Holding the Tension of Grief and Gratitude During the Holidays

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Today's guest post is from Dr. Renee Davis, Licensed Clinical Psychologist and owner of Spark Change Wellness Center. She is licensed to provide care in the state of Maryland and the District of Columbia. She has the pleasure of serving school-aged children, adolescents, young adults and their families. She also teaches graduate level courses for counseling students at McDaniel College. Raised on the east coast, Renee is proud to call Maryland her home. She enjoys exploring new cuisines, staying active in the gym, and building community through her church. I remember growing up thinking that the unofficial start date to begin ...

Author Q&A: When Thoughts and Prayers Aren’t Enough: A Shooting Survivor’s Journey Into the Realities of Gun Violence

Today's post is an author interview with Taylor Schumann. Injured in a shooting in 2013 and left with wounds both visible and invisible, she weaves her own story into the larger conversation about gun violence in America in her newest book, When Thoughts and Prayers Aren’t Enough: A Shooting Survivor’s Journey Into the Realities of Gun Violence. She writes the truth of her own story, and the stories of the countless precious lives affected daily by the crisis of gun violence, to implore others to join her in meeting the suffering around us with whole-hearted attention. She writes to ask, simply, ...

Who’s Got Your 6? 6 Reasons Why You Need A Prayer Posse

Are you familiar with the question, “Who’s got your 6?” Or the phrase, “I’ve got your 6”? For us non-military folk, it’s a military term used to describe the 6 O‘clock position of a pilot’s plane—or your backside, aka what makes you vulnerable to an enemy sneak attack. This is powerful imagery of life on the battlefield and a great metaphor for the spiritual battlefield. If someone says, “I got your 6,” they are saying they’ve got your back, they’ve got you covered. You are not vulnerable because they are looking out for you. It shows that you and the ...

Grief & Loss: What to Say & What Not to Say to a Grieving Loved One

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Today's guest post is written by Steve Green, a Biblical Counselor with over 20 years of experience in counseling many different issues in the pastoral context including marriage, parenting, substance abuse, anger and sexual issues. From his home in Newberg he works with churches from Vancouver, WA to Eugene, OR. Steve lost his first wife, Ann, in June 2012. They had shared 30 years and were parents of 5 adult children together. God has blessed Steve with his new wife, Laura, who also lost her first husband mere weeks prior to Ann’s death. They are now blending their families and ...