How A Former Abortion Doctor Became Pro
As an abortion doctor at Planned Parenthood, Dr. Patti Giebink believed she was helping women. Later, she began reading scripture and God gradually changed her heart on the abortion issue. Patti tells the story of her long journey from abortion doctor to pro-life and encourages listeners to share the message of life with compassion.
Giving Up Sugar Tasting God’s Goodness
As a latchkey kid, Wendy Speake turned to sugar for comfort. Every Friday, she would pedal to the candy show and use her allowance to fill her bag with candy. And one day, when she was older and a mom of three young boys, she came to realize that she was still pedaling away from her stress and using sugar as comfort, instead of turning to Jesus. She was joyless, worn out, tired, and in need of a change. In this interview, Wendy will challenge Christians to take 40 days to focus on fasting from something they turn to instead of Jesus for comfort. She invited people to break free from a dependence on sugar and taste the goodness of God.
Sharing Your Faith With Grace And Purpose
You can confidently and lovingly share your faithyou just need to learn some new tactics to do so! In this Focus on the Family Daily Broadcast, apologist Greg Koukl outlines the Columbo tactic of asking questions, the self-defeating argument tactic to find holes in your opponents arguments, and other specific methods for engaging in faith-building conversations with others. Greg pulls from his over 30 years of experience debating atheists and agnostics to help you share your faith with grace and truth.
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Lay Your Burdens Down
As a Christian, dont fight or wrestle with your fears, hand them over to Jesus, moment by moment. Take time to read through Romans 5:1-6 and 1 Peter 1:1-7. Take the opportunity to challenge yourself to grow deeper in your faith.
Some people say, I know all this, even believe it, but am still afraid. We all become fearful or anxious at times. Face it life is tough, and people can be unkind, but you grow in your humility, trust, and dependence on God through these tough circumstances.
Dont avoid the feelings learn from them. External challenges and internal distress can both lead us to a closer relationship with Christ. You can really learn to count it all joy as you bury your face in your Fathers embrace and let Him comfort you.
Finding Faith In The Age Of Anxiety
By Nathan NielsonStudies show that the social support of belonging to a religious community together with positive spiritual seeking are associated with better mentalhealth, personal empowerment, and the ability to cope with the stresses of life.This essay is part of a series called Finding Faith in the Age of Anxiety. It explores solutions that faith offers in countering the troubles of our time. Perspectives from various religious traditions are represented.
Theres so much to occupy our minds during a pandemic.
Were worried about getting sick, paying bills, putting food on the table, balancing work with homeschooling, and how close we can get to loved ones. Anxiety is our bodys natural response to stress. Its also the feeling of fear or apprehension about whats to come.
We dont always see it and cant always define it, but the feeling has a way of loitering among us. Anxiety creeps up during the day and settles in at night. Uncertainty about where the world is going lurks in the back of our minds and gnaws at our hearts. Meanwhile, our spirits suffer and our bodies lament.
In a 2017 poll, the American Psychiatric Association found that nearly two-thirds of Americans are extremely or somewhat anxious about health and safety for themselves and their families. The same poll found that millennials are the most anxious generation and baby boomers are the least. In 2018, that number increased by five points.
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Can Any One Of You By Worrying Add A Single Hour To Your Life Matthew : 27
I heard a story about a husband who got fed up with his wifes constant worrying. Finally, one day he asked her, Why are you always worrying when it doesn’t do any good? She quickly yelled back, Oh, yes, it does do some good 90% of the things I worry about never happen!
Well, the wife is absolutely correct that 90% of the stuff we worry about never happens. But her worry didnt do a darned thing to stop bad stuff from coming her way, did it?
In the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus makes it clear he doesnt want us to worry. In fact, he tells us so five times in Matthew 6:25-34: Do not worry about your life . Who of you by worrying can add a single hour to his life? . Why do you worry about clothes? . Do not worry, saying, What shall we eat? or What shall we drink? or What shall we wear? . Do not worry about tomorrow . So, Jesus doesnt want us to worry. But why not?
Well, just before he shifts to the topic of worry, Jesus spoke of money, telling us, No one can serve two masters. Either you will hate the one and love the other, or you will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and money .
Keep that in mind as you read verse 25: Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothes?
Effective Habits To Embrace In Parenting
To be an effective parent, you must be a leader in your childs life, guiding with a gentle hand and setting a solid example. Dr. Randy Schroeder provides the insight you need to be a leader-parent. As he explores the foundational Rsrelationship, routines, responsibilities, and rulesyoull better understand the role you play in your childs life. Youll learn great phrases to employ such as Either/Or/You Decide and When You/Then You. While there is no perfect parent, this nuts-and-bolts material will equip you to lead your child in a loving, confident manner.
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Depression Is Not A Result Of Spiritual Shortcomings
Depression isnt what the Church sometimes makes it out to be. It is not a spiritual disorder, a character defect or an emotional dysfunction. Its also not a choice. Its certainly important to have faith in Gods ability to heal however, to deny medical or psychiatric treatment to someone suffering from mental illness is really no different than denying them to someone with a physical illness. The difference between the two is that the first is invisible. While we should be on guard as the enemy will try to exploit any weakness, depression is real. It is not a result of spiritual inadequacies or a lack of faith.
The Pattern Of Jesus And Paul
Here in our text, we have the illustration of anxiety over food and clothing. Even in our country with its extensive welfare system, anxiety over finances and housing can be very intense. But Jesus says in verse 30 that this is owing to unbelief: O you of little faith. And so this paragraph has at least half a dozen promises in it to battle that unbelief.
Believe the promises of Jesus, and anxiety will evaporate in the warmth of Gods care.
For example, at the end of verse 32 he says, Your heavenly Father knows that you need them all. But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things shall be yours as well. That is a spectacular promise. In everything you do at home and at work, put Gods purposes first, and he will provide all you need to live for his glory. Believe that promise, and financial anxiety will evaporate in the warmth of Gods care.
Paul applied the promise to anxiety in Philippians like this. In 4:6 he says just like Jesus, Have no anxiety about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication let your requests be made known to God. And then in 4:19 he gives the promise like Jesus, My God will supply every need of yours according to his riches in glory in Christ Jesus.
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Lesson 2: The Answer To Anxiety
A family had put their Grandma on her first plane flight, but she hadnt been very confident about the experience of leaving the ground on this contraption. When they met her at the airport on her return, one of the family members kidded her by asking, Well, did the plane hold you up okay? She grudgingly replied, Well, yes, and then quickly added, But I never did put my full weight down on it!
Many Christians are like that Grandma. The truth is, theyre being sustained completely by God, but theyre afraid to put their full weight down on Him. As a result, theyre plagued by anxiety and arent able to enjoy the flight.
Few of us are strangers to anxiety. It creeps in over big and little things, gnawing away at our insides. Someone graphically described anxiety as a thin stream of fear trickling through the mind. If encouraged, it cuts a channel into which all other thoughts are drained . We now often hear phrases like being stressed out, or having a panic attack. Although I disagree with their psychological approach to the problem, the Christian psychiatrists, Frank Minirth and Paul Meier, say that anxiety is the most common mental disorder they encounter at their network of clinics across our country .
We feel anxious about our health, especially as we grow older: What if I get cancer or Alzheimers? What if Im disabled or have to go into a nursing home? If were younger, we may have these same anxieties concerning our aging parents.
God Is Our Refuge And Fortress
He who dwells in the shelter of the Most High will abide in the shadow of the Almighty.
I will say to the Lord, My refuge and my fortress, my God, in whom I trust.
For he will deliver you from the snare of the fowler and from the deadly pestilence.
He will cover you with his pinions, and under his wings, you will find refuge his faithfulness is a shield and buckler.
You will not fear the terror of the night, nor the arrow that flies by day.
Nor the pestilence that stalks in darkness, nor the destruction that wastes at noonday.
A thousand may fall at your side, ten thousand at your right hand, but it will not come near you.
You will only look with your eyes and see the recompense of the wicked.
Because you have made the Lord your dwelling place the Most High, who is my refuge.
No evil shall be allowed to befall you, no plague come near your tent.
For he will command his angels concerning you to guard you in all your ways.
On their hands, they will bear you up, lest you strike your foot against a stone.
You will tread on the lion and the adder the young lion and the serpent you will trample underfoot.
Because he holds fast to me in love, I will deliver him I will protect him because he knows my name.
When he calls to me, I will answer him I will be with him in trouble I will rescue him and honor him.
With long life, I will satisfy him and show him my salvation. Psalms 91
Satan will use his biggest weapon to stop you from reaching more people for the Kingdom of God.
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Raising A Strong Daughter In A Toxic Culture: 11 Steps To Keep Her Happy Healthy And Safe
Meg Meeker has been a pediatrician for more than thirty years, is a mother and a grandmother, and has seen it all. She knows what makes for strong, happy, healthy young womenand what puts our daughters at risk. Combining that experience with her famous common sense, she explains the eleven steps that will help your daughterwhether shes a toddler or a troubled teento achieve her full human potential.
Identifying Triggers In Your Marriage Part 1
They were both convinced they had married the wrong person. From almost the very beginning of their marriage, Amber and Guy Lia experienced various tensions and personality clashes related to house cleaning, backseat driving, workaholism, and intimacy. In this two-day Focus on the Family broadcast, Amber and Guy discuss how they bravely faced the triggers head-on, and committed to working on their own relationships with Jesus. As you listen to the Lias story, youll feel hope that you, too, can see real marriage transformation!
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Recall The Times You Made It Through
Can you recall times in the past, even one, when what you feared would happen didnt happen? Can you use this information to help you see the truth and find peace? Can you see your feelings as just feelings, transient, temporary experiences that will only get worse if you treat them as true and dwell on them?
Mental Health Is Not A Sin Issue
Insofar as it relates to the pains and imperfections of living in a fallen world, everything is a sin issue. After all, original sin is the reason our world has fallen and brokenness, suffering, and death exist. Were it not for sin having entered the world, anxiety would not exist.
However, not every negative effect finds its specific cause in a specific sin on the part of the person experiencing it. That is to say, mental health is not a sin issue. And while there may be individual sins that contribute to the relative health or malady of a person, the level of health itself is not ipso facto a moral issue.
Furthermore, Christians must learn that there is a time and place to challenge someone, and there is a time and place to comfort them. It has often been said that Jesus came to comfort the afflicted and afflict the comfortable. Sometimes, you need to read the room.
Moreover, Christian leaders need to also understand when they are out of their depth when it comes to matters of mental health and defer to mental health professionals, encouraging fellow Christians to consult trained clinicians and counselors.
Removing the stigma of mental health issues is a vital step in addressing them and promoting remedies. And vital to removing stigmas is realizing that Jesus was never the one who put them there.
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