Rising Above with Becky Davidson

Listen as Becky and Kim talk about their favorite parts of the By the Brook Retreat for special needs moms each year AND the ways we've modified it this year to be accessible to you wherever you are! Lots of curve balls have been thrown into 2020, but we can honestly say we're as excited as ever about what God is going to do through By the Brook Virtual this year. We hope you will join us online for this FREE retreat!

Sign up here!

Extra items for purchase:

By the Brook t-shirt

By the Brook Box with lots of fun and relaxing items inside

About Jolene

Jolene Philo is both parent and daughter of loved ones with special needs and disabilities, as well as a former educator who worked with children for 25 years. She’s written several books about caregiving, special needs parenting, and childhood PTSD, including Sharing Love Abundantly in Special Needs Families: The 5 Love Languages® for Parents Raising Children with Disabilities which she co-authored with Dr. Gary Chapman. She speaks internationally about caregiving and parenting children with special needs and blogs at www.DifferentDream.com Jolene and her husband live in central Iowa. 

Favorite Quotes

Let this time create empathy in you. May you see what our disability community lives with all the time and then you reach out to them as individuals and as a corporate church. -Jolene Philo

Don’t discount your experience and what you’ve learned. Share it. -Jolene Philo 

Related Links

Differentdream.com

Facebook page: A Different Dream for my Child

JolenePhilo.com

So many times, it is difficult for men to open up about their challenges and struggles, but as a special needs dad, it is so important to have a “band of brothers” who can relate to the unique challenges that come with raising a special needs child. This is a passion of our friend Eric Nixon.

About Eric

Eric lives in Pennsylvania and will be celebrating his 30 years of marriage this year to his wife Candy.  Eric and his family spent more than a decade living in hospitals with three sick kids at Children’s Hospital until all three children were diagnosed with a rare primary immune deficiency.

Additionally, Eric has been living with multiple sclerosis for the last 14 years. He rides every year in the MS City to Shore bike ride riding 50 miles from Pennsylvania to the Jersey shore. His wife Candy works at the Joni and Friends Pennsylvania office, and both of them have devoted their lives to helping others affected by disability. They both run individual and marriage support groups for individuals and couples affected by disabilities.

Related Links

No More Peanut Butter Sandwiches

Common Man, Extraordinary Call

Joni & Friends

Goodnight Superman - Jeff Davidson's blog about being a special needs dad

Find Eric on Facebook!

Rising Above Ministries

Enjoy this discussion with Kandra Benton about looking at the flip side. Despite challenges, Kandra makes the choice to look at the positives in life and get the most out of each day. During this time of social distancing, you will be encouraged and challenged to hear this perspective, and we hope you feel motivated to focus on the good things in your own life during this unique season.

About Kandra

Kandra Benton has been married to her husband Stephen for 18 years. They have three daughters and live outside of Nashville. Kandra is a homeschooling momma, connoisseur of all things taco related, slightly obsessed with Christmas and a lover of writing and words. She spends much of her free time writing about what the Lord is teaching her through raising her daughters and life around her. She loves to laugh and will do what it takes to make you giggle before she leaves your presence!

Dr. Joe and Cindi Ferrini have been married over 40 years, have 3 children (A son with special needs who lives with them and 2 married daughters and grandchildren living nearby in the Cleveland, OH area.) They have spoken nationally on special needs and with FamilyLife Weekend to Remember Get-A-Ways on the topic of marriage and family. They have written books individually and together, their most recent being "LOVE ALL-Ways: Embracing Marriage Together on the Special Needs Journey".

Related Links: 

Love All-ways book by Dr. Joe & Cindi Ferrini

See more:

My Marriage Matters on Facebook

www.cindiferrini.com 

Favorite Quotes: 

"The covenant relationship says that God brought us together for His purposes, and one of his primary purposes is to make us holy, not to make us happy." -Joe Ferrini

"We will have those moments and seasons where we will feel like we can't do it anymore- and that doesn't mean that something's wrong with you, [or] something's wrong with your marriage, it simply means that in that moment, you've had enough." -Cindi Ferrini

"We all need to have time for ourselves, for us as a couple, to really evaluate what’s important to us. And then to get up and do it again tomorrow morning." -Cindi Ferrini 

You will love hearing Becky Davidson share her story. Her marriage to her late husband Jeff was full of ups and downs, but through it all, their commitment to one another and their marriage stayed strong. 

Related Links: 

TWOgether Marriage Retreat Experience (coming February 14)

Rising Above Ministries

Redefine This Life

"There is no yet" blog

Read More:

No More Peanut Butter Sandwiches - By Jeff Davidson

Common Man, Extraordinary Call - By Jeff Davidson with Becky Davidson

Favorite Quotes:

“Go back in your mind to when you first met your spouse. Remind yourself of what it was. Why did you fall in love with them?.. Remind yourself of those feelings that you had.” - Becky

“We’re going to take 5 minutes a day to have this conversation, to have this connection.” -Becky

“There wasn’t anything hidden, there wasn’t anything to hide…” - Becky

"Hallmark Movies even make marriage and life and dates seem like this picture perfect, and that's not real. And that's not reality. If you are lining up what you think your marriage should look like based on some romantic movie…" -Becky Davidson

Tuesday, January 21, 2020

Enjoy this conversation with Dr. Steve Grcevich from Key Ministry as we learn more about mental health and how churches can respond to this important consideration.

About Dr. Steve Grcevich

Dr. Stephen Grcevich (MD, Northeast Ohio Medical University) serves as the President and Founder of Key Ministry. He serves the primary vision caster and spokesperson for the ministry and plays an important role in Key’s efforts to develop collaborations both within and outside the disability ministry movement with church leaders, other like-minded organizations and the professional community. Dr. Grcevich is a regular contributor for Moody Radio Cleveland and the ERLC (Ethics and Religious Liberty Commission of the Southern Baptist Convention) and is frequently invited to speak at national and international ministry conferences on mental health and other disability ministry-related topics. His first book, Mental Health and the Church, was published by Zondervan in February 2018. In addition to his ministry work, Dr. Grcevich is a child and adolescent psychiatrist who combines nearly thirty years of knowledge gained through clinical practice and teaching with extensive research experience evaluating medications prescribed to children and teens for ADHD, anxiety, and depression. He serves on the faculty of Northeast Ohio Medical University (NEOMED) and Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine, has been a presenter at over 35 national and international medical conferences and is a past recipient of the Exemplary Psychiatrist Award from the National Alliance on Mental Illness (NAMI).

Related Links: 

Key Ministry

Key Ministry Facebook

Inclusion Fusion Live

Dr. Steve Grcevich’s book: Mental Health & the Church

Favorite Quotes:

“One of the things that we suggest to churches: Put as many pictures and as much video up online…” -Steve G.

“Do we minister to people and provide them with the same kind of supports for mental health disabilities as what we would physical disabilities?” -Steve G.

Based on a Lifeway study: “What families impacted by mental illness most wanted from their churches was for their pastors to talk about it from the pulpit.” -Steve G.