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5 Tips For Healthy Living
[Monthly Columnist – Jaimie Bowman. I met Jaimie at the ReThink Conference. We were both volunteers who were eagle to serve and learn from others. We’ve since kept in touch and I’ve referred her to my former literary agent. I appreciate her feedback on how to stay healthy when it’s not something that comes easy for you. Enjoy!!] Eating healthy AND exercising don’t seem to co-exist well in my life. If I’m doing good in one area, I am struggling in the other. If I eat really healthy one day, it’s like my mind says to my body, “Yay! Good for you! As your reward, you don’t have to work…
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Living Together Through The Worst
[Guest Post by Sarah Markley. I met Sarah a few years ago at a Starbucks in Orange County. She and I both graduated from Biola University and have been blogging for many years. I finally got her to write a piece on community (a topic she is definitely passionate about). I hope you are encouraged!!] I’ve lived with my husband for almost seventeen years. He’s seen me at my worst (and best) and I have seen him at his. If you really want a good example of community, look at any married couple. Or any family for that matter. In any nuclear family there are three, four or ten individuals…
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Living Together In The Military
[Guest post by Tracy Steel. We met online (where else?), and quickly became friends after we realized we both shared similar stories of staying single for longer than we both wanted too. Her story is quite touching and I couldn’t wait to have her share about her life in the military.] Loving and living with a military man is no easy task. I realize that you may not be married, or living together in the military– yet all of us are called to love the spouse, family, or friend we live with. This is no easy task either! But based on 1 Corinthians 13:4-8a, here is what living with my…
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How We Do Life Together
What does it mean to do life together? This question has challenged me to think deeply, exposing things within my heart that are both frustrating, yet clarifying, as I take a good look at myself. How do I live with others? How does that play out within my own marriage covenant and within the four corners of this home I share with my ever-growing children? While there are many definitions for life, perhaps mine could best be summarized in two short statements: be real and live closely. There is no place where the real me shines more brightly than at home, which is not always a positive for the other…
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Suicide And Depression
[Guest Post by Karen Neumair] – I like to run. Notice I didn’t call myself a runner, because that would imply that I am actually good at it. Me and my 13-minute mile–look out, world! Most people assume that I started running to lose weight, and I tend to let most people think that. Because the real reason is a lot less glamorous, a lot darker. I started running to beat depression. And not just your average, run-of-the-mill depressive episode that many of us experience from time to time, but the more sinister, dark-night-of-the-soul depression, the kind where you don’t remember to eat, you don’t have the strength to get…
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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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Anxiety is a Gift
[Guest Post by Teri Antti] – Anxiety is a Gift? Yes! A Blessing! I once read that true peace can only be sustained when what you say, what you believe and what you do are all the same thing. At the time I read this anonymous quote, my thoughts, beliefs and actions were as far from being aligned as you could possible imagine. I was in a season during which my anxiety was at an all time high. I could not leave my house. Fear had found its way into every ounce of my being. I was rapidly loosing the confidence to even parent my three daughters. I had a…
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I Love My Post Baby Body
[Monthly Columnist – Jaimie Bowman] – I’ll be honest–I’m not sure how to love my post baby body. It started in the 6th grade–didn’t it for most of us? I was in P.E. class, bending over for our warm-up, when the muffled laughter came from behind me and then grew louder and louder. I turned around and asked what was so funny. Three girls looked at each other, then back and me, and said, “It’s just that….your butt…it’s as big as Mrs. Rowan’s!” Mrs. Rowan was our P.E. teacher–I was 12. I stuffed that experience way back in the deep dark corner of my soul, hoping to never remember it…
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I Love My Body – Anorexia
[Guest Post by Emily Wierenga] – I don’t know when a child typically becomes aware of her body–or even what anorexia means. For me, it was when a neighbor came over and commented on what a big girl I was. I was seven, and her tone was disapproving. So I went to the mirror and stared at the face of a girl with a mushroom cut and thrift-store clothes, and I tried to figure out what was wrong with me. Then I put my fingers around my wrist, and they just barely reached and that would become the way I measured my value. For the next six years, I’m not…
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I Love My Body – Green
[Guest Post by Arlene Pellicane] – It was a breakfast appointment with an unexpected blessing. A green blessing! My husband James and I were at a business breakfast a few weeks ago with a group of realtors–my husband is a realtor–in fact, he sold Renee and Marc their house! Across from me, there was a fit, thin, and very energetic realtor wife. She happened to be a fitness instructor and as we begin to chat, her enthusiasm for the color green came out! “In the morning, I take a cup of spinach, a cup of kale, and a cup of collard greens, mix that up with a few grapes for…
