Knocking Down Walls

By Peter Lundell

In this new year, before we try new things or quit old things, we should remember one thing: To do the new or quit the old, we need to break through what has hindered us until now.

Take a lesson from the Berlin Wall, erected in 1961 by the paranoid East German government, which divided democratic and Communist Berlin. The wall epitomized the government’s iron-fisted control of its people and its fear of the West. The concrete blocks and barbed wire isolated West Berlin from the rest of East Germany for 28 years.

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From Promiscuity To Purity

By Keisha Bass

Not your usual order of things, but at any rate, it can be done. Many of us have fallen to temptation and have lived with the guilt of our actions for quite awhile. Did you know that you can repent, turn from those ways, and start anew? God doesn’t remember every mistake that we make. He chooses to wipe our slates clean. Thank goodness. It can be hard to believe, but it’s true.

Growing up with a lot of freedom in high school, I began heading the wrong direction looking for a meaningful relationship. Then in college, I mistakenly thought sex meant love. I knew pre-marital sex was wrong, but longed for a male’s attention. And wanted that instant gratification as well as live my own life and do what I wanted to do, no matter the consequences. Little did I know that it would hurt me in the long run. I jumped from relationship to relationship and fell into many other temptations by following those I “loved” in the things they did.

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Serving Cheerfully

By Virginia Smith

I am not fond of housework. I know some people love it, but to me, washing dishes is torture, laundry is capital punishment and the vacuum cleaner is something to be avoided at all costs. So I was shocked when an unwelcome idea came to mind one day as I prayed for my friend Judy, who was recovering from a prolonged illness. You should volunteer to clean her house. I tried to dismiss it, to laugh it off as a rogue thought from an overactive imagination. But no matter how much I disliked the idea, I knew that spiritual nudge of rightness had to be from the Lord. Reluctantly but obediently, I called Judy and made the offer.

The next day, armed with rubber gloves and Lemon Pledge, I arrived for my dreaded act of service. “Lord,” I prayed as I got out of the car, “I’m doing this because I love Judy and I love You. Please help me do it cheerfully.” Then I plastered a smile on my face and went inside.

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Family Resemblances

By Kathy Carlton Willis

In walked a woman opening the door for another woman with an oxygen tank. Behind her was a wheelchair filled by a matronly figure using the oxygen, being pushed by yet another woman. They huddled in one of the waiting area sections, and talked about an upcoming wedding. I searched one face, and then another, and another until I circled the group with my gazes. A mother and three daughters. Probably together for unpleasant reasons (the mother’s health), yet they were making the best of it by talking about an upcoming celebration.

Then I allowed my eyes to visit the filled waiting room, picking out family units. Daughters resembling mothers. I detected at least five families with similar facial features. An elderly woman came out of the doctor’s office, her petite frame stooped over. A taller version of the woman followed behind, surely a daughter.

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A Labor Of Love

By Rachael Sales

As the mother of eight children, six of which I naturally birthed, I am always interested in hearing the testimonies from the birthing room experience. As an avid supporter and participant of supernatural childbirthing, it never ceases to amaze me how God births life in and through the very creation that He birthed and that He paid the price on Calvary for it to be a glorious experience. There is nothing more beautiful (after experiencing new birth in Christ) than watching a child take its first breath on this side of it all. For this reason, I count it a privilege and a joy to gather the stories of wives and mothers, and provide a platform for them to be heard. Amidst the piles of laundry, the late night feedings and the little bumps and bruises, their voices cry out declaring that God is both able and willing to keep. Consider the following snippet of the labor room experience from wife and mother Kimberly Van Johnson:

When it actually came time to birth, our daughter came two weeks early. I started out contracting at home and later that evening went to the doctor. They sent me back home saying that I had dilated four to five centimeters. The contractions continued to come once I was home. One of the most beautiful things about that time was that my mother and mother-in- law were both there with me. I slept between both of them. Between contractions I’d just turn over and rest between them. One was on each side of me and my husband was kind of over all of us.

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