What I Believe
I believe the Bible is God’s inspired Word. It is not merely a book about God but was breathed out by God Himself as He inspired men to write it (2 Tim. 3.16-17; 2 Pet. 1.21).
I believe in salvation by grace alone through faith alone in Christ alone (Eph. 2.4-9).
I also believe that when we have had a genuine salvation experience it will lead to changes in our hearts, our thinking, and the way we live. What the Bible calls the “fruit” of that changed life (Eph. 2.10).
And I believe that God’s Word has the answers to all the issues we face as we live life before God and with others (2 Pet. 1.2-4).
My Goal Here at Soul Survival
My goal is to share God’s Word in a way that makes it understandable and practical. And my prayer is that readers who may not know Him will enter into a relationship with the Living God and that believers in Christ will be helped to live in ways that increasingly please Him (2 Cor. 5.9-10).
How I Endeavor to Do That
At Soul Survival, I share about God, His Word, and His work in our lives. I like to call it “the Bible for real life.”
I write on a variety of Christian topics including: marriage, singleness, parenting, our emotions, counseling issues, spiritual growth, and much more. I, also, include posts that focus on good doctrine and its importance to our daily lives.
I do that in several ways:
The Bible Day by Day
These are the daily posts where I blog through the Bible in a year. But even if you only stop by occasionally, each day’s devotion stands on its own. And anytime we read God’s Word, it has the potential to impact our lives.
My decision to blog through the Bible started with my own journey in the Bible. That included many attempts and failures before I established a regular habit of reading through the Bible.
Some years later, I challenged the ladies in our women’s ministry to do the same. I committed to sending out a daily email to about 100 ladies to encourage them in that goal. But when the email list grew and became a bit unmanageable, I began sharing here at Soul Survival. Be sure to read this post explaining why I believe it’s so important to read through God’s Word regularly.
You can sign up here for these daily posts.
Christian Living Posts & Series
I’m a Biblical Counselor (Association of Certified Biblical Counselors). Counseling, discipleship, and helping people grow in their walks with God is my passion.
Biblical counseling is walking alongside someone in the area where he or she is struggling. It’s discipleship, part of the one-anothering we are all called to do as part of the body of Christ.
And like good books, theologically sound posts can help us grow in many of those same areas and prevent them from becoming counseling, relationship, or personal issues. That’s my goal with all of my posts.
Some of the Christian living posts and series you can currently find here are on handling emotions biblically, marriage, blended families, sin, homosexuality, and more.
5-Minute Devos
These are brief thoughts on a verse, subject, or concept, something to think about or chew on.
Book Reviews & Recommendation
Good biblically sound books allow us to walk with and listen to great men and women of God, both contemporary writers and the saints of the past. I’ll be reviewing even more of the ones that have blessed me and I recommend others in many of my posts.
Other Things
You’ll find a subject index (on the right side if you’re using a computer). Scroll down on your mobile device. Or search keywords in the search bar.
You can follow me on Pinterest, FaceBook, Instagram and/or Twitter.
But I hope you’ll sign up so you can receive them firsthand in your inbox. You might also like to check out our new sister site Joyful Marriage Ministries.
Freelance Writing & Editing
I also do freelance writing and editing. If you have a website, publish a newsletter, or need other Christian written material, I can help. Get more information by clicking the Freelance Writing tab at the top of the page or email me at donna.soulsurvival@yahoo.com.
And now for a little bit of my story.
My Story
I was raised in Southern California by way of Florida and Maine. I was the oldest of three children, growing up in a home that was loving and good in many ways … but not Christian. My father was what the world would call a “functional alcoholic.” As the oldest child and a good student, compliant by nature, that became my identity. THE GOOD GIRL.
I didn’t party, drink, or use drugs though they were easily available in the neighborhoods I grew up in, even in the ’60s.
Married at 17
Over my mother’s pleadings, I got married at 17. It lasted about 6 years when I did what everyone else in the ’70s was doing when they weren’t happy … I got divorced. All the magazine articles I read said my kids, a boy and a girl, would be fine. After all, if I wasn’t happy, they wouldn’t be either. They would adjust.
I was still a GOOD GIRL or so I thought. I still didn’t party or run around. As a single mom, I worked hard, sometimes 50-60 hours a week just to pay the bills. It was hard and after a while, I got involved with another man and eventually married him. Sometimes I think I was just tired of trying to keep it all together. I ignored all the red flags including a visit from his ex-wife!
Let’s just say the marriage was a disaster and leave it at that! But it pulled me farther down that spiral of sin talked about in Romans 1.
It took me three years to get a divorce because he simply ignored court orders and, instead, stalked me for much of that time. During those years, God’s grace was all around me though I wouldn’t recognize it until later!
By now I had a second little boy, so there were three kids to support. I was disillusioned and depressed. I decided like the Psalmist that being good had been a waste of time (Ps. 73.13). So I decided to start living as it seemed to me everyone else was doing.
God Was at Work
Though it didn’t look like it at the time, God was at work. In fact, my story is really “our story.”
So now let me tell you a little about my precious husband, Mike, and his story before I finish mine because the rest is so intertwined.
He was on a similar path. Two marriages, two divorces, and a precious little girl. He, too, had given up on marriage and being good. He had decided he was worthless and so he’d just work, do the things he liked to do, and try to support his daughter.
God’s Plan
God had another plan. But for now … we were still living life our way. So, we moved in together and started trying to blend our two families.
In the meantime, a friend of mine who was, at least in my mind, worse than me (how deceitful our hearts are!) called. She said she had started going to church and invited me to go with her. I declined, though nicely (still the “good girl”). And shortly afterward another acquaintance confronted me about our “living together” to which I took great offense.
But something was happening in my heart. You see as a little girl growing up in an unchurched family, I loved going to church. I would go with anyone who invited me and through the years visited many different churches with various friends.
If you take your kids’ friends to church, you may never know how the seeds you’re planting will impact their lives. A few years ago my husband performed a wedding for a young man we had taken to church as a teenager. That young man is now a youth pastor.
Back to Our Story
Soon my husband took a trip to Houston to visit his parents. While he was there, he went to church with his mom (a prayer warrior who had been diligently praying for her wayward son). When he came back and shared the experience, that childhood love for church came alive again. With some fear and trepidation, I asked him if he would consider going to church regularly.
The next Sunday we started visiting churches and soon started attending regularly. God got ahold of our lives over the next few weeks and we began to experience the conviction of the Holy Spirit.
We didn’t know much about the Bible, but we did know we shouldn’t be living together without getting married. There was only one problem, my ex-husband had, seemingly, dropped off the face of the earth without ever signing our divorce papers!
But we were finally able to convince a judge to grant me one without his participation. The first day I was free to remarry, we were at the courthouse!
God had been at work all along. But He had to let me go my own way so I would see that I wasn’t good! Romans 3.12 says, “… There is none who does good, no, not one.” I could not have seen my need for a Savior without seeing how sinful my own heart and choices were (Eph. 2.1-3).
40 Years Later
That was 40 years ago. We have had our ups and downs and struggles. Blending a family takes work and effort, as does a good marriage. But I can, honestly, tell you that our marriage is better today than it ever was at the beginning. We are more in love. We are best friends and enjoy nothing more than spending time together.
Mike has become a more godly husband than I could have ever imagined and, I hope, I continue to become the wife God wants me to be.
To think that God would use two messed up, broken people like us to do what we do is nothing short of miraculous!
Over the last 40 years, He has molded us (still a work in progress), taught us, trained us, worked in us some more, and allowed us to be in full-time ministry together.
Mike served for many years as a Counseling & Discipleship Pastor. I’m certified as a counselor through the Association of Certified Biblical Counselors (if you would like to find a biblical counselor in your area, you can visit their website) and together we ran a biblical counseling ministry with four full-time staff members and a dozen or so volunteer counselors.
Never Retired
We have since retired from full-time ministry and God has led us to another church, but we still counsel and share God’s Word. We should never really retire from serving God. And we have a marriage ministry where we lead marriage conferences and retreats.
Mike and I love to help other couples, families, and individuals come to enjoy life God’s way. Some people are surprised that God would use a couple with four divorces between them to do marriage counseling. But we know better than anyone the difference between doing life and marriage God’s way and living our own way.
In fact, couples sometimes come to us, thinking that since we have been divorced, we’ll agree that it’s the best thing for them, too. They are often surprised to learn that we believe the opposite is true and will work hard to help them realize it, as well.
I also have a passion to share God’s truth and principles through writing. I have written for Christian magazines on subjects such as parenting and grand-parenting, prayer, journaling, missions, and marriage. And I have written in this space for eleven years now.
How This Blog Started
About fourteen years ago, I was also leading my church’s women’s ministry. I challenged the ladies to begin reading through the Bible. I told them if they would commit to it, I’d send out a daily email with some thoughts about my daily Bible reading. Over a hundred women signed up that first year.
The next year more signed up and many of the original participants continued. Pretty soon 300 or more were receiving the daily emails.
In 2012, I launched this blog to simplify that process. Each year, I have edited and fine-tuned those posts. You’ll find them under the category “God’s Word Day by Day.”
Blessings as you grow in Christ,
Donna ♥
