Two Ways to Take Psychiatric Medication

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Today's guest blog is written by Esther Smith, LCPC and owner of Christian Trauma Counseling. She has an MA in Professional Counseling from Liberty University, a certificate in biblical counseling through the Christian Counseling and Educational Foundation, and has completed advanced training in trauma-informed therapies. She is the author of A Still & Quiet Mind: Twelve Strategies for Changing Unwanted Thoughts, The Whole Life: 52 Weeks of Biblical Self-care (co-author), and Chronic Illness: Walking by Faith: 31 Day Devotional.  Psychiatric medication is a controversial subject. It is also a very personal subject for many people. Perhaps you experience depression, anxiety, or other ...

Raising Teens in a Hyper-Sexualized World [Book Review]

As parents of teens and pre-teens, that first conversation about sex, sexual identity, and pornography can be discussions that we feel ill-equipped for, nervous about, and may even want to avoid. As Christian parents wanting to disciple our kids to have the mind of Christ about these things, we must be proactive discussing these topics with them. If we are awkward discussing sexuality with them, it can make them feel even more awkward discussing it with us. No matter how apprehensive you may feel or lost about where to start, there are tools for us to learn how to dialogue ...

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, ...

How God Gives Us Biblical Language to Help us in our Suffering: Toward a Biblical Theology of Suffering, Part II

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Dave Shive lives in Catonsville, MD, and has been married to Kathy for 52 years. They have 3 married children and 11 grandchildren. Dave writes, not as a clinician or therapist, but as a pastor. His thoughts on suffering emerge from his study of the Bible, reading widely, pastoral counseling, and personal experience. This is Part II of a multi-part series on suffering. Have you ever found yourself at a loss for words to express the hardship, loss or grief you are going through? Have you ever felt that God seems silent when you need Him most? In my last post, ...

Suffering: Toward a Biblical Theology of Affliction, Part 1

Dave Shive lives in Catonsville, MD, and has been married to Kathy for 52 years. They have 3 married children and 11 grandchildren. Dave writes, not as a clinician or therapist, but as a pastor. His thoughts on suffering emerge from his study of the Bible, reading widely, pastoral counseling, and personal experience. This is Part I of a multi-part series on suffering. In a few months, precisely April 1, 2021, I will celebrate the 30th anniversary of my entry into what I would come to label my “night shift.” On that day I was initiated into the spiritual crisis that ...

Author Interview Q & A with Dr. Bob Kellemen for Gospel-Centered Family Counseling

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Today's post is an author interview with Bob Kellemen, Th.M., Ph.D. Dr. Kellemen is Academic Dean, Dean of Students, and Professor of Biblical Counseling at Faith Bible Seminary in Lafayette, Indiana. Bob is also the Founder and CEO of RPM Ministries through which he speaks, writes, and consults on biblical counseling and Christian living. Dr. Kellemen served as the founding Executive Director of the Biblical Counseling Coalition. For seventeen years, Bob was the founding Chairman of and Professor in the MA in Christian Counseling and Discipleship department at Capital Bible Seminary in Lanham, MD. Bob has pastored four churches and equipped biblical ...

Praying for Your Children: One Roadmap for Praying the Proverbs

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Today’s guest post is written by Jen Costanzo. Jen lives in small-town Pennsylvania with her husband and 3 kids. Jen enjoys reading, writing & dabbling in graphic design. She loves supporting the body of Christ in her work as a church secretary and leads a local weekly Moms in Prayer group in her community. As a parent, I have often been caught off-guard by the book of Proverbs. The wise writer’s words “My son,” stir a longing to speak into my own sons’ lives with such frankness. And of course, being a former schoolteacher, my first inclination is to develop some ...

4 Spiritual Misconceptions Teens Face in Youth Group

Today's guest post is written John Song of Columbia, MD who serves as the Pastor of Youth Ministries at Columbia Presbyterian Church, where he also leads and coordinates worship services.  He has served for over 16 years as a youth volunteer, intern, and pastor in a variety of different contexts. A former teacher, John is passionate about education and the local community to see how the Gospel changes everything. Remember your first day of middle school? No longer were you expected to stand in organized lines and walk hallways throwing a peace sign in the air; suddenly you were given the ...

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 ...

After Abortion Care: Why Churches Need to Care for the Post-Abortive Woman

1 in 4 pregnancies end in an abortion decision, a statistic that is no different whether you look inside or outside the church. Whatever the reason a woman has for having an abortion, the mental, physical, spiritual and emotional strains of the decision can result in repercussions for years to come. Whether it be triggers that remind her of the event or physical and emotional struggles that eventually come to light, the local church can (and should) be a place of safety where women receive grace and loving care to help them work through their struggle. In this fifth and final post ...