I’ve been drunk for a week. Well, not actually drunk. I’ve been feeling drunk for a week.
Continue reading Cutting Out Body Parts: Anesthesia Drunkenness
Teachings of the Church Filtered Through Parents
We find out what we really believe when it’s time to teach it to our children.
Continue reading Teachings of the Church Filtered Through Parents
Trusting God’s Promises Leads to Depression Diagnosis
The women were coming and I would never be ready on time.
My children were still wee young things. It must have been the Holy Spirit’s leading that had caused me to successfully get a women’s Bible study up and running in my home. Those who know me well, know that thinking of, organizing, and following through on such plans is completely unlike me. Many times on Bible study day, I recall waking up in the morning, standing in my kitchen, and wondering how I would ever be ready on time. The perpetual pile of papers was always there to accuse me of being a homemaker failure. Taking care of my children and getting hot drinks ready for a group of women daunted me. And that was the extent of my responsibilities: faith life, husband, children, home. Nothing major, nothing extraordinary, and I was overwhelmed.
What is wrong with me? I often wondered.
Continue reading Trusting God’s Promises Leads to Depression Diagnosis
Speculation and Conjecture in Jane Austen’s Emma
Today I have the honor and privilege of having a guest post published for the Austen in August event being hosted at Lost Generation Reader.
One aspect of Jane Austen’s work that I absolutely love is that each novel differs from the others. In Northanger Abbey, Austen’s rebuts the Gothic Romance novel. Sense and Sensibility contains Austen’s response to the Romanticism of her age. Pride and Prejudice depicts love triumphant overcoming pride, prejudice, the social cast system, and embarrassing family members. In, Mansfield Park — Austen’s most theological work — she contrasts many things, one being the mere learning of Maria and Julia versus Fanny’s learning to develop true character. In Persuasion, we enjoy an ode to the Navy, the portrayal of Meritocracy, and a second chance at a love thought dead. Emma, the subject of this post, has been called Austen’s agrarian novel. And certainly an agrarian theme is present. However, a stronger theme is found within Emma: speculation and conjecture of neighbors’ motives. In spite of all the speculation and conjecture throughout, Austen shows that guessing correctly at another’s motives is a near-impossible task.
Mountain Rescue: Beowulf Lessons Remembered
Menacing, dangerous, and deadly are the themes surrounding green in the Old English epic poem Beowulf. Listening to J R R Tolkien’s The Hobbit on CD during our Tahoe road trip, conveyed the threatening nature of gloomy green as Bilbo and the dwarves traversed Mirkwood Forest for seemingly endless days. Literature depicts life. In the modern world it is still no light matter to embark on an apparently easy, short jaunt into the green landscaped wilderness.
Continue reading Mountain Rescue: Beowulf Lessons Remembered
Demons Causing the Depression?
Late last month, I read on Tim Fall’s blog that Mars Hill church conducts demon trials. In his post on the subject, Tim states, “It’s in comparing Mr. Driscoll’s practices to Scripture that we see he and his leadership team are making things up as they go along. They promote a false doctrine contradicting what the Bible says about demons and about the power of those who belong to Jesus.”
Last week a friend handed me the book They Shall Expel Demons, by Derek Prince. It appears to me that deceased Derek Prince also has a false doctrine contradicting the Bible.
#YesIStruggle with Depression, ADHD, and LackofSleep
(I got the hashtag wrong the first time around, so I’ve published a whole new post to make it right. Ha Ha Ha! How’s that for evidence of LackofSleep?)
I desired to write eloquently about my current struggles with trying to find the right ADHD medication as well as my difficulties with LackofSleep. All of which is putting me into a zombie-depressed state. Instead, I give you my twitter exchanges on the subject and the lovely empathy I received.
I should write about #ADHD and #LackofSleep, but I can't because ADHD and LackofSleep
— Ellen Mandeville (@EllenMandeville) June 29, 2014
@EllenMandeville no fun 🙁
— Doug Bursch (@fairlyspiritual) June 29, 2014
@EllenMandeville You've just written very expressively about #ADHD and #LackofSleep
— Darach Conneely (@ConneelyD) June 29, 2014
Those Seductive Suits — #StumblingBlock discussion on BreakPoint.org
The admonitions regarding “what should/should not women wear so as not to cause lust in men” have always struck me as misguided at best and damaging at worst. Last week The Salt Collective ran a satirical post on this issue. The ensuing debate in the comment section inspired my On Modesty bit of fiction, but I still couldn’t articulate my thoughts in plain prose. The discussion on Gina Dalfonzo’s post, Those Seductive Suits, at The BreakPoint Blog has come to my rescue.
Continue reading Those Seductive Suits — #StumblingBlock discussion on BreakPoint.org
Plotter or Pantster? Two Roads to a Final Product — Guest Post
It is my great privilege to host Skylar Hamilton Burris today. I featured her last week in my post: Life’s Shiny Facets and Dark Pain. Along with the books mentioned in her post, Ms. Burris is also the author of Conviction.
When it comes to the writing process, there are two primary types of writers: the plotter and the pantster. The plotter meticulously plans her novel from the beginning, outlining the skeleton of the story and then weaving the flesh around it as she writes. The pantster, as the odd name implies, tends to fly by the seat of her pants. She simply begins writing without an outline and sees where the story will take her.
I’m a pantster, and I have been ever since I began to write. Continue reading Plotter or Pantster? Two Roads to a Final Product — Guest Post
On Modesty
Fiction inspired by the comment section of
When Suits Become a Stumbling Block: A Plea to My Brothers in Christ
They told me not to wear yoga pants,
–so I stopped wearing yoga pants.
They told me not to wear shorts,
–so I stopped wearing shorts.
They told me not to display myself in public,
–so I stopped running.
They told me not to show skin,
–so I stopped swimming.
They told me to not cause lust by what I wore
–so I dressed like a prepubescent girl.
And then I was raped by a pedophile.