By Jeanne Doyon
Letting go has never been easy for me. My son joining the military only compounded my fears. I struggled. I cried. I prayed for him daily, especially in light of the stirrings of war in Iraq. It didn’t help knowing he had put his relationship with God on the back burner during high school. Could God reach him without my influence?
A Christian mother in England has taken legal action against the school her four-year-old child attends, because teachers forced him to participate in a gay-pride parade in 2018, against his family’s wishes, the Daily Mail reports. In June 2018, Heavers Farm Primary School in London sent a letter to parents inviting them to participate in a gay pride parade on June 29, 2018. When Izzy Montague, 38, responded and asked that her child be exempt from attending, a teacher told her that attendance was mandatory. Montague says that she and her husband are devout Christians and do not believe their child should be forced to participate in an event that the family does not agree with. In an interview with Christian Concern (below), Montague said there were several parents who expressed concerns about their child’s participation in the parade, but were ignored. Montague added that these children did not consent to participate in this parade. Montague says that when she met with her child’s teacher in September, 2018, the teacher’s child was wearing a t-shirt …
With a career spanning over 50 years, Dolly Parton, 77, is a country music legend and also a Christian. Recently she wrote a song entitled, “Don’t Make Me Have to Come Down There,” which was based on a dream that she described as ‘something special,’ CBN reports. “I had a dream that God was standing on a mountain and looking down at us saying ‘don’t make Me come down there’,” Parton explained on Instagram. “It woke me up, and I got up and started writing this song over a period of weeks and months.” This divine warning became the basis of the lyrics for her song: “Last night I had a dream about God/He was standing on a mountain top/Looking down, around in such dismay,And in my dream, I heard him sayDon’t make Me have to come down thereMy children, you had best bewareIf you don’t pay attention, consequences will be direDon’t make Me have to come down there.” In the song, Dolly also speaks about natural phenomena such as earthquakes, erratic weather, and pandemics …
Repent, then, and turn to God, so that your sins may be wiped out, that times of refreshing may come from the Lord. (Acts 3:19 NIV) While it is easy to be awestruck by mega churches which are typically defined as having over 2,000 people attending weekly services, God is not caught up in numbers but rather in matters of the heart. A revival has broken out in North Main Community Church, located in the small town of Barbourville in South Eastern Kentucky with a population of just 3,200. The church is pastored by Scott Phipps, 58, a former drug dealer in the town who turned to Christ shortly after his wife came home declaring she had become a Christian and was done with drugs. The revival, which has been going on for nearly three months, is impacting the small community as over 300 people have been saved during the meetings and over 150 drug addicts have been delivered. Scott told CBN that during the nightly services, they will have over 150 people who were …
In an interview with Christine Yeargin, as part of Students for Life podcasts, former Pussycat Dolls pop star, Kaya Jones, 38, shared her journey to Christ that included leaving the popular girl’s group in 2004, CBN reports. At times, Jones felt like a prostitute, as a member of the popular girl band, because she had sold herself to a dream and popularity. She felt manipulated, controlled and at times as little more than an ‘owned commodity.’ Her journey included three abortions. The first took place when she was 16 and the second as a member of the band, when she was told to get an abortion. The third happened after she was raped at the age of 30. But it was a moment during one of her concerts that really spoke to her. Jones, who was in the process of having the second abortion, saw two young girls in the audience. “When you are doing things that are really incorrect and your body is up for grabs, this is where we have to take a …
In this podcast, I talk about the importance of healing our rejection wounds.
Though we are exhorted throughout the Bible to forgive others, perhaps the biggest challenge that believers face is forgiving ourselves when we have done wrong. Maybe our actions, intentional or otherwise, caused harm to others or maybe we failed to help, and we just can’t seem to shake these feelings of failure and condemnation. Though the Bible does not directly state that we must forgive ourselves, it is implied throughout the scriptures. We start with how God treats our sins by tossing them into the deepest part of the ocean, which some have described as the sea of forgetfulness: He will again have compassion on us; he will tread our iniquities underfoot.You will cast all our[a] sins into the depths of the sea. (Micah 7:19 ESV) Isaiah describes God putting our sins behind His back, so He sees them no more (Isaiah 38:17). God has chosen to forgive and completely forget our sins, but many of us struggle with seeing ourselves as God sees u. The Jews understood the importance of this and actually developed the tradition …
Popular Gospel singer Anne Wilson recently told the story of how her hit song, My Jesus, helped a suicidal fan. Raised in a Christian home, Anne rose to fame after she posted a YouTube video of a song that she sang at her brother’s funeral entitled, “What a Beautiful Name.” Her brother, 23, died in a car accident in 2017. This song caught the attention of a Nashville music producer and in April 2021, Anne released her first single, My Jesus, that went on to become a gospel hit. It reached the number one spot on Billboard’s Hot Christian Songs that year, and is currently in the running for the song of the year in the contemporary pop category at this year’s Dove Awards. But in an interview with Christian Headlines, Anne shared the remarkable story of how God used ‘My Jesus‘ to save a woman who was contemplating suicide. Anne told Christian Headlines: “There is a lady that came up to me at the show the other week, she was struggling with cancer and …
Researchers from the Public Policy Program at the University of Arkansas concluded that people who spend an excessive amount of time on social media are more likely to show high levels of depression six months later than those who don’t, Study Finds reports. Curiously, despite displaying high degrees of success and positivity in their posts, months later many were struggling with depression. The researchers came to this conclusion after studying 1,000 people between the ages of 18 and 30 in 2018. Study Finds reports: “Regardless of personality type, social media use increased the risk for future depression diagnoses. However, people who rated high in agreeableness were 49 percent less likely to become depressed than people with low agreeableness. When people with high neuroticism — being in a negative or anxious emotional state — spent over five hours on social media (300 minutes), they were twice as likely to develop depression than others.“ The researchers concluded that the depression was caused because people were comparing themselves to others who were also posting the highlights of their lives or when they …
By Dr Julie Barrier
Bugs give me the willies. Always have, always will. If I had my way, I’d strap a ten-pound can of Raid to my back and wear a pair of size thirteen stomping shoes for spider-smushing. Today I want you to face your fears and give you God’s guidance about how to exterminate them.
By Amiee Herd
A look at the effects of loneliness and how we can leave it behind. It may sound gruesome, but—according to Reuters—a study by researchers at Yale University in New Haven Conn. found that lonely rats were much more likely to develop breast cancer. Three times the risk in fact.
By Jill Austin
The room was cold, dark and damp but it had become my friend for I had lived there ever since I remembered. Heavy blankets of isolation, loneliness and fear insulated and protected me from the outside world.
You may never have heard of G.E.M. (Gloria Tang Sze-wing), 31, but in Communist China she is known as “China’s Taylor Swift.” Deng, who was born in Hong Kong, skyrocketed to fame after entering a singing competition on mainland China in 2014 called “I am a singer 2” where she placed second. She became the first Chinese singer to surpass 200 million views on YouTube, and the first female artist in that country to have four exceeding 100 million views, making her one of the country’s top pop singers. And in a country run by the atheistic Chinese Communist Party desperate to stamp out Christianity, she is a believer in Jesus. Throughout her music and videos, we see references to her Christian faith, such as Israel’s Red Sea crossing in her latest video, Gloria, based on the English name given by her father. As she prays in the video below, the sea parts and Deng encounters a bright light. Deng told Christianity Today, that Gloria was inspired by an incident in her own life when …
By Jeanne Doyon
Whereas some take art or dance lessons, I have needed repeated lessons in letting go. Letting go of what, you ask? Everything. Kids, details, worries, the future, the past, you name it and I need to relinquish it!
In this podcast, I talk about our secret thoughts. The things we secretly think about ourselves. Many of us have secrets. Things we think, but have never told anyone. We secretly wonder if God really loves us, or if God loves others more than you.
Jim Breuer is a popular stand-up comic, musician, actor, radio host and podcaster. He became famous for playing Joe Pesci and the “Goat boy” on Saturday Night Live between 1995 and 1998. He has also had roles in several movies, including ‘Half Baked’. Jim married his wife Dee in 1993, and they have three daughters. I don’t know if Jim is a Christian, but his wife, Dee, certainly is, and she has had a profound impact on Jim. Dee, who was also a regular contributor on Jim’s podcast, The Breuniverse Podcast, was originally diagnosed with breast cancer in 2012, which was successfully treated. However, in 2015 she was diagnosed with Lymph node cancer and doctors admitted there is nothing they can do. But even after her second diagnosis, Dee continued to join Jim on the podcast as she talked about her struggle with cancer. In a recent episode, Jim shared a conversation that he had with a friend and you can see Dee’s profound impact. The friend, a former actor on SNL, asked if Jim …
Granger Smith, 43, is a country music singer, songwriter, who also goes by the name of Earl Dribbles Jr. He had a number one hit in 2016, Backroad Song and another, If the Boot Fits, was a top ten hit in 2017. In 2010, he married his wife, Amber. But in 2019, the family was struck with tragedy when their three-year-old son, River Kelly, drowned at the family home. Amber, 40, recently share an Instagram Post of people who are still condemning and blaming her three years later for their son’s death. It started after Amber commented on the post of another woman, whose child had also apparently died. “All of us mamas who know this pain have been praying so hard for your family,” Amber wrote. “We are all rallying around you and are here for you. Light will come from the dark. He is working. Bless you for blessing others in your deepest hurt. Sending all our love.” After she posted that comment, the condemnation about her son’s death started pouring in. One …
By Jill Austin
The Body of Christ is in a radical transition time due to the global shaking that is happening all over the world. The acceleration and advancement of radical Islam throughout the earth, the new surge of power with the Hamas, and the critical dangers that face Israel every single day will only be won on our knees.
One of the most difficult challenges a person can experience is rejection and in a recent article in The Epoch Times, Dawn Milberger, 55, shared her story. Dawn had been adopted into a Christian family, and it wasn’t until she was 18 that she discovered the full story of what had happened, when she finally tracked down her birth mother. It was then she discovered that her mother, with the aid of a nursing friend, tried to abort Dawn several times in the first seven months of pregnancy, before eventually giving birth. Her mother’s friend provided abortion-inducing drugs that she stole from the office where she worked. After telling the story, her birth mom pleaded for Dawn to forgive her. This was the ultimate form of rejection and for the next several months, Dawn struggled as anger began building in her heart over the rejection. But with the help of her adoptive parents, Dawn worked through her emotions to forgive her mother. “He can’t build on us if we have unforgiveness on us. Unforgiveness cannot …
I was intrigued when a popular British rapper and social activist, Mathangi “Maya” Arulpragasam, who goes by the stage name M.I.A., recently announced that she became a Christian, according to Relevant Magazine.
by Becky Van KoeveringI am not a seer or a visionary like my husband David is, but in crucial times I have been led by the Holy Spirit to intercept what the enemy has meant for evil in his efforts to kill, steal and destroy everything God has for us.
Jeanne Doyon
Telling someone not to be anxious is like asking them not to breathe.It is certainly true of me. Worry just seems to be the natural response to anything I fear or lack knowledge about.
A recent survey conducted by the American Bible Society (ABS) found that 63% of Americans state that their current faith is the same as their mother’s faith when they were 10 years old.
As believers, we like telling the world that salvation is a free gift available by faith through Christ’s death and resurrection. But though it is free to everyone who chooses to believe, it also comes with a cost. And that was evident in a recent article on CBN about a young Christian woman, Leah Church, who chose to leave the University of North Carolina’s basketball team rather than compromise her faith.
In his letter to the Romans, the Apostle Paul writes that we are to be transformed by the renewing of our minds (Romans 12:2). The Greek word translated ‘transformed’, metamorphoō, speaks of an utter and complete change. It is where we get the English word metamorphosis, which describes the process when a caterpillar builds a cocoon, dissolves, and reforms into a butterfly. The change is so dramatic that the butterfly can no longer eat the same thing that it did when it lived as a caterpillar. But for the believer, Paul adds that this transformation takes place as we ‘renew’ our minds. Paul uses the same Greek word, anakainoo, when he writes that we are ‘renewed in the spirit of our mind’ (Ephesians 4:22-24). Anakainoo means to ‘make new,’ ‘make different,’ ‘to renovate’ and refers to a dramatic change, and it’s this change in thinking that transforms us. But when Paul speaks of the spirit of our mind, he is speaking about what controls and directs our thinking. Some Bible versions, such as the NIV, …
By J. Lee Grady
The prophet Habakkuk knew the secret: When circumstances look bad, we should hit the “rejoice” button and turn up the volume.
There is a verse in the book of Revelation, the Apostle John’s vision of the end times, that talks about the emergence of a new breed of Christian who will not fear death: “And they have conquered him by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of their testimony, for they loved not their lives even unto death.” (Revelation 12:11 ESV) And we may have seen an example of this unwavering courage in Kenya. According to a report by International Christian Concern, a solitary Christian woman, boldly stood up to five Islamic militants armed with guns and explosives. Wanduta was outside her village in Eastern Kenya minding her goats, when the five men connected with the terrorist group, Al-Shabaab, showed up. They were there to kill the Christian men in the village, and told Wanduta they wanted to spark a ‘fierce war’ between Islam and Christians. “They said they will wage war with Christians,” Wanduta reported, “and whoever loses the battle shall surrender to the other.” The five armed militants bravely forced the …
We finally made it through 2021, but did we make it unscathed? We may not have caught COVID, but if we are worrying about the virus, it may be impacting us both psychologically and mentally, according to a study conducted by researchers from Canada’s McGill Universi
How anxious are you these days? The world has been a mixed-up place lately, and I know people who are stressed about health, including all the COVID issues; and jobs, careers, and finances; and relationships, including marriages and families; and politics sure are interesting. Right now, scientists are getting stressed about a new variation of COVID known as “Omicron.” I have friends who have stopped reading the news. I know a family that lost their old mother, one year ago. She lived a long life, and she was weak and frail when she died, and I don’t think COVID was a factor. It was sad for them to lose their mother, but they were not surprised when she passed. The problem is the “estate.” Their Mom had her own way of coping with stress; she was a long-time hoarder. She worked for many years in a large retail store, and she had easy access to bargains. Now, one year later, the children are struggling to sort and dispose of all the merchandise, unopened in packages, …
FOLLOW OUR PODCAST ON (search opentheword): PODCAST NOTES: Hi, my name is Dean Smith and in this podcast, I wonder: am the only person in the world who suddenly has flashbacks of things that happened to them decades ago. Well it happened to me recently and involved an incident of something that took place probably 45 years ago. It was the 1970s. I was in my twenties and driving an old Rambler station wagon. It was a dusty grey colour, probably 15 years old when I bought it. But along with my Toyota Previa, was the most reliable vehicles I have ever owned. I was just saved and attending a young people’s Hippy church, a Jesus People church, where everyone had long hair, including the girls. Back then, I had hair past my shoulders and one of my friends had hair down to his waist. And today, I have sadly resorted to shaving my head, because I am basically bald. It’s very sad. Anyway, I had put a large “JESUS SAVES” bumper sticker on the …
When we find ourselves in a messy situation where there is confusion and doubt, I wonder if there isn’t a message in it for us. And, maybe the message is the Holy Spirit saying, “hold on here, slow down because I want to show you a better way through these circumstances. The Bible talks about God making the path of life known to us. “You will show me the way of life, granting me the joy of your presence and the pleasures of living with you forever.” (Psalm 16:11) This verse expresses God’s desire for us to know Him and experience happiness in our lives. There is a better way of doing things. It’s what happened to me several year’s back. I was in a very uncomfortable situation in our church, where I was experiencing rejection from people. No matter what I did, or how hard I tried to gain their approval, nothing changed. In fact, the rejection seemed to get worse. I wanted to defend myself and attack back, and as long as I continued …
Illiana Soltani became interested in the occult when she was 12-years-old because of the rejection that she experienced from her father after her parents divorced prior to Illiana’s birth.
The upheaval on our planet right now has created rifts in relationships online, off-line, in our churches and communities. I cringe when I see unkind comments and anger directed at opposing opinions amongst friends. We find ourselves in a crisis as the pressure builds and creates cracks of division and deep crevices of fear and hopelessness in our lives. A crisis tends to bring out what is really inside us, and we shouldn’t be surprised by the ranting and pushing all around us. In these moments, love bows to fear as it takes control of our lives and vitriolic words pour off our keyboards onto the screen. Death or life lies in our hands, and in every crisis there is the opportunity to make things better. Proverbs tells us that life and death is in our tongue (Proverbs 18:21). When we speak we can bring encouragement and life to people, or we can speak with condemnation, anger and bitterness, bringing death. This applies to the things we say and the things we write as we comment …
I was watching an interesting video the other day by famed University of Toronto psychologist, Jordan Peterson, and he was talking about the mental health struggles that people go through. He compared this problem to a balloon that if you keep pumping air into it will eventually blow up. But, he noted, that this break will take place at the balloon’s weakest point. He says that the same thing happens to people. When life starts getting complicated, and things start piling up, and we are hit with multiple issues at the same time, job loss, health issues, marital problems, the death of family or friends, the pressure builds until sometimes we break at our weakest psychological point. And we are living in very complicated times, with all those issues compounded by a virus, lockdowns and growing societal unrest. So, how to we deal with stress during these anxiety-filled days? Several years back, two researchers, Joshua Brown and Joel Wong, decided to study the impact that thankfulness has on a person’s mental well-being. In their article, …
Rejection is hard, and repeated rejection can be devastating unless we view it with a healthy perspective. I truly believe that through rejection God wants to show us that there is a better way to fulfill our desires and His plans for our life. Over the years, I have looked to people and church leaders that I believed could help me put in motion my plans to encourage women through various avenues. I gave a lot of time and energy communicating my thoughts to them. There were countless emails and one-on-one meetings in an attempt to connect and create what was on my heart. I tried so hard to make it happen and left no page unturned. However, instead of encouragement, I encountered rejection. Some felt threatened I was competing with them. Others wanted it done their way. Some just ignored me because, they already had a program in the church. But I was simply trying to do, what I believe God had put on my heart, and the repeated rejection was difficult to understand. That is because, so …
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