Fear is a primal response. According to Northwestern Medical University, “fear is our survival response.” Some people thrive on fear while others try to avoid fear at all costs. As a 6th grade teacher, my sense of fear was heightened when a parent of a student began stalking me. I had watched movies and read books that had a stalker, but not until I had a stalker myself did, I understand the anxiety that could take over my life. As a Christian, my response should have been to go to God immediately in prayer. But my human nature took over,…
Life Lessons: Judging Others by Sharron K. Cosby
Judging people for their style of dress, behaviors, and lifestyle choices was a regular pastime for me. A homeless person hugging a street corner, holding a “Hungry. God Bless” cardboard sign provided a cornucopia of criticizing fodder. If I give him my hard-earned $1.00, he’ll just buy alcohol or drugs with it. I’m not giving my money to an addict. That attitude changed when I discovered my son’s addiction. How could I, a good Southern Baptist girl, college educated, hard worker, loving mother, devoted wife, have an addicted son? That question was never fully answered, but the non-answer didn’t change…
Life Lessons: Fearfully and Wonderfully Made by Ginny Dent Brant
Welcome to another Lesson Learned through Life Experiences. I’m honored to have Ginny Dent Brant with us today, sharing her life experience. I will praise You, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made; Marvelous are Your works, And that my soul knows very well. Psalms 139:14 (NKJV) Each of us is fearfully and wonderfully made in His image. Fearfully when translated from the Hebrew means with “great reverence, heart-felt interest and respect.” Wonderfully in this verse in Hebrew means “unique”—like a one of a kind work of art. It took my cancer journey for me to realize how our bodies are also intricately…
Flight Canceled by Julie Lavender
During high school and college, I worked at a local pharmacy. Both owners attended the same church as I did, and I welcomed their godly, fatherly advice on many occasions. One pharmacist was quite the humorist, and I’ve shared one of his jokes over the years. He explained that he never flew, because “Jesus said, ‘Low, I am with you always.’” He told us he planned to stay on the ground for his safety. Recently, while attending a convention in Nashville, my daughter woke me with an early morning text. “I made it to Charlotte, but my connector flight is…
Life Lessons: Perseverance by Lori Vober
God blessed me with the attitude of the glass is half full, not half empty, and it has helped me persevere through many difficult life experiences. Sometimes your attitude and enthusiasm can carry you farther than your abilities. In college, after already being named an officer in my sorority going into my junior year, I did not make the cut in the Longhorn Band as a piccolo player. Because of my perseverance and attitude, I learned how to be in the flag core and loved it! After trying unsuccessfully for several years to start a family, I made the career…