartbreak. Three months before my first semester of Bible college, my world was turned upside down when my best friend/ex-boyfriend decided to move on without me. Living without…
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Couples Therapy
[Guest Post by Angela McNeil – I have had the privilege of getting together with her a few times. She’s taken our family portraits, headshots of mine, and of course her daily dose of sarcasm on her Facebook status’. What I appreciate most about my friend Angela, is she’s never afraid to be honest about her past. If you have ever been in an abusive relationship, I hope you will be encouraged by her story.] You mean not all relationships are like this? When I was in High School 1993-1994 my father worked for a software company that was on the Online community craze, like AOL chat rooms and IMing.…
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Just Thank God and Move On
[Guest Post by Brett Wilson – I met her through our mutual friend Sarah Martin. She is a fun, single lady who writes fairy tales of faith, single-hood, and coffee. If you have recently gone through a breakup, I hope her story will encourage you to thank God and move on.] “Hey, baby! Wanna be our guest?” I snapped my head to see where the voices were calling from. I was at a stoplight on a citrus-sunny road somewhere between Virginia Beach and North Carolina. There, simultaneously stopped on my left was a group of baseball-capped men in a dirty white pickup truck. “Really, Lord?” I thought as I tried…
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My Heart is Torn
As I sit here writing this, I am literally tearing my hair out. Every time I write a book my life seems to go through a major transition. First there was Faithbook of Jesus. When I was writing my first book I realized how much my heart couldn’t handle serving two masters. I made the extremely difficult decision to quit my dream job to move back with my parents and write full time. Then there was Not Another Dating Book. It came as such a surprise. My second book had just been canceled the day I finished writing it. I wasn’t confident in my writing abilities or the direction of…
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Having Healthy Relationships with Men
[Guest Post by Lindsay Morgan – My friend Sarah Martin introduced me to Lindsay. She is a very sweet girl who shares her fear of men, and how the Lord helped her overcome it! If any of you have ever been afraid of marriage–you should definitely read this one!] Having healthy relationships with men is the last thing I am qualified to write on. But. That is when the Holy Spirit can say what He really wants. If you knew my history of dating and relationships, you would realize like I did –that our Heavenly Father really does have a sense of humor. I am 36 and single, and I’ve…
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My Married Story Has Ended
[Guest Post by Sue Birdseye. I met Sue through my friends at Tyndale Publishers about her book When Happily Ever After Shatters. If your story has ended and you feel like a failure because of it–I hope her story will encourage you.] My story ended and began with these few little words uttered by my husband of 17 years. “I think I’m going to leave.” As our 5 children and their friends raced around us, my husband spoke words that changed the course of my life, our lives, and our family forever. The next few days and weeks were a desperate attempt on my part to convince my husband to…
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Succeed By Failing
[Guest post by Matt Appling] – I don’t even remember how I got connected to Matt, but I know it was many years ago before my first book, Faithbook of Jesus, was published. I’m so excited to see him finally come out with his first book and I hope you enjoy his piece on pursuing dreams through failure. How do you succeed by failing? Is that even a real question? Certainly, it is. Most of us just never learn the skill of failing wonderfully, spectacularly, unabashedly. But I think failing is one of the most important skills you and I can learn. When you and I were in school, the…
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No Wasted Dreams
[Monthly Columnist – Rebekah Snyder – I always appreciate her brutal honesty and child-like faith. I wonder, though, has anyone ever told you that your dreams were a waste of space? Be encouraged today!] According to my co-worker, my dreams amounted to a wasted life. When I first decided to abandon everything else in order to pursue my writing dream, a co-worker decided to shower me with statistics of writers who actually “make it” in the “real world.” While his words were certainly not encouraging, I could accept them as his way of showing concern. But then he felt the need to inform me I was screwing up my life.…
