Black Eye, Blue Sky

All Savannah wanted was to be loved and cherished, but her husband had other plans.

Red Clay Mountain

I skip, he runs, like best friends do, across the crunchy gravel road, no cares to carry taking us to the mountain of red-orange clay to run and wrestle the dirt that stains the white within an inch of it.   I am four, he, five; our friendship igneous by our love of the earth. …

You must leave your abuser to find Joy

You'll never find joy if you stay with your abuser. Why?  I'll give you my top three reasons. There are so many, but I'll stick with three for now.  An abusive spouse/boyfriend becomes your prison guard...from which to escape. He controls you. The way he treats you, which is a systematic plan of dominating you, …

Domestic violence hits close to home

We were just back from our honeymoon when my new husband didn't like something I said, and he backhanded me across the face.  It was the first time he ever hit me. I sat, stunned, my teeth ringing, as his wedding band, the symbol of forever love, smashed into my mouth. I tasted blood. My …

Run Free, Woman!

A friend of mine told me about a church she knows of that is exacting discipline on a woman because she filed for divorce from her husband. She claims he emotionally abused her. The elders, all male, in the church say that she has no “biblical basis” for divorce. Therefore, they are “disciplining” her. I’ll make …

Do You Feel Trapped?

I’m not talking about when you’re driving in 5:00 traffic and the universe has it out for you because each time you change lanes, the lane you ease into slows down to a crawl. Or when you’ve put all your weeks’ worth of groceries on the belt, there are two people behind you, and the …

Poetry and freedom

Don't go Please don't leave again Every time if feels like my heart will bleed to death Or I will cease to be It's not the same It's not the same without you here Birds don't sing Music don't play And I can't breathe Until you come home. As I sat on our bed watching …

How To Properly Apologize

  I thought today would be a perfect day to write a piece about apologies and how to give one appropriately. Since we're smack dab in the holiday season and most of us are spending more than enough time with our families, I consulted with my sister on this article and together, we have over …

Who was Venus Stewart?

Photos of Venus Stewart show a beautiful young woman with gorgeous brown eyes and a sweet smile. She was the mother of two little girls and she loved them with all of her heart. She did everything she could to protect them. Eight years ago she was divorcing her husband.  She and her daughters moved …

My daughter is in an abusive marriage, what do I do?

It’s extremely upsetting to learn that someone you love so much is in a relationship with a controlling and cruel person. Your first inclination might be to do something heroic, like confront the abuser and give him an ultimatum that if he lays a hand on her, he’ll have YOU to answer to. Trust me, …