Tag: jesus
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The God Who Sees Me: Combating the Stigma Surrounding Mental Health Care
Have you ever felt “unseen” in your struggles with mental health care? This is exactly how I felt as I walked with my mom through her mental illness. The unsolicited (and unhelpful) advice is often free-flowing: “You should get out more.” “Take up a hobby. I bet that will do the trick.” “It’s because you…
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Don’t Cry Over Spilled Water: Learning to Ask for Help
I’m sure you’re familiar with the phrase, “Don’t cry over spilled milk.” This idiom suggests that it isn’t worth the time or energy to be upset or dwell on the past. What’s happened has happened, and all you can do now is clean it up. This would have been great advice back on Sunday, January…
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He is Risen…Now What?
Easter weekend was wonderful. So much celebrating, so much beauty, so much goodness. And yet, I’ve been tempted to over-indulge in sweets and social media this week in my post-holiday slump. Have you ever experienced the emotional crash after a special day? All the planning and preparation leading up to a celebration, followed by the…
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Good Friday- From Peeps to The Passion
Growing up, Easter was basically the Christian version of the Met Gala. I’m talking frilly dresses that rustled when you walked, white patent leather shoes that could blind someone in direct sunlight, and coordinating hats resting atop perfectly barreled curls. Our Easter season wasn’t so much spent reflecting on Holy Week; it was packed with…
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Palm Sunday & Mermaids
Palm Sunday is the start of Western Christianity’s holy week or the week leading up to Resurrection Sunday. I specify Western Christianity because the Orthodox Church and many other Eastern churches celebrate at a different time in the Spring. This didn’t affect me as a native born Texan until I moved to the Middle East,…
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Anointing Jesus
“Six days before the Passover celebration began, Jesus arrived in Bethany at the home of Lazarus-the man He had raised from the dead. A dinner was prepared in Jesus’ honor. Martha served and Lazarus was among those who ate with Him. Then Mary took a 12 ounce jar of expensive perfume made from the essence…
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Ruth- Audacious Faith to GO
As a global worker living overseas, a foreigner making my home in a foreign land, I’m grateful for the story of Ruth. She understood the challenges of having a cross-cultural family, of uprooting and re-planting, of learning how to find her identity not in a place, but in God. Ruth grew up in Moab, a…
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Mary-(John 12:1-8)
I love Springtime. The grass seems greener, the trees are fuller, and fresh flowers seem precariously scattered in fields, gardens, and almost everywhere there isn’t consistent foot traffic. After a long, cold winter and a season filled with joy and so many events and activities, I look forward to the spring and the gradual ease…
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“But the Greatest of these is Love” (Agape)
“For God so LOVED the world, that He gave His only Son, that whosoever believes in Him would not perish but have everlasting life.” John 3:16 I have recited this verse for as long as I can remember, and for just as long, I have been in awe of the idea of a Love that…
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Eros-Romantic Love
The Greek language distinguishes between four types of love: philia or brotherly love, which fellow STXW blogger Tracie wrote about last week; eros or romantic love, storge, or familial love; and the one most Christians are familiar with; agape or unconditional love. With Valentine’s Day on the horizon and Pepto Bismol pink plastered everywhere the…
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