Category: Tips for Coping with Divorce

You’re probably telling yourself that it is impossible to transition from marriage to divorce easily and I would have to agree with you. However, many of us make things harder than they need to be. Here are 10 tips to make the transition easier.
Continue reading “How to Make the Transition of Divorce Easier”

Don’t loneliness drive you to make bad decisions simply because it’s that time of the year again.

It’s that time of year again, Valentine’s Day, where lovers come together and exchange flowers, presents, candy, loving words and greeting cards (otherwise known as valentines).

Brief History on Valentine’s Day

Bishop Demetri of the Orthodox Research Institute, states that “St. Valentine was a priest near Rome around the year 270 A.D, a time when the church was enduring great persecution. His ministry was to help the Christians escape this persecution, and provide them the sacraments, such as marriage, which was outlawed by the Roman Empire at that time.” St Valentine was persecuted as a Christian and interrogated by Roman Emperor Claudius II in person. Claudius was impressed by Valentine and had a discussion with him, attempting to get him to convert to Roman paganism to save his life. Valentine refused and tried to convert Claudius to Christianity instead. Because of this, he was executed. Before his execution, he is reported to have performed a miracle by healing Julia, the blind daughter of his jailer Asterius. The jailer’s daughter and his forty-four member household (family members and servants) came to believe in Jesus and were baptized.
Continue reading “Love is in the Air”

Madalyn (my 8-year-old) loves to play with our neighbor’s little girl. I am always surprised that they argue so much and tend not to want to share, but at the end of the day, they still want to hang out together. When Madalyn is in bed, I tell her she should be nicer and ask why she was so mean. Of course, she says, “I don’t know, just sometimes I am mean.” Hmmm. I get to thinking how often I would tell her how great she is doing and say, “You are so much like your dad.” But when she acts out and is mean someone else says, “You are so much like your dad.” And you know what? They are probably right. I get the good and the bad.

I don’t think everyone can live a life as a full-time peacemaker, but at times we all have to do some peacemaking. If you are faced with divorce with children, it can be hard to want to take the high road and be the peacemaker. Too often it feels better to simply avoid the problem or just give in to the other person hoping the problem goes away but neither of these options resolves the conflict.
Continue reading “Stepping Stones to Peacemaking”

Divorce has a way of isolating a person from the very things that may help them recover. Many people find themselves ashamed, embarrassed and feeling like failures that they often hide the fact they are going through a divorce. Instead of reaching out for help they withdraw from society or try to keep so busily that they never have to think about it.

It has always amazed me that there are countless support groups addressing various problems people have. Quitting smoking, losing weight, sex addiction, drug addictions, suicide prevention and so on but there aren’t that many programs out there that embrace people going through a divorce. I am not talking about marriage counseling. Instead, I am referring to being able to overcome and cope with the destructive nature of divorce and for those families with children, learning how to parent from two separate households. With a quick search on the Internet, it is estimated that nearly 1,000,000 divorces occur each year. That affects 2,000,000 adults and their children that are affected by divorce each year.
Continue reading “You Are Not Alone”