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God Isn’t Looking for Superstars

January 17th, 2014

God Isn\’t Looking for Superstars By Chloe JonPaul for the NABBW Some of you may remember Andrew Lloyd Webber and Tim Rice’s top-selling album and hit stage production and film, Jesus Christ Superstar.  While some people found it offensive, others found it spiritually uplifting. However, when we look at our own miserable limitations, the idea of being a “superstar” like Jesus seems far-fetched. Well, the good news is that He isn’t looking for superstars.  If you read the Scriptures, you’ll discover that the early Church was filled with a bunch of “nobodies.” Their names and... Read More

Feeling Abandoned? You Can Overcome It!

January 15th, 2014

Feeling Abandoned? You Can Overcome It! By Chloe JonPaul for the NABBW This feeling can occur at any time in our lives and will always be one of the most challenging events we must face.  Quite often we equate abandonment with a baby being left on someone’s doorstep but it encompasses much more. E.C. La Meaux writes that “abandonment represents core human fear; that it is a cumulative wound containing all of the losses and disconnections stemming all the way back to childhood.” While we cannot deny this feeling of abandonment, we don’t have to wallow in it.  There are tools at our disposal... Read More

Dealing With Grief During the Holiday Season

November 24th, 2013

Dealing With Grief During the Holiday Season  By Chloe JonPaul, M. Ed. As the holiday season approaches, there are many persons dreading the very thought of it.  This may be due to the recent loss of a loved one, divorce, serious illness, family friction, diminished finances, and much more.  Whatever the reason, now is the time to become proactive in dealing with your grief.  There are effective tools to help you wage your battle with grief or help someone you know who is facing this dilemma. The first order of business is to “remember the reason for the season.”  At Thanksgiving we have... Read More

God! Gimme a Break! Or Better Yet…How About a Breakthrough?

November 1st, 2013

God! Gimme a Break! Or Better Yet…How About a Breakthrough? By Chloe JonPaul, M. Ed. There are times in our lives when we can find ourselves muttering “C’mon, God! Gimme a break!”  In the wake of seemingly endless troubles, discouragement can set in easily, leaving us to feel hopeless.  But wait a minute!  We’re not alone.  As a matter of fact we’re in good company:  Consider Job in the Old Testament.  He lost everything – and he did complain to God but in the end he managed to say, “The Lord gives and the Lord takes away.  Blessed be the Name of the Lord.” Then there... Read More

Climbing Over the Fence of Logic into Faith

September 10th, 2013

Climbing Over the Fence of Logic into Faith By Chloe JonPaul, M. Ed. Have you really attempted to climb over ” the fence of logic”  to find God? We are living in an age where the forces of reason tend to dominate our lives. There are “self-assured” rationalists who belittle the role of faith and scientists are demonstrating even more details of creation and evolution of human life. Can faith and logic be compatible? The answer is a resounding YES! According to Saint Thomas Aquinas, “faith consolidates, integrates, and illuminates the heritage of truth acquired... Read More

Feeling Hopeless? Your Guide to the Healing Power of Hope

August 30th, 2013

Feeling Hopeless?  Your Guide to the Healing Power of Hope By Chloe JonPaul, M. Ed. There are moments in our lives when a profound sense of hopelessness envelops us, placing us on the brink of despair. Remaining stuck in this state will only bring more misery so we need to learn how to bring victory out of what seems to be defeat. You may feel that your prayers have gone answered and you find yourself muttering “God, don’t You care?”  God’s response, however is always in His own time and in His own way – wonderful and mysterious though it may be.  He may be using your particular situation... Read More

The F-Word You Need to Use

August 21st, 2013

The F-Word You Need to Use By Chloe JonPaul, M.Ed. Anger may be affecting your life so the next logical step is to check out where you stand on forgiveness.  Yes, that’s the F-word you must learn to put into practice. We forgive – not necessarily because that person deserves to be forgiven – but because it frees us up. In essence, you are taking back your power. When we hold on to some resentment, grudge, or hatred toward someone, we are actually empowering them. It certainly isn’t bothering that person. As Dale Carnegie once said: “Our enemies would dance with joy if they knew... Read More

The Girl Who Did Not Like Her Name

August 12th, 2013

The Girl Who Did Not Like Her Name By Chloe JonPaul Reviewed for the NABBW by Anne Holmes How many of us lived through a time when we didn’t like our names? I know I did. And so did many people I know, including my daughter, for whom we thought we had selected a lovely appellation: “Jennifer Zoe.”   She, too, didn’t care for her name, and throughout her grade school years she kept modifying it: Jennifer, Jenny, Jen… We teased her that the only thing left was to call herself “Je,” or simply “J.” Author Chloe JonPaul knows all about these naming woes, having spent 35 years teaching... Read More

God Recycles Too!

August 6th, 2013

God Recycles Too! By Chloe JonPaul M.Ed. As I fill containers with paper, cardboard, foam, plastic, glass, and metal scraps, I marvel at the thought that I can, in a small but important way, be helping to save our endangered environment.  The hairs on my head stand up like Brillo when I see people throwing trash on the ground – right next to a waste bin located on the sidewalk.  Then we have the careless fools who throw stuff out their car window as they whiz past. With a little effort but lots of determination, I have set up things in my household so that I can efficiently and routinely... Read More

Four Rooms You Should Visit Daily

July 25th, 2013

Four Rooms You Should Visit Daily By Chloe JonPaul M.Ed. Well now, let\’s talk about those four rooms that I mentioned in my introductory post.  A wise Indian guru once said that man is a house with four rooms:  the physical, the mental, the spiritual, and the emotional.  The problem is that he tends to spend most of his time in only one of those rooms each day whereas it would be in his best interests to visit each of them every day. But…(I hear you moaning!) how is that possible? you say.  I can hardly keep up with my schedule as it is!  Well, that was exactly what I thought... Read More