-
When Your Dreams Change
[Guest Post by Amanda Casanova – I’m excited to introduce you to a new voice today. I’m sure everyone, like Amanda, has experienced the every day changes life can bring including shifting dreams. If you aren’t sure what dream to pursue and how–be encouraged by her story.] What happens when your dreams change? I was in the news business. That meant you probably didn’t like me. That meant I was either too liberal or too conservative. It meant I asked a lot of questions that were probably none of my business. It meant I couldn’t tell you I loved Jesus. Now, I had wanted to be a newspaper woman for a…
-
For Such A Dream As This
[Guest Post by Tiffany Dawn – My friend Rayni Peavy introduced Tiffany to me, and I am in-love with her story. Like her, I also quit my job to pursue writing and speaking. It shows just how much passion she has to follow God first. If any of you are struggling to follow His leading, keep reading!] Wherever you are, God has known about this for years, before you had a clue. He has strategically set pieces in place so that at this moment in history you could do what He’s called you to do. Recently I’ve had the opportunity to walk into the dreams God planted in my heart…
-
Dreaming Courageously
[Guest Post by Kim Bangs – I have been friends with Kim now for a few years. We’ve both spoken at San Diego Christian Writer’s Guild in San Diego, CA and both have a passion to help shape young and new authors. Read below to learn more about dreaming courageously.] I stopped my car on a steep incline so I could unload my “home away from home” belongings for the week. On the second trip into the cabin, I reached to open the door to my room. It wouldn’t open. I tried exerting much more force at pushing the door open…nothing. Next I used all my muscle to turn the…
-
Suicide, Mental Illness, Murder, and the Church
As the creator of Quarter Life Conference, I am honored to announce the next #QLC online event on June 20th on the topic of church. Honestly? This couldn’t come at a more important time. Earlier this week, I heard the devastating news that Pastor Rick Warren lost his 27 year old son, Matthew to suicide. I was touched by his personal letter on the Saddleback Church blog. He said, “But only those closest knew that he struggled from birth with mental illness, dark holes of depression, and even suicidal thoughts. In spite of America’s best doctors, meds, counselors, and prayers for healing, the torture of mental illness never subsided. Today,…
-
Pursue A Dream
[Guest Post by Alexandrea J. Wilson. When I met Alexandrea through social media I wasn’t expecting to find such a warm-hearted person. She seriously exudes (is that a word?) self-confidence and passion (my kind of girl). I hope you’ll welcome her once again as she shares about which dream to pursue.] I have a confession. Sometimes I can feel really lost. I mean totally and completely lost. Not the lost where you need to turn on the GPS to find out how to get where you’re going. I mean the lost where I have so many passions, so many ideas, so many questions, so many desires that I don’t know…
-
New Theme for April: Pursuing Dreams
This April I am introducing a new theme on pursuing dreams. When I was in my early 20’s, I had a dream about my future. I was at a concert and I had a brochure of people’s pictures and where they would end up in 20 years based on the choices they were making today. I hoped to see my picture, and when I did I was immediately excited. In my picture, I saw that I was married and we had a daughter. I couldn’t wait for this dream to come true. I became very frustrated when the years 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, and 25 went by with no…
-
What's good about Good Friday?
[Monthly Contributor – Hannah Stovall – I always appreciate the way Hannah’s writes about events with such child-like faith. As she writes about Good Friday, I can’t help but see the wonder from the point of view of a child.] Working in children’s ministry, my brain is constantly in kid mode, especially when it comes to holidays. What do they really think about Halloween? How exactly do they feel about Christmas? What is good to them about Good Friday? That was the big question at our midweek programming on Wednesday night. Small talk with littles quickly turned to the Divine when their wheels started turning. It was hard for them…
-
Reflections on Life and Failure
Tonight, I write to make sense of life and reflect on failure too. I’ve thoroughly enjoyed hosting guest bloggers for the past few months, but I felt a stir in my spirit tonight. So, instead of sleep, I will listen to that still small voice and write. Write aloud. Write to heal. I started a series called Monday Meditations last month and it has not gone well. In fact, it failed. I wouldn’t be surprised if I got more than 30-40 hits per blog. Compared to the almost hundreds (sometimes thousands) of hits I got for previous series including I Survived My 20s or Pre Engagement Questions–this is shocking. Well,…
-
Monday Meditations #3 – Moving Forward
[Guest Post by Tyler Braun ] – Before I ever had a GPS navigational unit in my car or on my phone, I made sure to carefully plot out driving directions before moving forward. You remember the drill right? Pull out a map and a piece of paper. Look up the shortest right and then begin jotting down all the different turns. Some people love the adventure of trying to find a specific location without directions, but I’m not one of them. I’m the same way when it comes to camping. Why do we take our comfortable lives and transplant them into a forest? It’s inevitable something will go wrong…
-
I Survived My 20s – Fatherless
[Guest Post by Anonymous] – From a very young age, I knew the Lord. I was lucky to have grown up in the church, and was strong in my faith. God knew that he had to prepare me at an early age for what I would be up against. Secrecy. Shame. Pain. I am fatherless. As a teenager I was forced to hold a terrible secret, one I knew when change my life forever if I ever spoke of it. I did all that I could to hide the hurt of what happened to me. I walked through life as if in a dream or a daze, and put a…
