
Cultivating Love: Choosing Change is available for purchase at Amazon! It’s with great joy that I’m able to announce the eighth and final book in the Cultivating Love series, Cultivating Love: Choosing Change is available for purchase in the Amazon bookstore! Click here to order the Kindle or Paperback version. What’s in the book… Cultivating […]

It’s with great joy that I’m able to announce that the Kindle ebook version of Cultivating Love: Daily Bread For Life, Volume 2 is available for you to download for free in the Amazon bookstore beginning Saturday, November 10th to Wednesday, November 14th! Stay tuned for other opportunities to download this book for free in the future. You can […]

Printer-Friendly PDF – Ten steps to improve your Emotional Self-Awareness using the Emotions and Feelings Wheel by Dr Ken McGill Use the Feelings Wheel along with the questions on the opposite side of this sheet to help you think about your emotions, feelings, thoughts, needs and how they impact you and your relationships – Dr. Ken […]

“If you hold to my teaching, you are really my disciples. Then you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free” – John 8:31 – 32 (TNIV) Good morning and welcome to 2020! Over the past 4 years, the keywords I’ve written about to start the new year are Lovingkindness (2016), Understanding […]

Dear Gabriel – Not that you’re too concerned, but here’s a little note about how Mom and I occupied ourselves on Friday while you were away at your Senior Football Retreat with your Coaches and teammates. After a great dinner at The Royale Magnificent Burger (and they were good)… …we lapsed into one of those “lets […]

“His master replied, ‘Well done, good and faithful servant! You have been faithful with a few things; I will put you in charge of many things. Come and share your master’s happiness!’ – Matthew 25:21 (TNIV) Thanks for reading the previous posts on the Fruit of the Spirit (Fruit of the Spirit #1: An Introduction, […]

“For I am certain that nothing can separate us from his love: neither death nor life, neither angels nor other heavenly rulers or powers, neither the present nor the future, neither the world above nor the world below – there is nothing in all creation that will ever be able to separate us from the […]

Thank you for reading the Introduction and The Fruit of the Spirit #2: It all begins with Love (Part 1). As we read in the Introduction and in #2, there are nine Fruit of the Spirit (Love, Joy, Peace, Patience, Kindness, Goodness, Faithfulness, Gentleness and Self-Control) and ten descriptors of Love (a person who Loves, […]

“Do everything in Love” – 1 Corinthians 16:14 (TNIV) As we read in the Introduction, there are nine Fruit of the Spirit (Love, Joy, Peace, Patience, Kindness, Goodness, Faithfulness, Gentleness and Self-Control) and ten descriptors of Love (a person who Loves, Esteems, Cherishes, Respects, Favors, Honors, Accepts, Prizes, Relishes and demonstrates Devotion). Simply put, we’re […]

It’s with great pleasure that I’m able to announce that Cultivating Love: Daily Bread For Life Vol. I is available for purchase in the Amazon bookstore for your Kindle and in paperback! Furthermore, I’m very proud to announce that 100% of all ebook and 50% of all paperback proceeds will be donated to Marissa’s House Projects. Marissa’s House Projects […]

“But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. Against such things there is no law” – Galatians 5:22 – 23 (TNIV) There are nine Fruit of the Spirit (printed above) and ten descriptors of Agape Love (a person who Loves, Esteems, Cherishes, Respects, Favors, Honors, Accepts, […]

Congratulations Gabriel! Mom and I are extremely happy for you and proud of your accomplishments with the Football team as you guys won your State championship game yesterday! We are so proud of you! I am proud of you because you held this as a goal for yourself since last year, and man, have you guys blown the […]

The scriptures below are truisms, affirmations and “re-mind-ders” of who I actually am and reading them remind and inspire me to live up to my DNA, my character. As time permits, please take time to read them to remind you that you too are more than the sum of the behavior you have engaged in, committed […]

Shame is one of the most intriguing but also one of the most damaging of all emotions that human beings experience. In a moment we’ll take a look at two sides of Shame but as we start to “unpack” and explore this emotion, have you ever considered how this particular emotion, which many of us have been taught is damaging to ourselves and […]

Thank you for reading The Emotion of Guilt (Part 1 of 3). In this post I’d like to share some thoughts about two passages of scripture from the Bible to deepen our understanding about the emotion and to learn how “healthy guilt” helps us to experience safety and success with behavior that is problematic or addictive in nature. I think […]

Fear is an intense emotion of uneasiness, connected to a real or perceived danger from an identifiable object, person or process. The emotion of fear may have elements of worry, panic and anger however, fear is typically experienced when it is brought upon by a basic feeling of being vulnerable to a person or process […]

Anger Management Tool: My Feelings Letter Use these feeling stems/letter format to identify and work through your feelings connected to a person, or a past or current life experience. Feel free to use other feeling words if they are not listed here. Also, feel free to record “multiple entries” for any of the feeling stems […]

“Be angry without sinning. Don’t let the sun set on your anger. Don’t provide an opportunity for the devil” – Ephesians (NIV) 4:26-27 Thanks for reading “Experiencing and Expressing Anger” Part 1 of 4 and Part 2 of 4. What follows is a “quick reference” guide to assist you to reflect on then communicate you anger with […]

Anger tends to be a reactive emotion that we experience and express when we perceive, or are actually threatened and we sense or fear that we may not have the ability to create safety for ourselves or control the situation (or person) that triggered the anger in the first place. Being a reactive in nature, […]

A Constructive Response A constructive response to the emotion of “Love” as it is described in Is it “Love” or is it…Desire? (Part 1 of 3) invites us to take a closer look at how our thinking and behavior connected to lust or desire may have led some of us to experience superficial, immature, broken and possibly […]

“Hello, I love you won’t you tell me your name” – The Doors (1968) “Love” as described in this post is not the emotion marked by care, devotion, compassion and sensitivity from one person to another. In this case, “love” is more appropriately termed “lust” or desire, which has as its expression the selfish craving to […]

“Be angry without sinning. Don’t let the sun set on your anger. Don’t provide an opportunity for the devil” – Ephesians 4:26-27 (CEV) Is all anger bad anger? Not at all! Remember, anger is a message from our body to us that our physical or emotional well-being may be under some form of threat and […]

“Search me, God, and know my heart; test me and know my anxious thoughts. See if there is any offensive way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting” – Psalm 139:23-24 (NIV) Our emotions are barometers of our spirit and soul, mind and body, providing us with important information about how we feel when we encounter various […]

Most of us shudder in fear at the thought of what could happen to us if we stepped into a trap like this. If we were the unwitting victim who unfortunately got caught in this situation, we’d probably feel profound fear, pain, agony and a terrible sense of dread that someone or something is trying […]

You’ve been working hard, and time for a break! For me, God drops certain songs into my awareness, and this one by Phil Keaggy, Carefree, was the one I received this morning. Perhaps the song/lyrics may speak to you, as they timelessly do with me. If not this one, which song is God dropping into your […]

O p i a t e s Introduction Opiates is the name given to the family of drugs that are derived from opium and have properties similar to opium and its main active ingredient, which is morphine. Opiates, which are abused either in their natural or synthetic form (Opioids), are frequently called narcotics, due to […]

Hallucinogens (Marijuana and LSD) Introduction Marijuana is the drug that produces the “dumb” high. It is composed of crushed leaves, stems and flowers of the female hemp plant and is smoked or orally consumed in baked goods. Hashish is the resin from flowers and leaves and is more potent than marijuana. It is also smoked […]

Sedative/Hypnotics Introduction Barbiturates and benzodiazepines belong to the family of drugs that are frequently called the Sedative/Hypnotics or Tranquilizers, due to the fact they reduce anxiety and cause sleep as well. The “major tranquilizers” are used to treat schizophrenia and the severely mentally ill (by reducing delusions, hallucinations, agitation and aggressiveness), while the “minor tranquilizers” […]

“Come on Now!” 4. Pharmacology 101 Although there are some 60 different neurotransmitters in the brain, there are three that predominantly deal with our emotional well-being: Norepinephrine (NE), Dopamine (D) and Serotonin (S). If we are in a normal and balanced state in our lives (homeostasis), these neurotransmitters are functioning and doing the job the […]

A l c o h o l Introduction Alcohol is the oldest and most commonly used drug in the world and is taken orally, and is the only drug that contains calories. It is rapidly metabolized and absorbed and distributed to cells throughout the body and is metabolized into carbon dioxide and water within a […]

Drugs of Abuse: C O C A I N E Introduction Cocaine is derived from the coca leaves of the coca plant found predominantly in South America. Cocaine is probably the most addictive drug, as it powerfully stimulates the Mesolimbic Dopamine Pathway, creating the intense and euphoric “rush” users desire and forcefully “imprints” the “I […]

“Come on Now!” So in previous posts we’ve been doing a lot of talk about addiction, drugs, drugs of abuse, recovery, passion and the misplacement of passion. So how does some of this fit together with you and your relationship with God? If you have ever been in a black church and heard the preacher […]

7. Let’s get this one thing straight I Corinthians 6:12–20 reminds us of some very important truths about our lives and our lives in relation to God. First, the Apostle Paul, the author of the book, reminds us in verse 12 that “everything is permissible for me, but everything is not beneficial,” in addition to […]

“Jesus answered, “Everyone who drinks this water will be thirsty again, but whoever drinks from the water that I will give will never be thirsty again. The water that I give will become in those who drink it a spring of water that bubbles up into eternal life.” – John 4:13-14 (CEV) Poured water knows […]

4 “Now fear the LORD and serve him with all faithfulness. Throw away the gods your forefathers worshiped beyond the River and in Egypt, and serve the LORD. 15 But if serving the LORD seems undesirable to you, then choose for yourselves this day whom you will serve, whether the gods your forefathers served beyond […]