Since I had not been valedictorian, I avoided the class. Instead, I took the summer course at my hometown community college. Summer classes are intense—three hours a night, three nights a week—covering a full semester’s work in a few weeks. Then I missed three days—nine hours—the equivalent of three weeks work (Yes, youth camp was more fun than summer school).
I have a twenty-first-century condition experts are now calling hurry sickness. Yes, hurry sickness is a real behavior pattern. The term was coined by cardiologists Meyer Friedman and Ray Rosenman in their book, Type A Behavior and Your Heart.
Do you have what it takes to be told, “You don’t have what it takes?
WE ALL WANT A SIMPLY BEAUTIFUL LIFE, RIGHT?
In my book, 7 Simple Skills for Every Woman: Success in Keeping It All Together, I share about my “Word of the Year” process that I have been doing since I was a college student.
Every year — yes, 40 years of selecting a “Word of the Year” to focus my walk with God. And it is not just one word; it is the myriad of things God has laid upon my heart to weave the word through my life so its impact can be maximized throughout the year.
It is not just one word; it is the myriad of things God has laid upon my heart to weave the word through my life so its impact can be maximized throughout the year.
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Look around and see who holds hands, who acts kind to one another, who opens the door, who prays for one another or for other couples.
LIFE IS MUCH EASIER WHEN YOU HAVE SOME HELP FROM THOSE WHO ARE FURTHER ALONG THE
TRAIL.
Their wisdom and insight will prove to be invaluable in your own journey together. Mentoring is becoming even more important as much of the population today comes from homes that experienced some kind of fractured family.
You may have never lived with both a mother and a father. How are you supposed to know what an intact family looks like? Who is going to model for you how to work through conflict if your own parents decided to abandon their marriage?
Look for a couple who has the love that you’d like to have. We have experienced many mentors: Bill and Tina, who equipped us while we were dating and engaged; Tom and Barbara, a couple we lived with to save to go to seminary and who simply modeled the daily habits that build a long-lasting love; Jim and Sally Conway, professors and authors who equipped us to balance marriage and ministry.
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by Edie Melson@EdieMelson in Leading Hearts Magazine
SOMETIMES, ONLINE INTERACTIONS CAN SEEM LIKE AN ENDEAVOR WITHOUT BOUNDARIES. And I’m a person who appreciates boundaries. With them, I’m not hampered by limitations; instead, I find they give my life definition. Choosing a word of the year helps me let God define my year before it even begins.
by Dr. Saundra Dalton Smith @DrDaltonSmith in Leading Hearts magazine
Over the past month, I’ve witnessed devastation come into the lives of many around me. Tornados stormed through the south leaving a wake of pain and loss. Fire completely consumed the possession of a local family, leaving them clinging to the memories of the past and uncertain about the future. Flood waters swept through, carrying away hope in its path.
What these situations have in common is a feeling of having portions of your life consumed by circumstances beyond your control. They leave you looking back at all those years invested in building and planning with a longing to get back what has been taken from you. I empathize with those walking through this pain because I have experienced it. The circumstances may not be the same, but the feeling of emptiness, grief, and hopelessness are understood.
I have stared at areas of my life languishing from the attack of the “creeping locust, the stripping locust, and the gnawing locust” (Joel 2:25, NASB) and wondered how God could ever restore these years. How can He give back what appears to be forever lost?
By Edie Melson ediemelson.com in Leading Hearts magazine
I WAS EXCITED TO BE ASKED TO WRITE THIS ARTICLE. In my life as an author and ministry leader, I come across hundreds of resources that I love to share. Fortunately, before I let my enthusiasm run away with me, I took time to pray and ask God to weigh in on the best ones to mention. I expected Him to give me some insight into how to narrow the list down to five, but His answer left me reeling:
by Saundra Dalton-Smith @DrDaltonSmith in Leading Hearts Magazine
Around this time every year, I start reflecting on how my life is progressing. I wish I could say I’m always pleased with my self-evaluation.
Too often, I find myself utterly amazed at my ability to doubt, fear and regret. Instead of seeing the fruit I desire, I notice too much precious time spent striving and not enough time spent thriving. Too many moments focused on fighting back negative thoughts and too little spent on cultivating the truth.
The truth is timeless, but the time we spend outside of it has a profound effect on how deep our roots grow and how high we can reach. It doesn’t change. The truth remains stable throughout our ups and downs.