Story by Debra Anderson
During the pandemic, Women’s Ministries at Sligo church in Takoma Park, Md., offered a way to regain balance in all areas of life, introducing the “Wellness Wheel”—a series of online presentations on creating balance. The series met bi-weekly on Sabbaths for four months via Zoom.
Story by V. Michelle Bernard
Moving to a plant-based diet has provided Keiva Dennis, a member of Potomac Conference’s Seabrook church in Lanham, Md., many health benefits: she lost 20 pounds, her acne cleared up and her knee pain disappeared. She also says it’s cheaper than her previous vegan diet.
Dennis first began following a whole-foods, plant-based diet more closely after spending time with her sister’s family, who ate that way. “Eating whole foods was so amazingly satisfying that I decided to continue this lifestyle,” she says. (Read more about her journey here.)
Story by Janel Ware
The Candlelight Concert is a treasured Shenandoah Valley Academy (SVA) tradition, a gift from the Music Department to the community. This year, programming had to change because of health precautions. “As executive orders tightened in November, God led the way to join the Music Department efforts with the New Market campus church’s annual Journey to Bethlehem production and moving the combined outreach presentation online,” shares Daniel Biaggi, music director.
“I will answer them before they even call to me. While they are still talking about their needs, I will go ahead and answer their prayers!” (Isa. 65:24, NLT).
It wasn’t until I became a teaching principal that Isaiah’s words took root in my soul. Oftentimes, I found myself conversing with God about school and the myriad of situations I had no idea how to solve. Each time my staff, the school board and I found a solution, we were reminded yet again of how faithful He was (and is) to His children.
“And God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes; and there shall be no more death, neither sorrow, nor crying, neither shall there be any more pain: for the former things are passed away” (Rev. 21:4, KJV).
On June 6, 2018, my family and I were given the worst news any parent can be given. My 7-year-old daughter, Liana Kathryn, was diagnosed with a rare form of cancer known as diffuse intrinsic pontine glioma. When the head of neurosurgery came to speak to me, I asked him to “give it to me straight.” You ask that, hoping that it will make things easier.