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(This article is so important. I wanted to include it on my site. Please feel free to check out Ruth’s own site at ruthgrahamandfriends.org. )
By Rose French
Associated Press Writer
Thu, Nov. 06 2008 08:59 AM EST
NASHVILLE, Tenn. – Ruth Graham knows firsthand how life can be filled with heartache.
The third of evangelist Billy Graham’s five children, she has dealt with a daughter’s teen pregnancies, another’s bulimia and a son’s drug use.
She also struggled with suicidal thoughts after learning that her first husband had been unfaithful — a discovery that led to a second “rebound marriage” lasting only five weeks.
These low points eventually led her in 2004 to form a ministry, Ruth Graham & Friends, that helps others address problems that she said are too often ignored in the Christian community.
“Once we’re in the church, we pretend all the sinners are on the outside. We want to keep the rules, and when we can’t, we become shameful and pretend we have it all together,” Graham said in an interview.
Graham is trying to educate Christians about these issues through her “Get Growing” conferences, including one held last month in Nashville that drew about 400 people.
The events address troubles such as addiction, depression, eating disorders, marital infidelity, anger, divorce, loneliness and pornography.
“The world is tired of plastic Christians,” she said. “I was tired of being a plastic Christian. I told everybody I had it all together, and I was falling apart. And I was scared to death to tell somebody.” Read more...
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Mikki
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Ever wondered why God would refuse to rescue you when you are going through the most difficult time of your life?
A few months ago, I found myself in the worst storm of my life. The waters raged all around me. They filled my boat. The wind blew violently. The boat of my life creaked and groaned and at times, barely stayed afloat during the storm. The wind and water were thunderously loud. I could hear no voice above the noise. Many days, I was unable to even call Jesus’ name to ask for rescue. I felt so abandoned by God that I couldn’t even read my Bible because it felt so painful to look into the Word I had lived by, my most precious manna, and feel it had failed me. I couldn’t listen to the music of worship because it reminded me of the intimacy I had once felt with God and other people I cared for. Prayer seemed impossible because I felt I no longer knew how – the ways I had prayed before must have been wrong or inadequate. And many days, I felt so betrayed by God Himself that I was unsure whether or not He was a reality. Read more...
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Mikki
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Yesterday I found myself smack dab in the middle of one of those rare moments of life when I thought, “This is what it is all about. This is life lived to the fullest.” It wasn’t monumental. It wasn’t planned. It was just a moment of time where my heart felt completely alive. A simple interval of time that would be frozen in my memory as one of the best. Yet, there were no elements in that instant that the world would say could qualify it as being important. I didn’t win the lottery. I wasn’t on a trip to see the Great Smoky Mountains or the Grand Canyon or a Hawaiian sunset. There was no party in my honor. Nothing significant on the world’s Geiger counter.
It just happened.
I opened the door and entered an artisan’s shop. After glancing at some art hanging on the wall, I saw a box of artist’s prints with prose written on each one. The art was not my style at all, yet I was drawn to it. As I held one in my hand and read the prose on the print, the wind caught my heart and I felt understood. This artist, totally unknown to me, spoke of my deepest feelings and thoughts. Time stopped. I paused. I pondered. I drank deep waters. Purposefully, I relished in the moment. No rushing. I didn’t want to miss the richness of what my heart was experiencing. Read more...
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Mikki
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I have pondered lately on the definition of a friend. As I attempted to bring words to my understanding of what a friend really is, my mind went straight to the barnyard. I first experienced Charlotte’s Web, a classic children’s book written by E.B. White, in elementary school as my teacher read the story to us, day by day unfolding the story. Later, as my own children grew up, we often watched the movie rendition of the classic. I must say it is an absolute favorite of mine. It is one story I enjoyed so much that if my children were watching it, I had to sit down and enjoy it, slowing down from all the endless tasks that call to a mother and just relishing the story.
Perhaps you will find yourself in one of the characters as I attempt to bring terminology to what a friend is. You might identify others in your “barnyard”. But more than anything, I hope you will be challenged by these simple lessons of friendship that have the potential to change you and others in your barnyard.
The story begins with the birth of a new litter of 11 piglets. The farmer, Mr. Zuckerman, must eliminate one of the piglets because he is a runt. The farmer gets his ax and then is stopped by his daughter, Fern. Fern cannot bear to think of the piglet being killed, so she convinces her father to allow her to raise the piglet. Fern begins to feed her new piglet and names him Wilbur. After Wilbur gets strong enough to be on his own, he is put into the barn across the road. In the new barn, he meets many different animals: cows, sheep, geese, a rat, a horse, and of course ,a spider named Charlotte. Read more...
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Mikki
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Weight Loss and Christianity
My children love to tease me about my endless knowledge that I am forever offering to them with the precursor, “I just read about that in an article.” Oh, that is all it takes to get them going. “We know, Mom, you read another article.” (moan, groan, laugh, snicker) I can’t help it; I love to read articles! And I am almost always reading something. It has been my lifelong pastime. So today, I was reading an article (go ahead and smile), and I was amazed at how much these weight loss principles parallel the Christian life. Now, you’re really smiling, aren’t you? Just check it out!
Here’s Debbie Rocker on Yahoo! Health on “Burn the Fat, Keep it Off” with my added comments are in italics.
1. Take a good hard look at your past attempts and assess what is realistic and what is just too unlikely for you to sustain? How many times have our past attempts to live victoriously failed? Do we need to assess them and find out what Jesus is really asking us to do and what is just religion?
2. Don’t be hard on yourself about the past, it’s done, it’s gone, it’s over, but useful for informing the future. You can apply this one! Read more...
