The facts about a hazardous addiction. by Jeri Darby 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 is a vice, or a bad habit. But while everyone has vices in a general sense, not all vices are…
Read moreCategory: Social Issues
Healing from Co-Dependency
Going to the depths to find connection with God. by Julie Guirguis 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 knot in my stomach told me it was over. I struggled with the urge to run after…
Read moreA New Perspective
Coming to grips with the sanctity of life. by Teresa Cook* I sat deep in thought at the nurse’s station as monitors beeped softly from the darkened rooms of the four-bed intensive care unit. “Your patients are all stable,” my head nurse had said earlier when she made assignments. “It should be an uneventful…
Read moreThe Long Path to Forgiveness
If God can forgive us, why can’t we forgive ourselves? by Lin Russell* The summer after I’d graduated from high school, I realized I was pregnant by my on-and-off-again boyfriend of the previous three years. The doctor advised me to quickly schedule an abortion because I’d already missed two periods. I chose to believe…
Read moreMy Father’s Porn
A painful walk toward healing. by Amber Piper* I was a seven-year-old cutie when I discovered my dad’s pornography. I had seen porn before at my uncle’s house. While it cut my female core, it fit my uncle’s character. He was a terrible man, so I could expect him to have this terrible thing…
Read moreSurviving the Pain of Suicide
From horror and hurt to healing and hope. by Judy Bruns When my mother took her life, she took a part of mine, too. It felt as though she had rejected me, along with her faith in a God who sees us through. Didn’t she love me? Didn’t she love God? Didn’t she care…
Read moreMy Right to Die
by Beth Swain “I have a problem about wanting to die.” I struggled to get the words out while sounding casual. After months of thinking about suicide, this was my first attempt at talking about it. Maybe sounding casual would soften the impact of my disclosure in this, my first counseling session. Odd…
Read moreMaking Contact
by Anna R. Hageman “I don’t know what to do!” The caller’s voice was racked with anguish. “I can’t go on this way, and I can’t go back and do it again.” “Would you like to tell me what happened?” Diane Steward asked empathetically. Within an hour she had learned of the caller’s financial,…
Read moreLife, Death, and Euthanasia
by Kimn Swenson Gollnick When Eleanor James’ father developed esophageal cancer in 1990, questions about compassion for the dying and assisted suicide leaped out of the news and became reality for her family. As her father’s health deteriorated, they admitted him into hospice care. Eleanor and her family visited him daily. She later wrote…
Read moreInside the Suicidal Person
by Susan J. Shelley “What a wonderful life I’ve had! I only wish I’d realized it sooner.” — Colette [1] On a warm May evening in 1996, Jamie*, a 36-year-old divorcee with two adolescent daughters, committed suicide in her home. So distraught over the course of her life, she decided to end her misery….
Read more