The first time I admitted to myself that I had an eating disorder, I was eating raw spinach straight out of the container. As I wondered how many calories it contained—10, to be precise—and how long I would have run in order to "undo" my meal, it occurred ...

It was pouring rain, and my hands were full as I stumbled into the room. The last thing on my mind was meeting and greeting the other writers at the wine-tasting reception. I plopped into the first free chair, muttering unpleasant things under my breath, when ...

I received the fateful call almost 15 years ago. My husband and I, then married little more than a year, were winding our way out of rural Ohio, where we had spent the weekend celebrating the wedding of friends. My phone rang. It was my mother.

"Your brother is ...

A woman's body pays a heavy price to carry and deliver a baby. That's what my doctors say and what I've twice experienced. During the first half of each of my pregnancies, I was so nauseated I could barely function, even with anti-nausea medication during the ...

A recent Time article pointed enterprising readers toward an enticing business opportunity for our age: the sleep industry. "Don't nap on this," the headline urged. "Capitalize on insomnia as a growth business." Our desperately sleep-deprived population is a market ...

She stood in front of a crowded room of young women eager to hear her speak. Unbeknownst to the crowd, Jennie Allen was gripped with fear. All she could think of was how she was being perceived and the waves of criticism that would supposedly come following her ...

Perusing magazines in the grocery checkout line recently, screaming headlines promised all the gritty details about:

1. The Secretary of State "dirty dancing" with another woman;
2. (2) Reality show Teen Moms "star" admits to drug abuse in a "tell all" interview; and

Before going to seminary and then having children, I worked in youth ministry with teenagers for five years. As such, I sat through countless systematic presentations of the gospel in which someone was assigned "the sin talk." These talks varied from camp to camp ...

I thought we were friends.

At midlife I learned that I might have overstated some of these relationships a tad. It seemed that my BFFs had really been church and parenting co-workers.

Inspirational speaker Barbara Bartocci parsed the difference, noting, "People ...

A few days ago, my 4-year-old got three injections in his suntanned, still baby-dimpled arms. I read over the warnings, signed my approval, and held him as he set his little face, determined to be brave, then cried when he felt the pinch. Yesterday, my husband ...

Around this time three years ago, I was busy preparing for one of the biggest days of my life. My wedding was just around the corner, so my schedule was filled with RSVPs, last-minute dress alterations, music selections, and table seating assignments. I was excited ...

Many things caught my attention last week at Willow Creek's Global Leadership Summit, but nothing as strikingly as the women in attendance—both on stage and off. Speakers included former Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist ...

Among classic literature's great seductresses—Becky Sharp, Lady Chatterley, Anna Karenina, and Madame Bovary—the most irresistible of them all just might be Katie Scarlett O'Hara, the vivacious and impetuous protagonist in Margaret Mitchell's American ...

Love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control. And suspicion?

The fruits of the Spirit included on this list should look pretty familiar to anyone who has spent time in a church. So should the final item—even though ...

The Old Testament book Song of Songs is pretty racy. And not infrequently, its sexual imagery is expressed through food metaphors:

As an apple tree among the trees of the forest, so is my beloved among the young men. With great delight I sat in his shadow, and ...