Table of contents for June / July 2019 in Guideposts

Welcome to your June/July issue of Guideposts. There are a lot of great things going on in our pages this month, and I want to tell you about a few of the stories. First, a reminder: Your next issue of Guideposts will be the August issue, arriving in your mailbox at the end of July. As I announced last month, we will transition to a 10-month-a-year issue schedule, with December/January being your other two-month edition. Do you keep a spiritual journal? I’ve tried, with mixed results, but this month’s cover story, Pray With a Pen, by best-selling author Debbie Macomber, makes me want to try again. Wait till you read how committed Debbie is to her daily journaling and her tips on how you can get started. In our Caregivers…

SING ALONG My father was a musician, and my parents would often take my four siblings and me along with them to nursing homes to sing for the residents there. We would each make sure to talk to and shake hands with everyone before we left. I grew up to become a church music director. My dad moved into a nursing home after he was diagnosed with Alzheimer’s disease. It was natural for me to sit down to play the piano and sing old hymns with my dad’s fellow residents whenever I came to visit him. In the early stages of Alzheimer’s, my dad would play all the songs he could remember as other residents danced. Another patient who brightened my choir with his beautiful tenor voice can play “name…

HAVE YOU EVER WANTED TO journal? To open up your heart to God in the private pages of a book? To have that sacred conversation every day of your life? I started journaling regularly some 40 years ago, at a time in my life when I felt led to grow closer to the Lord. In those years, journaling deepened my faith, even changed my life. I start at 4 a.m., before I eat breakfast or sit at my desk to work. I study the Bible, read a devotional or two and then pull out one of several journals and write down all the things that are going through my head. What I’m thankful for, what I’m worried about, who I’m praying for, what I’m dreaming about, what I’m unhappy about.…

In the field of addiction medicine, the term denial means an inability or reluctance to acknowledge the presence of addiction in oneself or a loved one. Denial is common both in addicts and in families affected by a substance use disorder. Why is truth so often a casualty of addiction? It’s not because people who are sick lack willpower or take pleasure in deceit. Alcohol and other drugs affect the brain’s prefrontal cortex, which governs rational thinking and decision-making. People struggling with substance misuse have a distorted view of reality and find it difficult to think beyond the immediate need to keep using. Loved ones are often ashamed of addiction—a shame rooted in a widespread misperception that substance abuse is a mark of moral failure rather than a treatable illness.…

No Shame ESPN reporter Lauren Sisler (page 34) gives advice from her journey with her parents’ addiction in our exclusive video. guideposts.org/laurens The Write Way to Pray Beloved author Debbie Macomber (page 24) explains how prayer journaling transformed her spiritual life. guideposts.org/debbietips Ties That Bind Former NFL player Devon Still (page 28) shares how social media helped sustain him and his daughter, Leah, through her battle with cancer. guideposts.org/devonleah Go in Peace Are summer vacation plans taking you far from home? Don’t forget to pack these essential travel prayers. guideposts.org/prayersfortravel Keep Your GUIDEPOSTS Coming We make it easy to renew your magazine, check on the length of your subscription or manage book series shipments. guideposts.org/ecares…

Huntsville, Alabama I SCOOTED UP TO MY COMPUTER desk that April afternoon in 2016 and logged on to Ancestry.com. At 66 years old and retired from my job as an engineer, I figured I could use another hobby besides golf. The previous year, I’d mentioned to my wife, Debbie, that I was curious about my family tree. She’d hopped on that idea (apparently I’m hard to buy for) and given me a DNA kit for Christmas. I’d sent in a small vial of saliva. The initial results showed I had British and Nordic ancestry. I wasn’t surprised. Dad’s heritage was Scandinavian, and Mom’s was mostly British. Now I had new e-mails, automatically generated, showing who else on Ancestry.com might be related to me. I scrolled through the results. Most of…

I’M A PERSON OF FAITH, THOUGH there have been times I’ve felt disconnected from God. Like when injuries threatened to de-rail my NFL career. I’d remember what my grandma told me when she was dragging me to church as a kid back in Wilmington, Delaware. “The good Lord speaks to all of us, Devon, but you’re never going to hear him if you don’t open your ears and listen.” I grew up and joined a church of my own, and while I felt closer to God, it still seemed as if I was doing all the talking. I tried not to take it personally—until Leah, my sweet four-year-old daughter, got sick with cancer. I really needed to hear directly from him then. Leah had to undergo four grueling rounds of…

THE E-MAIL CAME FROM TONY’S son, Phil, asking if I could help his dad. Tony was a retired businessman in his late eighties, suffering from dementia. He was getting excellent care in an assisted-living facility, except for one thing. “Pop loved to paint more than anything,” Phil wrote. “I wonder if you could help him do it again.” “I’m not really an artist,” I wanted to say. Actually, I was a flight attendant. True, I worked on weekends at a rehabilitation center, teaching art as therapy, helping people who were recovering from falls or broken limbs or long hospital stays. Art gave them a purpose, I liked to think. But I’d always worked with groups, never with someone one-on-one and never with a dementia patient. Phil explained how his dad…

MY STRUGGLE WITH CHRONIC pain began out of the blue. One gray December day, I woke up and couldn’t feel my hands. I wrung my arms, shook them violently. Held them under hot, then cold, water. No sensation. I’m a full-time writer whose typing hands pay the rent. Panicked and bewildered, I called my doctor. “Probably carpal tunnel syndrome,” she said. The symptoms worsened. Prickly tingling crept up my arm and into my shoulders. The numbness became burning, aching, stabbing pain. Even my fingernails seemed to throb. Nerve twitches began in my legs, arms, back and face. I couldn’t sleep and arose each day exhausted. I broke out in shingles. I suffered panic attacks. Random stressors—a crowd, a long line, everyday occurrences in New York—sent me fleeing. Increasingly desperate, I…

Lauren Sisler (The Burden of Truth, page 34) has a few gymnastic moves left over from her competitive days. “The handstand has become my signature pose,” she says. “I once made my boss fear for my life by perching upside down beside a rocky ravine near the Golden Gate Bridge.” She also did a handstand during her Guideposts photo shoot. Lauren travels often to speak about her parents’ deaths. She got involved with the Addiction Prevention Coalition in Birmingham, Alabama, about five years ago both to learn more about addiction and give back to the community. “I can give people hope and tell them to stand tall and step out of shame.” Check out laurensisler.com for more information. Lauren will head to Virginia for a great reason next spring—she’s getting…

“Negativity and hate are contagious. But so are positivity, kindness and courage.”New York Yankees right fielder AARON JUDGE, whose Twitter profile says “Christian. Faith, Family, then Baseball” “To understand others and help them understand us, we must make a human connection, and the way to do this is through stories.”ARTHUR C. BROOKS, from Love Your Enemies “Destroy the idea that you have to be constantly working or grinding in order to be successful. Embrace the concept that rest, recovery and reflection are essential parts of the progress toward a successful and happy life.” from the blog The Minds Journal “Today is God’s gift to me. What I do with it is my gift to God.”submitted by Guideposts reader LORETTA WADSWORTH, of Plainville, Indiana “I don’t think there is any better…

I wanted my son’s funeral to be a celebration of his life. Patrick was only 26 years old when he died of an accidental overdose. There’s no grief like that of a parent who’s lost a child. But I didn’t want that grief to overshadow my love for my son. I wanted to remember Patrick as he’d been before addiction took him from us—a kind, funny boy who was willing to help others. We’d scheduled the funeral Mass on Halloween, which was one of his favorite holidays. We encouraged guests to wear orange and black—a nod to the day, as well as the colors of Patrick’s beloved football team, the Cincinnati Bengals. We’d rented out a hall for friends and family to gather afterward. My husband, Brian, and I sat…

Birmingham, Alabama SOMETIMES PEOPLE APPROACH me and ask, “Don’t I know you?” If they’re sports fans, they probably do. In addition to covering sports for AL.com, I’m a sports broadcaster for ESPN and SEC Network. Here in football-crazy Alabama, I get recognized a lot. The attention is flattering. But it’s also ironic. For a long time, even after I became a presence on TV, I worked very hard to keep myself hidden. No one knew the real me. Not my coworkers. Not my teammates and mentors during my competitive gymnastics days. Not my closest friends and family members. Not even me. What was the secret I worked so hard to hide? My mom and dad were drug addicts. They were wonderful, supportive parents, people of abiding faith and love. But…

Eric Thurman discovered that relationships are the key to a fulfilling retirement. Certified therapeutic recreation specialist Tammy Rowell, director of life enrichment at Good Samaritan Society–Greeley Communities in Colorado, agrees. Here are her tips on building friendships, new and old, in your senior years: Take your whole person into account. In the field of therapeutic recreation, Rowell says, “we look at the whole person—their physical, intellectual, emotional, social and spiritual needs.” To engage all those aspects of who you are, consider doing a variety of activities: fitness classes, card games, book clubs, community choir, fellowship groups, museum outings. There are all kinds of possibilities, and each one gives you an opportunity to meet people. Check with your local active adult center for options. Get out there. Try something new, or…

Studies have shown what Linda Odom found: Art and music can help you connect with someone even after dementia has progressed. Activities that keep the person engaged can create positive experiences and help alleviate the behavioral symptoms of Alzheimer’s or other dementias. Here are tips from the experts at Home Instead Senior Care, who have been providing personalized care, support and education to enhance the lives of aging adults and their families for more than 25 years: Look to the person’s life story. What did they enjoy doing pre-dementia? Find things to do now that speak to those interests and meet their needs. Physical activities might include walking outside, putting golf balls and sorting photos. Puzzles and needlecraft stimulate the mind. Sporting events and religious services provide social interaction. Capture…

FAITH WITH FEATHERS My daughter, Amy, and I were getting ready to drive to the supermarket. I’ll put on some Colton Dixon in the car, I thought. Amy liked his songs. I liked the Christian message in them. I was always looking for ways to encourage my daughter to pray, but she was a natural doubter—and a teenager! If I pushed too hard, I knew she’d stop listening for sure. We stepped down the three stairs that led to the garage and found my husband, Bob, standing by his old Mustang, looking up toward the ceiling. “It’s a hummingbird,” he said, pointing to something tiny floating far out of reach. “He flew in, but I don’t think he knows how to get out.” “Maybe he was attracted by the red…

PRINCELY INSPIRATION I became a fan of the musician Prince as a rebellious teen in the 1980s. The fact that my parents disapproved of his music made him all the more appealing. In 2016, my husband, kids and I moved to Chanhassen, the Minneapolis suburb that’s home to Prince’s compound, Paisley Park. Just one month later, Prince died. Afterward I heard his songs anew — “Purple Rain” became about the redemptive power of God. “Diamonds and Pearls” sounded like God talking to Prince. And because crying doves are a sign of things changing from bad to good, could “When Doves Cry” be a message of hope? I’ve since learned all kinds of surprising information about Prince. He’d written songs about faith and positivity, such as “Love…Thy Will Be Done” and…