Heard It All

Just when I think I’ve heard it all…

I can’t assume I won’t be shocked just because I’ve “been around the block” a few times, “know the ropes” and have some years on my driver’s license. In grad school I worked with street gangs and in the State of Illinois Department of Corrections. I learned how to pick a lock and not carry a purse. I hope I also gave some solid mentoring along the way. But truth be told, even after those experiences, I am still shocked over and over by what goes on out in the world.

For example, I spoke this fall to a group of women involved in community enrichment. When I mentioned a Woman to Woman® show I was putting together on fighting the sexual abuse of children, one woman told a story I won’t soon forget. She was helping an 11-year-old girl whose mom had died and whose dad was not a particularly involved parent. The girl confessed that she was sexually active with an 18-year-old boy. When this woman asked why, the girl said her teacher told the class that in order to be sure they were heterosexual and not homosexual, it was wise to be intimate before ending up in a marriage that would end in divorce. The woman I spoke with anticipates a lot more mentoring ahead.

This true story, from a town of 650 people, made it even more important for me to bring you this week’s show. Today’s teens face an epidemic of sexual diseases, some incurable and fatal. Yet, according to child and adolescent psychiatrist Miriam Grossman, MD, public school Sex Ed classes promote sexual freedom instead of protecting kids with accurate information. We think sex ed is about health; she says, think again.

Dr. Grossman is so alarmed about sex education in the public schools that she wrote the book You're Teaching My Child What? to address the lies we believe about what’s going on in those classes. Hear her out on why, with skyrocketing STD rates and teenage pregnancies, sex ed is not effective. She’s convincing when she reports that these classes are not teaching anatomy, biology, neurology, endocrinology and physiology. She says, “Their mission is to mold each student into what is considered ‘a sexually healthy’ adult – as if there was universal agreement on what that is. This is not about health, folks. This is about indoctrination.”

So if you wonder, with all the sex education provided from early grades up in public schools, how can it be that one out of four teen girls has a sexually transmitted disease, please tune in for an eye opening show. Dr. Grossman insists teens are not miniature adults and that they do want parental guidance throughout their developing sexuality phases.

The good news is, we can be there for our children when we’re informed and take seriously the God-given role of parenting a child to grow up “in the way he should go,” so that “when he is old he won’t depart from it!” Get up to speed with this program, so you can check out the information your child is getting at school and properly inform him or her about her gift of sexuality and the way the Lord intended for it to function.

Easter

Do you notice the variety of ways people celebrate Easter? For some it’s all about the Easter Bunny or spring break or buying a new dress or serving a traditional feast. Last Easter on Woman to Woman®, we looked at a different kind of celebration, when we visited with four women who had “Easter makeovers." They described how they celebrated Easter before they were Christians and how they celebrated after they converted to the Christian faith. This Easter, based on listener response, we’ll examine how Islam and Christianity differ in their view of the meaning of Easter.

Among world religions, the Easter resurrection of Jesus Christ is unique to Christianity with its proof and promise of “God with us” and life eternal with Him in heaven. Islam, on the other hand, rejects that Jesus died and rose again and offers a different perspective on eternity. With Islam exerting a greater influence in American life, I hope you’ll join us to consider the Jesus of Islam and the Christ of Easter with a former Muslim extremist and a theologian who’s an expert on Islam.

This kind of dialogue makes me feel more informed when I talk with Muslim neighbors and fellow workers about their faith and mine. Maybe there’s a mosque in your town and you wonder what they teach and what they believe, or your kids go to school with Muslims and have questions about their spirituality. Here’s a great opportunity to learn more about both Islam and Christianity. Send me your thoughts after you’ve heard the show, and check out the Men's NetWork Bible studies, Challenge of Islam: Part 1 and Part 2.

And most of all, a Blessed Easter celebration to you and yours!

Relationships

Do you know the warning signs of an abusive relationship? You must, for yourself or someone about whom you care. Maybe you’ve had it with so-and-so, but you stay in the relationship with thoughts like, “Maybe it’s not that bad. There must be something else I can try to fix this.” It’s not abuse until he hits you, right? He has so many good qualities. Besides, other people don’t think he’s that toxic. Maybe it’s just me and I need to shape up a little bit. But as much as you try to change, it’s not getting any better, is it? It’s time to stop the abuse. But how? The Bible tells us, “If any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask of God.” James 1:5

Relationship expert Laura Petherbridge speaks to us this week on Woman to Woman® with the warning signs of an abusive relationship and what you must do to protect yourself when you’re in one. We all experience relationship issues that make us feel occasionally uncomfortable or where we get our feelings hurt, but Petherbridge talks about when the line has been crossed from normal unpleasant encounters into emotional abuse. It’s crucial to recognize the warning signs. Talk to someone you trust, because you’re isolated by this and that makes it worse. Expect resistance from the controlling person and also expect God to guide your emotions and thoughts to either working toward resolution or getting you out of harm’s way.

This show will be a walk of relief and just what you need to get you thinking and moving in the right direction. Let me know how it helps you!

Balance

My out-of-balance life was obvious the day I dropped our son off at soccer practice and left his younger sisters, 5 and 6, on the swings nearby while I drove 8 miles home before realizing what I’d done. Racing back to the soccer field, I beat myself up over how much was on my mind and schedule to make me that unaware of keeping the main thing the main thing! We’ve become so skilled at multitasking, at overbooking our calendars and our lives, that it’s considered a badge of honor. As if there were such a thing as a happy workaholic! Whether you’re clocking more than 40 hours a week at the office or not, you’re most likely the typical 21st century woman who bites off more than she can chew. Maybe you’re convinced there’s no such thing as a balanced life and besides, who needs it?

Well, guess what? “Balance is crucial, more so than ever, because we’ve been robbed of it!” insists physician and futurist Richard Swenson, MD, who joins us with some life-saving secrets for a fulfilling and stable life this week on Woman to Woman®. Dr. Swenson combines his physics and medical background to specialize in the intersection of culture, health, faith and future. He wrote the bestselling books Margin, The Overload Syndrome and More Than Meets the Eye.

This week he pulls us into his latest book, In Search of Balance, which I was privileged to endorse on the back cover. This futurist, who watches and warns with precise brilliance, captures and decodes facts floating beyond our reach. Take advantage of thousands of hours of research that translate into the questions we need to ask and the answers we can find. To sum it up, he asks, “What’s your hurry and where’s it taking you?” We can downsize -- and often eliminate -- the exhaustion, crankiness, and unsatisfying personal relationships, as well as the physical price we pay with illness and the general underlying angst that keeps us from enjoying every day to its fullest. Dr. Swenson urges us to seek God’s help to catch our balance before it’s too late. Read his work to get a better read on yourself and what to do about it! Dick makes me happy to be alive! Tell everyone you know about this show, please!

Freshman 15

My freshman year in college I gained weight. Was it dorm food or the “Freshman 15”? I have no idea, but food became my best friend. We hung out when I was happy, sad, stressed or glad. On a visit to our family doctor, he handed me one bowling ball and then another, asking how it felt to lug those around. It was horrible, and he said that’s what I was asking my body to do. He also handed me some little pills to help me get started on weight loss. They worked like a charm and by the end of the next semester, I’d lost 40 pounds. I loved my new look and my newfound energy, so you’ll imagine my surprise when I ran out of pills the next semester and slept for almost two weeks straight. As it turns out, those pills were doing a lot more to my body than miraculously shedding the pounds…and the effects were so harmful that those pills are now illegal.

But even if they weren’t illegal now, I’d tell you there are still much healthier ways to manage our eating habits and our weight. With all of the talk today about obesity in kids and adults, we have to evaluate the right and wrong ways to approach the dilemma. To help out with that, this week on Woman to Woman®, we visit with Dr. Linda Mintle, who studies people’s relationships with food. She says that the emotional reward from food is so great that we don’t realize it’s controlling us. Dr. Mintle is convinced we can change our eating habits if we push Pause before we eat. Her interest in the topic goes beyond diet and weight loss, too – she says that our spiritual hunger can also be related to problematic eating. Dr. Mintle explains, “When craving meets Creator, fulfillment happens.” We need His intervention in our unhealthy attachment to and relationship with food. I hope you’ll tune in to pick up some healthy eating tips as we enter into spring!

Twins!

I’m keeping different hours these days, assisting my daughter with her new twins. They’re 10 days old, and we’re trying to establish a schedule. Their dad said to me at midnight, “This is what it’s like for the next 18 years, right?” Yep! When my two youngest children were born 18 months apart, I felt so isolated and asked God, “Is 200 diapers a week all there is? Something more, please!” God answered that prayer with an indoor singles tennis league invitation. Childcare for those three hours not only helped me get my game back, but also my energy and my sense of self, being out of the house and away from the intensity of it all for a wee bit.

The other half of God’s answer to that prayer came from a neighbor who invited me to a six week home Bible study. Eight of us from different churches studied under lovely, sweet, patient, winsome Mary Jane, an older and wiser woman of God. She’d been tested by life in ways I would never know, but she was steady, calm and trusting. I’ll never forget her saying she was such a mess that if she didn’t spend each morning in prayer and Bible study for an hour, no one would be able to stand her. We doubted the “mess” part, but we got the point about spending time with Jesus in prayer to be able to bring His sweetness into our days and our relationships. I committed to that more often and a year later started a Bible study in our home. Two years later the Lord used me to begin the “Wednesday Woman” Bible study in our church. One hundred women from 14 different church backgrounds attended for the ten years I facilitated, and it’s still going! Amazing how God energizes a busy mom for the task at hand. How’s he energizing you these days?

My daughter with the twins may eventually hear this week’s Woman to Woman® show with Lisa Tawn Bergren, who understands that when you have a family, suddenly time seems to stand still. People you used to talk to regularly don’t call so much. How do you preserve your self while fulfilling the demanding tasks of motherhood? Lisa says to stay invested in relationships outside of immediate family. When God gives us children, He knows our key relationships will change and intends for us to stay connected with family and friends for mutual support, in service to Him and in response to His love for us. Lisa lists six key relationships that can change for the better during the demanding years of motherhood, when Mom takes time to cultivate vital, healthy connections with others. Girls’ night out will not always involve a burp cloth, and meanwhile you’ll learn how those outside relationships can help you become the best mom you can be.

Contentment

I’d been married about a year and was standing with my husband outside a Chicago theatre waiting for our car. Up drove a gorgeous, lavish car and a laughing, handsome couple enjoying one another hopped in and were on their carefree way. My brown eyes went green at that moment. I don’t really notice cars, but in that moment, I decided that if we had that car, we would be happy, carefree and laughing more. Obviously, to this day, I still remember that car and that couple – a pretty good marketing campaign for that car!

How distracting for my mind to get its exercise by jumping to conclusions. My assumptions could have been absolutely false; I certainly knew a car doesn’t bring the kind of happiness I thought I saw. They might have been miserable, or they might have been just as happy getting into a beat-up jalopy. Actually, that was my biggest assumption – presuming they were happier than we were because of their car. The incident left me to deal with a covetous heart that evening. What was I really looking for? A car? A perfect smile and grooming to match?

No, I needed to find what St. Paul talks about in Philippians and I needed to find it fast! God had helped him figure out that contentment isn’t about our stuff or our situation. He writes in Philippians 4:11: “Not that I speak from want, for I have learned to be content in whatever circumstances I am.” That was the beginning of a life lesson that serves me well every day! Now, when I think I have to have something or want something to happen right now, I go back to that verse, say it out loud and my contentment peacefully drowns out the “have to!”