Spiritual Formation: Profiles of Faith
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What You Say Before You Die
My sister Marilyn was diagnosed with brain cancer when she was 46 and I was 43. The disease was in an advanced stage since her symptoms had been undetected—masked by another serious medical condition.
She lived with brain cancer as a valiant warrior who displayed a quiet and determined demeanor for the entire 10 months of its stranglehold. The ravages of the disease could have given her reason ...
Related Topics: Afterlife, Attitude, Belief, Death, Kindness, Serving
A Safe Place When You've Lost a Child
It was a beautifully warm spring day when I drove to the Hiding Place lodge, located about an hour outside of Nashville. The retreat center was tucked at the end of a private, winding, and wooded road. It was spacious yet still felt cozy, with a central sitting area that boasted soaring views of budding trees and the winding Cumberland River below.
I couldn't help but think of the contrast—the ...
Related Topics: Community, death, child, Grief, Healing
Remembering Ruth
She was a remarkable Christian woman. The daughter of missionaries. A preacher's wife (make that the preacher's wife). The mother of prodigals. The author or co-author of 14 books. A guest of national leaders. A recipient with her husband, Billy, of a Congressional Gold Medal. A woman of outspoken humility and unshakable faith.
Ruth Bell Graham died at her home in North Carolina yesterday, surrounded ...
Out of Darkness
It's one of the most surprising conversions to Christianity in recent times. No one expected vampire novelist Anne Rice, whose 26 supernatural thrillers, historical novels, and erotica books have sold more than 75 million copies, to darken the door of a church, much less write about Jesus.
Rice, born in 1941 with the unlikely name of Howard Allen O'Brien (after her father), was raised as a devout Catholic, ...
Related Topics: Creativity, Culture, Current Events, Imagination
Helping Abused Women
Joyce Holt never expected to be a victim of abuse. Twice.
At age 22, she married a man who wasn't a Christian. Within weeks of the wedding, he began to tell her she was worthless and stupid. In the midst of arguments, he would punch her with her own fists.
Feeling she had nowhere to turn, she stayed with him. Until one night when he pulled out his pistol. Joyce watched in disbelief and panic as he toyed ...
Related Topics: Abuse, Beginnings, Domestic violence, Freedom, Hope
Surviving China
Monks hummed in perfect unison. Gongs echoed throughout the still air. Golden Buddha statues adorned the walls. Intoxicating incense mixed with thick humidity hung heavily in the air.
This was Leslie Nease's newfound reality. She was a contestant on season 15 of Survivor: China.
A fan since the show's beginning, Nease admits, "I felt called to be on the show, but, at first, it didn't make sense. Why ...
Related Topics: Choices, Example, God's Call, Good and Evil, Idolatry
Completing God's To-Do List
In a handwritten note dated June 15, 1956, titled "Goals for next 20 years," Ken Taylor listed two things under Spiritual Goals: "Digest magazine" and "Needed: Further vision (ideas) to be praying about and interesting people in."
Taylor's hands-on work with magazines began in 1943 while editing Child Evangelism Fellowship. He followed up by becoming editor of His magazine, published by Inter-Varsity ...
Ministry of Mercy
The years Nancy Alcorn investigated child abuse cases, supervised foster care, and worked at a correctional facility for girls ignited a passion for helping broken young women find healing.
Issues such as self-harm are pervasive in today's society, says Alcorn. One in every 200 teen girls regularly practices self-abusive behavior, and up to 10 million teens have eating disorders.
In 1983 Alcorn founded ...
Leap of Faith
Trish Porter's dream of making the U.S. Olympic team started on a fourth-place platform at the 1980 California state high school track and field championships. Fourth place might not inspire some people to reach for Olympic gold, but it was plenty to inspire Trish (who back then went by her maiden name of King). In fact, somebody snapped a photo of her standing on that platform, and she drew motivation ...
A Woman Called Job
Nancy Guthrie doesn't look like someone whose faith has been severely tested. She's an attractive woman with a soft but assured Tennessee accent. When she teaches the Bible, she speaks with a gentle authority. An author and publicist, she has her own public relations firm, regularly handling publicity for clients such as Anne Graham Lotz and the Christian Booksellers Association. In family pictures ...
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