Recent Posts by RobinBarnes

Raising Kids in a Screen-Saturated World [Book Review]

Parents, do you ever feel like you don’t know where to start when it comes to introducing technology beyond the TV with your kids? Counselors and youth pastors, do you ever struggle to communicate clear steps in helping parents guide their children in the informed use of their devices? Raising Kids in a Screen Saturated World by Eliza Huie is a great resource for parents, counselors, youth and children’s pastors, and anyone who desires to inform, empower and engage our kids about the use of technology in their daily lives. In her book, Raising Kids in a Screen Saturated World, Eliza gives ...

Joy Matters

Can you remember a time when something happened that instantly stole your joy? If joy was a scale, what number are you today? 1-10? One being not even on your radar and 10—your cup runneth over with joy.Answer this question. “I’d be full of joy all the time if only ____.” Friends, do you know your joy matters to God? Do you know the Bible has a lot to say about joy? For those of you who are in Christ, do you know that Jesus was inspired and motivated by your future joy?Joy reflects Who you know and what you ...

Teens Aren’t Terrible: Enjoying Relationship with Your Kids Through the Teen Years

Today's guest post is written by Pamela Fahs. Pamela lives in Ellicott City, Maryland, with her husband of 22 years, Thomas, and their four children. “In another lifetime,” Pamela trained and worked as a child clinical psychotherapist specializing in sexual abuse of very young children, but since 2001 she has enjoyed being a homeschooling mom to Cameron (who is now in college), Riley, Ava, and Quinn. She enjoys serving the Lord with Thomas by directing a local homeschooling tutorial, a homeschooling theatre ministry, and Vacation Bible School at Columbia Presbyterian Church. But her favorite things include hanging out with her ...

Do I Really Need Counseling to Grieve Well?

Today's guest post is written by licensed biblical counselor, Jessica McDaniel of the Austin Stone Counseling Center in Austin, TX. Jessica has pursued specialized training in Perinatal Mood and Anxiety Disorders as well as working with couples through EFT and Gottman seminars.  She also specializes in Pregnancy and Postpartum trauma, grief, and loss (including miscarriage, stillbirth, terminal diagnoses, neonatal loss, birth or NICU trauma and pregnancy after loss) and runs a free support group for parents of loss through the Ronald McDonald House Charities. Other areas of experience include marital conflict, transitions in parenting, infertility, postpartum depression or anxiety, self-worth and identity, trauma, anxiety, co-dependency, sexual ...

3 Ways Pastors Can Help Women and Families Experiencing Postpartum Depression

This post originally appeared on Careleader.org March 2018. As a pastor of a congregation with young families you may have small groups, a MOPS (Mothers of Preschoolers) ministry, Awana, and more. Your church may also be blessed to have a meals ministry to help individuals and families after a surgery or birth of a child. Your church is probably well equipped with support ministries for families to help disciple their children and to provide encouragement and teaching for parents. But how equipped are you to minister to families experiencing postpartum depression or postpartum anxiety? Did you know that 1 in 5 women will experience maternal ...

Worship: An Antidote to Anxiety

I don’t know about you, but when I’m struggling with feelings of anxiety or fear, worship is the last thing on my mind. Anxiety is something God’s people have struggled with for a long time with God’s Word on the topics of fear, worry and anxiety going back nearly as far as fear itself. One way that God draws our wandering hearts back to himself is through the gift of musical worship. Sometimes, when I feel too anxious, fearful or worried to read my Bible or find the words to pray, listening to God’s life-giving, truth-speaking, peace-giving Word that stands ...

When Anxiety Takes Over

Today's guest post is written by Pastor, Professor and Missions Mobilizer Dave Shive. He is the author of Night Shift, released in April 2001. Based on Psalm 40:1-3, Night Shift is an easily understood and thoroughly biblical explanation of how God uses affliction to prepare His children for greater usefulness to Him. Since 2009, Dave and Kathy have served as full time mission mobilizers on staff with Frontier Ventures (formerly the US Center for World Mission) in Pasadena, CA. Dave and Kathy have been married for 49 years and live in Catonsville, MD. They have three married children, Dan, Mike, and Becky and are the proud grandparents of 11 grandchildren. You ...

How Discipleship Ministries Enhance Counseling Outcomes

This post originally appeared in Careleader.org Jenna, a twenty-seven-year-old working professional, comes to see you initially for anxiety related to work. She shares with you that she’s been really stressed working sixty-plus hours a week and that it’s starting to take more of a toll on her. Over time, you learn that she has developed an online shopping addiction and accrued thousands of dollars of debt. She is also single and lonely and has become addicted to online porn. Over time, Jenna begins to discover some of the deeper heart issues related to her addictions and anxiety and slowly learns to ...

Alive in Him: How Being Embraced by the Love of Christ Changes Everything [Book Review]

How does God show His extravagant love for His people? What impact and implications does this love demonstrated through His Son’s death and resurrection have on the life of the redeemed soul? What does it look like to go from the walking dead to the walking dead made alive in Him? These are the in-depth questions Gloria Furman dives into as she takes the reader through the book of Ephesians in her book, Alive in Him: How Being Embraced by the Love of Christ Changes Everything. As she states in her intro, “studying Ephesians and its contents is not about making ...

3 Ways to Foster Good Communication With Your Teen

Today’s guest post is by Mark Stephens, Mid-Atlantic Fellowship of Christian Athletes (FCA) International Director. Mark lives in Urbana, MD with his wife of 27 years, Rhonda, and their four daughters. Connect with Mark at [email protected]   The social pressures of being a teen are extraordinary. From culture to dress to acting a certain way are ever in one’s face. All of this compounded by the fact that technology dominates the way we receive, process and transmit the conversations in our relationships. Being a teen today just isn’t like being a teen when we grew up (speaking for my generation here). That ...