Articles
What Causes OCD and How to Break Free of it
Obsessions are like intruders in our minds. Persistent, invasive, unwanted, inappropriate, these thoughts stir up a considerable amount of anxiety and distress. Obsessions can become so distressing that they manifest as panic attacks. Obsessive thoughts left unchecked are like a wildfire of intense desire provoking a person to act out in one maladaptive form of behavior or another. Most people deal with obsessive thoughts from time to time which is quite common. However, according to the diagnostic criteria for Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder, these thoughts and the subsequent repetitive behaviors are persistent, distressing, and intense enough to interfere with all aspects of a person’s [...]
Tips for Parenting Teenagers Well
Being a parent is one of life’s great joys and blessings from God. The children placed into our hands are a precious gift that keeps on giving. It’s not always sunshine and rainbows, though. Kids can also be difficult; combine that with our own stresses and challenges as adults, and what you have are the makings of a tricky situation. Parents and caregivers need guidance, large helpings of patience and love to cope with the realities of taking care of a child. And just when you think you may have figured it out, that child goes on to grow up and become [...]
When Your Sexual History Comes Back to Haunt You
If anyone grew up in the church, they remember the “True Love Waits” movement. Today the whole movement is referred to as “purity culture,” and there are many who are writing about how harmful it has been to men and women alike. The goal originally was to help young men and women still are sexually pure before marriage, not having sex with anyone until their spouse. Some authors even went to the extreme of no dating or kissing before marriage. There was so much focus on the harm of sex before marriage and how bad it was, how shameful it was, that [...]
Living Life From a Place of Rest as God’s Beloved
If we were meeting for the first time, how would you introduce yourself? What pieces of your story would you choose to share that describe who you are? If you had to leave out what you’ve done in the past, who you know, or what you’re trying to do now, would you find it difficult to tell me who you are? Would you feel insignificant, small, or unimportant? Or would you feel relieved? What if you were to describe the life you truly long for? How much of the weight of your desires do you carry on your shoulders as if it [...]
Common Signs of Verbal Abuse and What to Do About It
Verbal abuse can be surprisingly difficult to detect. Think of the frog in boiling water analogy. Little by little, the heat is turned up, but the frog doesn’t realize the danger until it’s already in a dire situation. Verbal abuse can start subtly. The emotional dynamics involved (i.e., emotional abuse and psychological manipulation) mean that the abuse target usually blames themselves or feels guilty for their “role” in the abuse. The cycle of abuse means that there is a honeymoon period in which apologies may happen, promises are made, and everything goes back to “normal” for a while until the tension builds [...]
Male Anxiety in a Macho World
The terms male and anxiety don’t exactly go together. Or at least you won’t find them together very often. This is because anxiety seems to be the antithesis of a traditional view of masculinity. Men are “supposed” to be strong, silent, and never show emotion. Male anxiety does not fit with these other descriptors of masculinity. It’s hard to imagine Chuck Norris or Bruce Willis lying awake at night plagued by fears about their job performance. And yet, one in five men suffers from an anxiety disorder. So, one in five men is doing a great job of putting on a brave [...]
Radical Forgiveness: What it Means to Forgive
Human relationships are quite fascinating, but they can also be complicated. They bring us a lot of joy, whether they are between parents and their children, siblings, lovers, or even colleagues and neighbors. The flipside of the deep joy and fulfillment that comes from our relationships is the reality of frustration and heartache that often flows from relating to those closest to us. Because we mess up, and the people we interact with also mess up, there are bound to be things we need to ask forgiveness and forgive others for. It may be a betrayal of trust, a loved one being [...]
Practical Help for Depression: How to Find Hope Again in Your Everyday Thought Life
According to the World Health Organization, mental health is defined as “a state of wellbeing in which every individual realizes his or her own potential, can cope with the normal stresses of life, can work productively and fruitfully, and is able to make a contribution to her or his community.” Interestingly, the WHO is not a Christian organization, however, we can see this clearly illustrated for us in the Bible. In Ephesians 4, Paul unfolds God’s marvelous plan of using people to carry out His purposes on earth, “by the proper working of each individual part.” God has created each of us [...]
9 Bible Verses about Grief
Life often catches us off-guard with its messiness. Grief intrudes into our lives, whether it’s through the loss of a loved one because of death, or the heartbreaking end of a relationship. When grief and loss come into our lives, it isn’t something that comes and goes in an orderly fashion – you don’t simply get over a loss in a predetermined period. What can hurt even more than the initial grief is when the people around us begin to feel that we’ve been grieving too long. The seven stages of grief 1) pain and guilt, 2) anger and bargaining, 3) depression, [...]