The Audacious Love of GodBy Terri Broome Audacious-showing a willingness to take surprisingly bold risks. I don’t know much about a man named Dutch Sheets but he told a story that has resonated with me about the heart of God. Dutch’s father was a pastor and at a young age, Dutch gave his heart to God. However, when Dutch was 17, his father shattered his entire family. He had an affair with the church secretary,
Difficult People Reveal What’s Really Inside of Me By Terri Broome How many of us have thought our lives would be wonderful (and we would be so much nicer) if only we could remove a certain person from our midst. We think they cause us to be things like fearful, jealous, irritated, angry, or insecure. What if I told you they don’t. Difficult people only bring out the things that are often deeply hidden within
I Did Not Parent Well; Now They are Teenagers By Terri Broome If you failed to raise your children right in their formative years, I have some advice for you. Shut your mouth. You have missed the time for talking and training. God created our children (in their early years) to be pliable; to watch every move we make, and listen to every word we say. We are their heroes whether we deserve it or
Be a Super-SpreaderBy Terri Broome He came to this world and became a man in order to spread to other men the kind of life He has — by what I call “good infection.”  C.S. Lewis When I became a Christian, I had a vision of my hair in a ponytail, no makeup, and wiping the sweat from my brow as a missionary in Africa. I wanted my life to matter. I wanted adventure. I
Sometimes our Greatest Need is a Nervous BreakdownBy Terri Broome When I taught at the seminary, I was often asked to address the new students. On more than one occasion, I said, “Your parents, church, pastor, and friends are all praying for your success. Just so you know, I’m not joining them. I’m praying for your failure. I’m praying that you get so overwhelmed by the academic work, and by your neediness and sin, that
Nobody's Perfect...Except Me and YouBy Terri Broome I love the story of Harriet Tubman. She was a slave who escaped to the north and to freedom in 1849. It took courage, faith, and ingenuity to do what she did. However, there would be no museums, books, movies, and documentaries about her if that was the end of her story. What makes her life incredible is that she wasn’t satisfied with her freedom alone. She risked
My Husband is Not the Man I Thought I MarriedBy Terri Broome Something happens in almost every marriage a short time after the ceremony. Most women (and men) think, “That’s not the person I thought I was marrying.” He said he was a Christian. Now he doesn’t go to church, much less pick up a Bible. Or better yet, he goes to church and everyone thinks he is wonderful, but they wouldn’t recognize the man
Hurt People Hurt PeopleBy Terri Broome I had a rule in our home as the children were growing up. You couldn’t talk about a family member unless they were present in the room. I grew up with a huge amount of distrust of people in general. I thought people were talking about me because I grew up in a home where people were freely talked about. I saw people being spoken to kindly and then
If I’m Saved, Why Am I Powerless?By Terri Broome You probably know the name, Dwight L. Moody. He was a great success as an evangelist in 1871. His tabernacle drew the largest congregations in Chicago. But according to Moody’s own estimate of those years, he was a “great hustler” and his work was being done largely in the energy of the flesh. Two humble Free Methodist women used to attend those meetings and sit on
The Greatest Power on EarthBy Terri Broome “A Communist officer told a Christian he was beating, ‘I am almighty, as you suppose your God can be. I can kill you.’ The Christian answered, ‘The power is all on my side. I can love you while you torture me to death.'”  ~ Richard Wurmbrand Everything in the life of a Christian is meant to bring us to one place; love. To get to that place and
Would You Want Your Son to Marry a Woman Like You?By Terri Broome I stood in my kitchen and looked at my husband sitting on the couch as I got ready to take our three small children to church. I loathed him as I thought to myself how spiritual I was and what a spiritual failure he was. I asked him a question so I could make him feel small, not to get an answer.
Calling Without Character will Kill YouBy Terri Broome Judy Garland was the child star of the Wizard of Oz. Her voice and talent have never been in question. She was born to be a star. However, she became famous way before she was a fully developed woman. She was shoved into her calling without the character she desperately needed to survive. She was only 13 years old (such a tender age for a girl) when