Closer To Heaven
|
|
|
By admin
By Loren Seibold | 5 February 2018 | Some years ago a friend of mine, raised and educated in the Seventh-day Adventist church, revealed to his parents that he was joining a church of another denomination.
Read more at the source: When People Find Jesus in A Different Church, Part 1: Our Side of the Wall
Article excerpt posted on en.intercer.net from Adventist Today.
By admin
by Elle Berry | 7 January 2019 | Like many children growing up in the Adventist church, I was involved in my church’s Pathfinder club.
Read more at the source: The President and Outrage Porn
Article excerpt posted on en.intercer.net from Adventist Today.
By admin
How long has it been since you’ve had a conversation with your parents about their finances? If you are like most people, the likely answer would be, “Never!”
Questions related to financial concerns and end of life issues are some of the hardest to ask our parents, even though we are adults. However, your parents may surprise you and be ready to have this conversation, so take the risk. You’ll never know unless you ask!
1. Who is advising you on financial issues? Although most are fiercely private about their finances and want to maintain their independence, it’s important in case of an emergency that you know how to contact your parent’s attorney, financial advisor, accountant, and insurance agent/s.
2. Who will help manage your finances in the coming years? Have you named a durable power of attorney? The DPOA is considered one of the most important personal legal documents for any older adult to have. This is someone who can make financial decisions on their behalf should they no longer be mentally competent.
3. What resources do you have to use for living expenses in retirement? This includes retirement benefits, Social Security benefits, veteran’s benefits, cash, lifetime income annuities, etc.
4. What kind of health insurance do you have? Unless your parents are adequately insured, a prolonged illness or injury could threaten their retirement. Ask if they have a Medicare supplement plan or long term care insurance to help pay for their care.
5. What kind of life insurance do you have? If your parents have term life insurance, find out when it expires. If they have full life insurance (sometimes termed permanent), see how it fits into their overall estate plans
6. Do you have an updated will or living trust? Is an executor named? This can help make sure your parents medical wishes are upheld in the event of a medical emergency. Be sure the original isn’t in a locked safety deposit box, as that will be inaccessible unless you are named on their bank account as well.
7. What kind of funeral arrangements have been made and with whom? If there aren’t financial and location provisions already in place, you may have to ask the even harder question about if they wish to buried or cremated, and what is to be done with their remains. Some other questions would be, “What do you want on your tombstone?” “What do you want said or done in your funeral or memorial service?”
8. Do you anticipate needing financial or other kinds of support? We’re living longer than ever, which means more people are outliving their retirement savings. Ask your parents whether they have enough to sustain themselves for the rest their lives. If not, how much support will they need? They may also need at home assistance, someone to drive them to appointments, etc.
9. Where is all this stuff? If your parent has an accident, stroke or heart attack, the last thing you want to worry about is what his Social Security number is, what health insurance she has, or whether the mortgage has been paid. That’s why it’s important to sit down before a crisis hits and find out what kind of bill-paying system is in place, and where important papers are located. Although some may balk at sharing this kind of personal information, reassure your parents that you don’t have to see these private papers now — you just need to know where they are to ensure their financial well-being in the event they aren’t able to take care of it themselves.
10. What else would you like me to know?
Susan E. Murray writes from Southwest Michigan.
The post You Need to Ask appeared first on Answers for Me.
Read more at the source: You Need to Ask
Article excerpt posted on en.intercer.net from Answers for Me.
By admin
The first time I spent a night alone away from my parents, I slept at my grandparents’ house about 10 miles from home. I remember that I was tearful and I felt as though home was hundreds of miles away. The sounds, smells and rhythm was very different from home. Years later I spent most of one summer as a camp counselor and I missed home yet I was too tired and busy to get very sentimental. Then during my first year of marriage, my husband and I moved away from family for my first professional employment. Our big adventure was a time to make our way in the world. More years later I was driving the kids, dog and cat back to my parents’ home after an austere time during my husband’s internship in another state. As we neared “home,” I recited the anticipated noodles, bread, jam and cookies awaiting us with all things familiar.
During the past few years since my parents’ deaths, I sometimes wake up remembering my childhood home. I spend mental trips around the rooms or outside in the yard. Those are now mostly sweet memories. After decades as a married woman I realize that my home is with my spouse–and yes, with my dog. I have lived in four states and 11 different houses, so I know that home can be a transient place. One must make a “home” wherever you are.
As I get older and more loved ones and friends pass away–as culture, music and styles change, I must admit that I get homesick. I think we all experience some loss and grief during times of change. Transitions can be exciting but also scary and uncertain. My favorite grocery store changes the layout; my tech devices are constantly updated; my grandchildren grow; and laws and gas prices change! Homesick feelings can include sad, restless, unsettled–perhaps even angry reactions. I hear many voices exclaiming, “This isn’t my —– (you fill in the blank). Perhaps we are all homesick on this planet.
Over many years song writers and actors have expressed the feeling of being “a wayfaring stranger,” “all you who are weary come home,” Dorothy returning from Oz, or how home is a certain state of mind. I think our souls–the deepest part of our hearts and minds–remember and yearn for true home, and we miss him. We miss the God that never changes, who always loves, and brings us peace as no other. We strive to fill that remembrance with things, food, substances, people and places. Some of us also know that only “Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever” (Hebrews 13:8, NIV).
When I start to get frustrated with this world, my country, my church, my family, etc., I need to spend time with Jesus, who welcomes me back home. He is my breath, my bread, my water, my true family. His words, his life stories, his promises sustain and guide me. Jesus reminds me that there is “only one thing needed” and that is to sit at his feet and listen to him (Luke10:42).
Questions for personal journaling or group discussion:
1. Describe a time of feeling homesick.
2. “Jesus replied, ‘If anyone loves me, he will obey my teaching. My Father will love him, and we will come to him and make our home with him’” (John 14:23). How is Jesus making a home with you?
Karen Spruill writes from Orlando, Florida.
The post Homesick appeared first on Answers for Me.
Read more at the source: Homesick
Article excerpt posted on en.intercer.net from Answers for Me.
By admin
Eight-year-old Jessica wasn’t an easy child. A bossy, fussy girl with only a few friends, she frustrated and alienated even those who loved her the most. She threw tantrums over seemingly minor issues — “These socks hurt my feet,” or “This juice tastes yucky. I won’t drink it.” She became angry when her parents tried to leave her with a babysitter, often throwing herself down on the ground and screaming furiously. At bedtime, she demanded that her parents stay with her. Her teachers reported that she seemed overwhelmed, unable to concentrate. After school she came home saying the other girls hated her or that the teacher thought she was a dummy. At times, she could be a warm, funny girl who loved to giggle at knock-knock jokes, cuddle on the sofa with her mom or dad, and get thoroughly engrossed in her passion for horses. Most of the time she was unpredictable, and her parents were weary!
Stanley Greenspan, a leading child psychiatrist, finds the most frequent complaints from parents fall roughly into five patterns — one of which is a personality like Jessica’s, often described as fussy, finicky, and oversensitive. The others are described as self-absorbed, defiant, inattentive, and aggressive.
Over the years our thinking about children who face challenges in controlling their feelings and behavior has swung from one extreme to another. At one point, the accusing finger was directed at parents — it was their fault their children were impossible. Then the other extreme — children are simply born this way, and parents have no choice but to learn to live with them. We now recognize that biology and upbringing work together, that early life experiences actually determine how some cells in the nervous system will be used. Parents make a dramatic difference in how their children use their wonderfully different natural abilities.
Children are a product of the unique and continuous interplay between nature and nurture. This interplay happens in your relationship with your child. No matter what your child’s natural tendencies are — whether she falls into one of the categories noted above, or how challenging a child’s behavior is to you — there are approaches, styles, and attitudes that you as a parent can bring to your family life that will enable your children to face their challenges more successfully.
Be realistic about parenting. Sometimes the best you can do is less than your “best.” Decisions about how to use your energy and time can be complex, but the key challenge is to anticipate and plan for what your family really needs from you.
Give your child the precious gift of time. In Greenspan’s work, he found that giving special, unstructured time — 30 minutes a day — to a child greatly enhances that child’s ability to meet the challenges of his or her own personality. It’s called nourishing availability!
Work towards a problem-solving orientation. The goal is to help your child anticipate, practice, and eventually master particular challenges. It has been said that, “Home should be a safe place to learn and practice new skills.”
Empathize with your child. If you don’t have the same sensitivities, it can be hard to imagine what life is like for your child. Over time you can master that, just as your child can master his own challenges.
Discipline with love. Children need both warmth and nurturing along with structure, responsibility and discipline. The challenge is to provide disciple that is gentle and respectful, while being firm.
Written by Susan E Murray
The post Challenging Children appeared first on Answers for Me.
Read more at the source: Challenging Children
Article excerpt posted on en.intercer.net from Answers for Me.
Intercer is a website with biblical materials in Romanian, English, Hungarian and other languages. We want to bring the light from God's Word to peoples homes. Intercer provides quality Christian resources...[Read More]
