Table of contents for Apr/May 2022 in Guideposts

The first face I saw walking into the Guideposts offices for my initial job interview was Amy Grant’s. She was on the cover that had just come out, a rising young music star and soon-to-be mother. I was duly impressed. Today Amy is a grandmother of three and still growing as an artist. This is her fourth appearance on the cover. We’re happy to have her back with a story about a health crisis that had threatened both her career and her life. April (though not May) is a bittersweet month for me, the month my mother lost her long battle with Alzheimer’s, a battle that was longer than we her family probably knew or perhaps were willing to admit, since denial is so much a part of how many…

Mike Rowe HOST OF DIRTY JOBS. AUTHOR. PRODUCER. Hardest thing you’ve ever done A painful breakup, a high-stakes audition, overcoming a stammer… Most things that felt very difficult at the time now seem like minor challenges. Best advice you’ve ever gotten “Duck!” What you do for your spiritual well-being First thing every morning, I walk six miles as fast as I can. I started this a few years ago for my physical well-being and lost 40 pounds. Then I realized it was good for my spirit as well. Fast walking is a great way to clear my head, catch up on a podcast and think very deeply about nothing at all. Q&A by Celeste McCauley. Find a longer version at guideposts.org/mike-rowe For more on this story, see FAMILY ROOM…

This is what the end stage of a gambling addiction looks like. I was alone in a tiny apartment in a suburb of St. Louis, Missouri. On TV, the football team I had bet on was about to lose. Not even the point spread was going to save me. That bet was the last of my money. I was broke. The apartment was bare except for a couch, a bed, the TV and a bookshelf with some books about gambling and a black leather Bible I’d never opened. I’d sold or pawned everything else. The air reeked of cigarettes. I was 29 years old. I’d been gambling since high school. Believe it or not, I worked at a casino, dealing poker. I’d been through countless rehabs. Declared bankruptcy. Alienated family…

NIA MOSTACERO One afternoon, Nia found her TV remote in her refrigerator. A few years ago, that would have sent the 46-year-old retired Air Force officer down a rabbit hole of fear. Was her early-stage dementia progressing? Her mind slipping away? Instead, Nia switched on her favorite show. “I don’t sweat the small stuff anymore,” she says. “When you have Alzheimer’s, every day is a blessing. The future? That’s in God’s hands.” Between volunteering at church, working out, reading her Bible and attending the young adult early-onset support group she founded, there’s not much time for relaxing. “You can still feel fulfilled with a dementia diagnosis,” Nia says. “Your life isn’t over.” Her attitude wasn’t always so sunny. Twenty years into her Air Force career, she found herself making errors…

Jeannie Hughes wasn’t at all prepared to deal with her husband’s terminal cancer diagnosis. They had never discussed financial or other practical matters concerning his care or what would happen after he passed away. The stress of not knowing how she would handle the future robbed Jeannie of the ability to enjoy the present with her husband. Though discussing the final years can be uncomfortable and highly emotional, having concrete plans can make a loved one’s end of life more positive and meaningful for the entire family in the long run. These tips from Home Instead can help you get started: Face your finances. The Hugheses eventually got help at the cancer center’s financial resource office. But putting finances in order earlier can quell common fears, such as being a…

Get Boost your spiritual wellbeing! Visit guideposts.org for web-exclusive stories, life advice, prayer tips, recipes and more. Watch Take a spiritual walk with Lou Dean (page 66) and experience the natural beauty of Dinosaur, Colorado. See how Lou experiences God outdoors and how you can too, no matter where you are. Check out our video at guideposts.org/lou-dean. Explore See why Hamilton, Missouri (page 30), is called the Disneyland of Quilting. Tour some of the town’s biggest attractions, like the Missouri Quilt Museum and the J. C. Penney Museum, in our exclusive video at guideposts.org/hamilton. Learn Randall Liberty (page 70) talks about how to recognize PTSD in our friends, family—even ourselves. Find out about common signs as well as ways we can help returning service members with PTSD. Watch the video…

I feel empowered in the spring. As the dark, cold days give way to bursts of sunshine and balmy weather, my resistance—to exercising, to cleaning my house, to seeking spiritual self-improvement—melts away. Hope is restored. I’m reminded of how the disciples lost their faith after Jesus was crucified. They gave up everything to follow him; after his death, they couldn’t move forward. Their dreams, like Jesus, were dead. We have all experienced dark days similar to this. The disciples claimed it was “nonsense” when Mary Magdalene told them that Jesus had risen from the dead. Do you too feel there are no words that can convince you that the promises of God are real? Maybe you don’t need words. Maybe it’s time to act. Here’s how I rebuild my faith…

It’s that time of year again—when people of all ages set up their window boxes and tramp out to their gardens. They turn the soil, poke a seed into the hole and cover it up. They water. They wait. They weed. All for the anticipated delight of a shoot, then a stalk, next a leaf and a bloom. Beauty bursts forth from the humblest of efforts, bringing nourishing vegetables and fragrant flowers. How delightful. And how like another process: prayer. Jesus put it like this: “When you pray, go into your room, close the door and pray to your Father, who is unseen. Then your Father, who sees what is done in secret, will reward you” (Matthew 6:6 NIV). With each step, Jesus sends his followers farther and deeper into…

Gas. Brake. Gas. Brake. My foot was starting to cramp from switching between the pedals. Typical for prime rush hour. My office was 30 miles from home. Before my first day, I’d mapped several routes. I discovered that no matter when I left or which route I took, my commute ended up the same—a total nightmare. Aggressive drivers, bumper-to-bumper traffic, construction delays. Evenings were the worst. After a long day at work, I wanted to relax, not inch along the highway while car horns blared. I’d taken to praying during my drive. I asked God for traveling mercies—the tranquility to stay calm and alert on the road, and safe pas-sage both ways. Still, month after month of the horrendous commute was wearing me down. I was stressed, having trouble sleeping…

Tell us about your grandmother Sadye Daggs. My grandma was the best grandma. She was all about family. She sacrificed for whatever her kids and her grandkids needed. She was always available. I had a special relationship with her, and I’m sure each one of my cousins thought that they had a unique relationship with her too. When I was a kid, I used to get pink eye and nosebleeds a lot in school. My mom and dad both worked during the day, so the person called to come get me was Grandma Sadye. That was a special time for just the two of us af ter she picked me up. I think she cherished having that time with me too. I got to learn who she was. She had…

“Grace always meets you exactly where you are, and then it doesn’t leave you where it found you.”ANNE LAMOTT, author “Loan people courage. Let people borrow your power, grit and confidence, not your fears, anxieties and doubts.”LUVVIE AJAYI JONES, speaker and author “The darkness I can’t change is side by side with the light of the Savior who changes everything.”from Lemons on Friday: Trusting God Through My Greatest Heartbreak, by MATTIE JACKSON SELECMAN, about the unexpected death of her husband “Negative thinking is a map of my fears, worries and doubts. Positive thinking is the path I draw on that map to find my way forward.”JACK TROTTIER, who was left paralyzed after a snowboarding accident, from his book, The Little Things: A Memoir of Paralysis, Motivation and Pursuing a Meaningful…

Are you a born storyteller? Do you want to help Guideposts inspire millions of people? Every two years, we select a small group of writers to learn from Guideposts editors how to write for our magazines, website, devotionals, books, newsletters and other publications and platforms. This could be your year! Send us a true, first-person story plus a cover letter telling us about yourself and any previous writing experience. If you have a blog, vlog or social media following, let us know. The applicants who show the greatest potential to become contributing content creators will work with our editors during an intensive week of instruction and story development this fall. The workshop class of 2020 is already contributing to our publications and website. Make this the year you join them!…

So they went out and fled from the tomb, for terror and amazement had seized them.… Mark 16:8 What would your reaction be if you went to the place where they had buried your beloved Lord and discovered the body was no longer there? The best news in the world can be so startling that we can’t embrace it at first. So it was for Jesus’ first followers. Two millennia later, the message of the Resurrection still takes me by surprise. Before singing those “Hallelujahs” at church, I find myself catching my breath. Then I utter the refrain: “The Lord is risen indeed!” Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! In his great mercy he has given us new birth into a living hope through the…

Do you believe in prayer? I do. This is my fourth story in Guideposts. The first time was back in 1986, when I was at the outset of my music career, a story about loneliness, part of a series Guideposts was doing on the subject. Loneliness was something many folks mentioned in their letters to Guideposts Prayer Fellowship. I wrote about how I use prayer to overcome loneliness when it strikes, and it strikes just about everyone at one time or another. Even Jesus was lonely in the Garden of Gethsemane. The next story, in 2005, was about giving and giving thanks, and how any act of generosity, no matter how small, truly makes a difference. My guiding prayer? “Lord, lead me today to those I need and to those…

Like Alzheimer’s disease itself, the caregiving needs of someone living with Alzheimer’s progress over time. The more that caregivers anticipate disease-related changes and learn about caregiving options and resources, the better prepared they’ll be to ensure their loved one remains safe while getting necessary care. “It’s important for caregivers to think about care as a continuum,” says Monica Moreno, senior director of care and support for the Alzheimer’s Association. “The average life expectancy following an Alzheimer’s diagnosis is four to eight years, but some individuals can live with the disease for up to 20 years. So it’s important for caregivers to reassess care decisions and options regularly.” Alzheimer’s typically progresses slowly in three stages: mild (early stage), moderate (middle stage) and severe (late stage). Because Alz-heimer’s affects people in different…

My husband, Roger, and I sat in his doctor’s office, waiting to hear the results of the biopsy of his left calf. “I’m afraid it’s Stage IV metastatic melanoma,” the doctor said. We’ve been married two months! I wanted to shout. He’s only 58! This was a second marriage for us both. God was giving us a second chance for happiness. Or so I thought. “What’s our next step?” Roger said. “We’ll keep you comfortable for the six months you probably have left,” the doctor said. The words shocked me to my core, even though Roger had already had dozens of lesions removed from his skin. He’d spent most of his life in the sun, due to construction work and water sports. While we were dating, he went through a…

THE THREE RULES OF LIFE Canon, my grandson, had always been a good student. Then the Covid-19 pandemic hit, and his school switched to remote learning. Without any classes in person and with minimal sport practices or games for more than a year, playing video games took over more and more of Canon’s time. Now that things were finally opening back up, his grades were suffering. “I just don’t know how to get through to him,” his mom told me. I was worried too. It seemed as if every time I went over, Canon was glued to his computer, headphones on, joystick in hand. He played all kinds of games, and his friends played too, meeting up with him online. Back before Covid, Canon’s baseball coach had taught the team…

Executive producer and host Mike Rowe (Positive Thinker, page 40) gets his hands dirty again in the latest season of his hit television show Dirty Jobs. Each episode follows Mike as he tackles jobs across America’s Badlands and bayous. Over the course of the season, he apprentices with water tower cleaners, escalator maintainers and rod busters—the workers who shape steel rods for concrete projects. Mike’s goal? To highlight these hardworking, unsung heroes whose jobs make our communities function. In 2019, Mike released The Way I Heard It, which features stories from his short-form podcast of the same name along with his insights. Mike runs the mikeroweWORKS Foundation, whose mission is to help people understand the impact of skilled labor, “who help keep our polite society humming along”; he also encourages…

DOORS OPENED In July 2011, GUIDEPOSTS published my story, The Reel Mower, about how I learned to slow down my busy life and savor each moment, such as smelling fresh-cut grass. A reader in Tennessee was so impressed, he googled me and hired me to edit a story written by a stranger with whom he shared an interest. The stranger, from California, hired me to edit several of his books. In 2017, we all finally met in Solana Beach, California. We had a great time and have been friends ever since. They have introduced me to new ideas and people and given me the opportunity to travel to unfamiliar cities and countries, including France, which I particularly appreciate. I’m so grateful my story has opened the door to new work,…