Health
Stories of healing from physical and mental health-related issues
Did Someone Say New Normal?
by Edie Weinstein Among the terminology added to the vernacular in the past few months in the face of COVID-19, along with ‘flattening the curve,’ ‘social distancing,’ and ‘essential businesses,’ is ‘new normal’. The first time I heard that phrase was when I was in...
Making Mental Health Matter
By Kimberly Allen As a new mental health legislative advocate, standing at the podium on the steps of the Texas State Capitol at a televised press conference, Kimberly Allen heard herself say, “I’m Kimberly, and I live with bipolar disorder.” After it concluded, she...
Finding Your Iron in Unexpected Places
By: Stacy Armijo What did you do for your 40th birthday? Celebrate with family & friends? Take a trip? Mourn the bygone days of your 30s? I had a great 40th birthday, orchestrated by my husband and entailing perfect portions of family time, friend time and me...
Our Blessing, Our Grace
By Stephanie Schoonover A few months after we married, Andy and I learned our prayers for our family had been answered. I was pregnant and we were ecstatic. Aside from afternoon fatigue my pregnancy seemed to be going smoothly until our 12 -week anatomy scan. We...
Swimming, Floating and Floundering: A Therapist Comes Clean About Her Challenges
By Edie Weinstein My fingers are tip, tap, typing the words that flow through my busy-buzzy brain. Bleary-eyed after a tumultuously dream-filled night....
Letter Written During the Flu Pandemic in 1918 Offers Advice for Today
During this time of unprecedented disruption of our lives due to the global pandemic, many human-interest stories we hear are very positive as people try to offer help to others. However, media outlets continue to report disheartening examples of extreme hoarding and...
Coronavirus Chaos: Let’s Fly Forward Together
Our hearts go out to all people affected by COVID-19. We send butterfly kisses to those who are diagnosed with the virus, their friends and family, and for all affected by the work and school closings and everyone affected by the economic impact of this crisis. People...
I Can Drive Without Glasses!
By Verlie Edwards Everyone experiences milestones throughout their lives. My vision provided several of those milestones. I remember being fitted for my first pair of glasses in the sixth grade. Then, in junior high school I tried to wear contact lenses. It would be...
Perfect Love
By Lucia Hur The story you are about to read is true. I should know. I am not only the author, but I am also the mother who has had to endure what no parent should ever have to endure: the report of your child being involved in a horrific car accident, which...
Strong Woman Hiding
By Terri Ray Going from being a strong woman hiding behind fears to being empowered by grace in strength is like moving from invisible to being transparent. Your fears keep you hidden, but recognition of yourself makes you visible to the world. The subject of this...
Looking for the God Thing
Terri Ray's second story is a brief interview about how she maintained the power, strength and flexibility it took to be an award winning Hollywood stunt woman. She shares how she's experiencing a new version of what power, strength and flexibility really...
Victory Over Cancer
By Verlie McAlister Edwards September 2019 was an extra special month for my family. My cousin, Barbara Sneary, completed 12 months of chemotherapy and “rang the bell!!” If you aren’t familiar with this tradition, it’s when cancer patients “ring the bell” following...
Loving Jaxon
By Rachel FriendI don’t know if I can fully express the range of emotions I went through once I discovered my son had “special needs.” Specifically, a rare genetic disorder that would be the reason for his global developmental delays. Our journey began after we took...
Asking for what you want and need
By Janet Favorite People are often surprised to hear that there is a syndrome that mimics food addiction. You may not have heard of it. It is called Prader-Willi Syndrome. If I were to say that some people lock up food to keep it away from their children, you might...
Then came the ROAR… The beginning of the end!
by Tracy Jones Blair Born with a bilateral, sensory-neural and conductive hearing loss, Tracy relied on auditory training combined with visual cues and speechreading to help her to “hear” all her life. Her most severe loss was in the middle frequencies (affecting...
Living With Cancer
By Barbara Sneary, as told to her cousin, Verlie Edwards There will not be any ‘Pity Parties.’ This is how I have approached the last 20-plus years of living with cancer. A major part of my adult life has been spent being diagnosed with and overcoming cancer six...
Whenever You’re In Trouble
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4BrVYciS-PU Sandy Sandefur was born in Canada to a mother who was not ready to understand what it was like to raise a child with Cerebral Palsy. As a result, she was put up for adoption and was adopted by her mother Jean who lived in...
Words
By Brittney Wells “Don’t Worry God will take care of it.” Those were the last words my grandfather ever spoke to me. He had rushed across a parking lot after church that Sunday; gently wrapping his arms around me, he spoke those few words I so desperately needed to...