Tears coursed down my cheeks. Why didn’t he call or come home? How could he say he didn‘t remember where he’d been? My chest constricted,…
“Going to Texas. Nice knowing you.” The handwritten note on the TV set stunned me. It was from my wife Daneen. Without saying anything to…
Somewhere inside, my brain knew it was cold. I saw white puffs when I breathed. I heard the wind whipping the chains on the courthouse…
One night while I watched TV with my twelve-year-old daughter, Joanna, an actress appeared on the screen. She was about my age, with a slender…
The doors to Mercy Hospital swung open to me – again. For ten years, my husband and I have battled the horror and heartache of…
It’s easy to do —turn to alcohol, hoping to relieve tension and satisfy a craving. One lady started the habit in her teens and became an alcoholic. She finally found freedom with the support of others and with the strength of a compassionate God.
I lived in a nightmare. I was studying to become a minister but knew I was being hypocritical: I was a sex addict. It was…
Tall, thin, and decided, he anchored our home and gave us a sense of completion. We held Daddy in awe; he taught us the Twenty-third…
One of my mother’s friends prayed over me while I grew inside the womb. Her prayers worked: I arrived a healthy baby girl after a…
Tears stung my red, puffy eyes. My heart felt like a thousand daggers had been thrust into it. As I watched Paul walk away, the…
The final strains of the wedding processional ring through the sanctuary. A radiant bride gazes into the eyes of the beaming groom and vows that…
I glanced at my watch: 6:55 p.m. I couldn’t believe there were only five minutes left in youth group. For as far back as I…
For weeks I had tried to ignore the scars and open cuts on my sister’s arms and legs, but they stuck out like molehills burrowed…
Five beers in under an hour — a new record. I’d lost count of the number of beer cans hidden under my bed. When I…
An insatiable monster crept into my life unnoticed. It started when I lost fifteen pounds. “You’re so thin!” people told me. “You look terrific!” I…
Most mothers think their children are the best at everything. That’s how I felt about my daughter, Kathy. She was beautiful: tall and slim with…
The letter sat on my desk, unopened. Why was I afraid to open it? Because I knew there was something in that letter I didn’t…
Why did I end up like this? How did my life turn out so wrong? These questions and many others rumbled like a freight train…
Alone in the darkness, tears blinding my eyes, I tried to follow the beam of headlights on the highway. Coming to a decision, I declared,…
Do you find yourself eating until you are out of control or almost sick? Or keeping secret stashes of food, such as chocolate, chips, or…
Wine is a mocker, strong drink is a brawler. And whoever is led astray by it is not wise (Proverbs 20:1). The Bible is full…
The statistics are startling. According to the National Youth Anti-Drug Media Campaign, marijuana is the most widely used illicit drug among America’s youth. Focus Adolescent…
Ophelia, in Shakespeare’s Hamlet, illustrates the destructive forces affecting young women. Ophelia is a typical girl, footloose and fancy-free. But she loses herself in adolescence….
While scanning the newspaper, my eyes rested on a short story about a crumbling marriage. Nothing out of the ordinary. Then laughter rose inside me…
Are you afraid to eat? Afraid of getting fat? Do you restrict what you eat when something in your life feels out of control? Do you regularly criticize…
Do you panic after you eat? Do you sometimes binge and then feel a strong urge to get rid of what you’ve eaten in one…
The rumble of traffic was deafening. Dust and exhaust fumes stung my eyes as I leaned against a telephone pole. Four o’clock on Tuesday afternoon;…
Gambling will consume your last cent and leave you frantically seeking new sources of cash. It has an insatiable appetite, demanding more and more. It…
I sat at the kitchen table, staring at a pack of cigarettes. I took one out of the pack and lit it. After tomorrow, I…