As the summer has ended and fall is in full swing, change is on our readers’ minds. Dottie M. Shaver shares a tremendous change in her life: how she quit smoking after 41 years. “It was not planned, nor was there any big countdown to the last smoke,” she writes. “It was surely divine intervention. The compulsion to smoke has been removed from me and I have not picked one up since.”
“God’s love inspires me to change,” writes Shannon Benningfield Hagan. Through prayer and faith, she feels equipped for the challenge.
Children continue to be a source of inspiration. Tina Zickefoose is grateful to be spending time with her son, who’s home from Afghanistan. And Lauren Ashauer Minello writes, “My boys inspire me. They teach me. They make me laugh. They are intuitive. They persevere. They fall down but get back up. They do not judge others. They forgive easily. They love Jesus but are not perfect.”
Our cover story by actress Kristin Chenoweth inspired Mindi Gusman.
Some might find their jobs tiresome or uninspiring, but not Shannon Kinsman-Wilson. “I work with the elderly and disabled. Their determination and positive outlook, even when facing major health issues, financial uncertainty and personal demons, is truly an inspiration.”
And finally, Kelly Marie Black is inspired by “God’s beautiful creation and the feel of fall!”
