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What's Your Story – Carla
[Guest post by Carla] – I don’t remember a time when I didn’t want to be married, a time when I wasn’t desperate for someone to love me. I feared that I would be alone forever. You would think that after two divorces I wouldn’t want to be in a relationship any more, but that fear was still very alive inside me and so I launched my dating career. Yes, it became a career. I was 28, mother of three and on a mission to find someone to love me. I have since gone on more dates than I should ever admit out loud. Some of my dates have been…
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What's Your Story – Samantha
[Guest Post by Samantha Krieger] God interrupted my story the summer after I graduated from college. I interned at a Christian publishing company in Nashville. I loved my work and what music city had to offer. I wanted to plant roots there but two weeks before my internship ended, I felt God leading me to pursue seminary. The funny thing is that seminary was never in my thoughts. Not once the whole summer. Then after pondering the idea and really considering it, affirmation came from those closest to me. Coincidentally, they were praying about the same thing. After talking with different seminaries, to my surprise, I received a full scholarship…
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What's Your Story – Ashleigh
[Guest post by Ashleigh Slater] – My oldest daughter celebrated her eighth birthday two Saturdays ago. As she blew out the candles on her “Sew Cute” Lalaloopsy cake, I marveled that I’m “Mom” to a second-grader. Not to mention a first-grader, preschooler, and toddler. Let’s just say, over a decade ago it wasn’t where I’d expected to find myself at 33. Me, filling sippy cups up with pink milk throughout the day? No. Me, carrying snack-sized bags of Goldfish and Chex Mix in my purse? Nuh-uh. Me, making multiple trips to the grocery store for that bottle of ketchup that’s perpetually forgotten? I don’t think so. I wasn’t attending grad…
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What's Your Story – Shannon
[Guest Post by Shannon] Once upon a time, I desired so badly to have something meaningful in my life. And for me, that meaning was not found unless I was working toward something BIG. When I was a little girl, I remember telling my mom, “I’m bored, there is NOTHING to do, mom.” Those were small days. I hoped for big days to come when I could make something of myself. What I didn’t realize was that big days can also bring stress, pride and trials. Now, I yearn for those small days. So many days seem like big days…and the small days are spent worrying about the big days.…
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What's Your Story – Lisa & Kyle
Kyle Bonenberger and his wife, Lisa Ramsland Bonenberger, are experts on love and forgiveness. A few years ago they planted City Church in Anaheim, CA. They speak, encourage, council, write, and give relational advice daily. Not to mention their credentials speak for themselves. Kyle is currently working towards his M.Div from Talbot Seminary and Lisa recently graduated from Talbot with a Master’s in Counseling. Lisa and I are both graduates of Biola University, and I had the pleasure of meeting them through Lisa’s mother, Marcia Ramsland, my mentor! Marcia is the one who named me the “Devotional Diva!” My first question to them, “What does love mean to you as…
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What's Your Story – Bruce & Heather
[Guest post by Bruce & Heather] – Life had been going along just fine until our Sunday afternoon drives to a Starbucks near downtown started messing with us. The trip was our way of ending a hectic Sunday of multiple church services with something fun. Our drives into the city started out as a way to relax, but over time, something significant happened. As we drove through the city, we began to notice that people’s needs were quite different from those of folks in the suburbs. We were confronted with homelessness, low- income housing, unemployment, and poorly rated schools. Often we would see groups of young adults sitting in parks…
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What's Your Story – Jenn
Jenn is my first best friend. Jenn and I met at North Coast Church’s college group and became best friends. It’s funny how God uses certain people to remind us who we are, and who bring out the best. Jenn is that person to me. I felt bad that I couldn’t be there for her when her story started. Jenn became a single mom. She went through much criticism by her family, peers, the church—and worst of all herself. As a result of her choices she had a lot of questions to answer. My first question to Jenn was a heavy one, one that I’ve wrestled with myself. Why do…
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What's Your Story – Rayni
[Guest Post by Rayni Peavy] I’d never been afraid to fly. From the time I was a baby I’ve been flying on a regular basis. Even flying across the country a few months after 9/11 didn’t scare me because I trusted God with my life. And then it happened. Several years ago, out of nowhere, I began having anxiety attacks. Unfortunately two of them came back to back on a long plane ride overseas. It was a traumatic experience, to put it mildly. From that moment on stepping onto a plane was a trigger for extremely high and almost unbearable anxiety. But, I have found that when I trust God…
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What's Your Story – Ashley
[Guest Post by Ashley] I always had a close relationship with God, and felt I could always lean on Him. In high school, I got a job at a leather store in the mall. I was a trainer on the football team and fell head over heels for popular guy on the team. I had my whole life planned out. I wanted to be a stay at home mom and be an active part of a church. I knew I wanted to save myself for marriage, but I started to drift from God. He wasn’t into going to church or praying. I ended up dating him and we had a…
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What's Your Story – Brittany
I want to introduce to Brittany Erbaugh. She was my first roommate ever! We met in San Antonio, TX because of a nine-month discipleship-training program, “Ambassador For Christ.” She was my roommate and classmate. Because of her influence, she made me watch all three of Lord of the Rings movies. And to get her back, I hooked her on the CBS show, “Survivor (she still watches it). And, one thing we did agree on was Blue Bell Ice Cream, Chick fil A, and ABC’s Lost. But, enough about our relationship! Brittany is all too familiar with her spiritual battle and mine. I left Texas before I had the chance to…
