Adapted from Edward Grinnan’s Editor’s Note for the December 2018 issue of Guideposts. If you’d like to subscribe, click here.
What is Christmas about if not family? Guideposts is full of new stories with this great and compelling theme.
You would think Rashad Jennings, retired All-Pro running back for the New York Giants and 2017 winner on Dancing With the Stars, had done enough in his life to win the approval of his father. Yet Rashad strove to gain that approval. Only his faith, not his accomplishments, sustained him through years of semi-estrangement. Here’s how the two men finally reconciled and about the relationship they enjoy today.
And here is Alicia Reisinger, who struggled with perfectionism until she had a daughter with a birth defect. That struggle led to the creation of a thriving business inspired by her grandmother’s love of candles.
In Martha, My Dear, Carlen Maddux takes us through the heart-breaking but ultimately uplifting journey he and his family endured when his wife, Martha, was diagnosed with early-onset Alzheimer’s. Carlen sought and eventually found spiritual growth amid the pain.
Senior Editor Jim Hinch wraps up our editorial series on addiction and recovery. He notes that addiction is often said to be a family disease by virtue of the addict’s impact on all those who are close to him. Jim shares that his own family has not been spared.
And then, there is Mary and Joseph at the birth of Jesus. Is not that family at the manger, which we celebrate at this time of year, truly the most important family of all? Merry Christmas, everyone.
