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The Inspiration Behind Life Before Me
Ever since watching the original Top Gun movie, I wanted to be a fighter pilot. However, I wanted to be an Air Force pilot instead of a Navy pilot. Growing up in San Antonio – Military City, U.S.A. – close to Randolph Air Force Base, planes consistently flew over our house. Without fail, I watched…
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The Body Keeps Score
There is a psychological concept about the body’s long-term response to stress and trauma. I first learned about it in the book, The Body Keeps the Score: Brain, Mind, and Body in the Healing of Trauma by Bessel van der Kolk M.D. Basically, our bodies remember trauma even when we forget. If we pause to…
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From Taking to Saving Lives
Some of my friends tease that I can both take a life and save a life – because of my former career as both a women’s self-defense instructor and CPR instructor – and because of the seemingly odd transition from quasi-law enforcement to Christian ministry. The connection, however, is not as puzzling as it may…
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Why Write for Free?
I have been asked why I posted my books for free rather than try to get published and make some money. I guess you can say that there is nothing particularly traditional about me. I have never really gone about anything the “normal” way. You can also say that I have tried and failed .…
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Music Therapy
Many Christians think worship must include a particular brand of music, and although I do love old Gospel Hymns as well as current Christian artists (my favorite being Casting Crowns), I have found worship, comfort, and healing in secular music as well. (I can feel the gasps from naysayers as I type these blasphemous words.…
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#ChurchHurt
I have been hurt by the church . . . and I am a pastor and chaplain. Religious trauma is now a clinical diagnosis. If it had not been for a trip back to Nashville this past summer, attending a conference with 400 other lonely and hurting pastors, reconnecting and healing with/by my home church,…
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Colleen Hoover’s “It Ends with Us” broke me – in a good way.
At the end of my week one session for my trauma care curriculum beta class, I asked the group to consider a literary, movie, or art reference about trauma. One of the first examples given is a book by Colleen Hoover called It Ends with Us. I was given a copy and encouraged to read…
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Summer SAD
Feeling unusually low this summer? I certainly have not been my usual energy-filled summer version of myself. I am willing to bet that many people all over the world are feeling the same – not just those of us in south Texas who have experienced the hottest May and June on record and who are…
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Just Do the Next Thing
The saying “just do the next RIGHT thing” has been floating around more often during these unpredictable and tumultuous times. However, during my darkest moments of despair, I repeat to myself, “just do the next thing,” intentionally excluding the word “right.” For those in the midst of debilitating depression, survival is not a matter of…
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TRA.Perspective 