Conversations With Cinthia

Things that hurt an adult can devastate a child, and children need adults to put them back together (though we know they don't always get that help).  When our bodies and lifestyles have matured past childhood but left our emotions behind, we adults can function in much the same way -- being harmed by things that should only hurt, needing others to repair and manage them, etc.  Cinthia continues this series on becoming all that we were meant to be by helping us look at approaching hurt as emotional adults instead of grown-up-bodied children.  She explains the differences among being dependent, independent, and interdependent, and explains how this impacts the level of devastation we experience when other people make decisions that hurt us.  Life hurts sometimes, but you don't have to keep experiencing it as a helpless child.  Join Cinthia to keep learning, growing, and growing up.

You don't have to have had a perfect childhood to become an emotionally healthy adult, but sometimes it takes more work than we expected. None of us had perfect childhoods; for one thing, we were all reared by human beings.  Sometimes we think we matured because our bodies became adult bodies.  Maybe we lost our innocence or "grew up too fast" or became jaded, and we assumed that meant we had at least achieved emotional adulthood.  But the fact is that these things don't really produce emotional maturity.  Too many of us walk around in adult bodies doing adult tasks and functioning without the good parts of childhood, such as childlike faith, but with actual emotional functioning that would be more appropriate to children.  Join us as Cinthia explains what it truly means to be an emotional adult and continues a two-week series on how to become more of what you were meant to be.  

Do you ever find yourself thinking that other people don't hurt the way you do?  That some people have lives that just work while yours often doesn't?  Pain is inevitable, and managing it well is imperative if we are going to live as the best versions of ourselves.  Join Cinthia to explore what it means to accept that pain is part of life and that there are ways to deal with it as the best versions of ourselves.

Yesterday, Cinthia introduced three basic concepts that are key to becoming the people we were meant to be:  First, You are alive for a reason.  Second, you can affect change in yourself and the world around you.  Third, pain is inevitable but can be effectively managed so that it results in gain instead of being useless.  Today, she explores these in more depth.  Do you ever find yourself doubting these ideas?  Do you try to control the world around you because you don't know how to manage yourself?  Do you ever find yourself blaming yourself or everyone else but not knowing what steps to take next? Cinthia continues introducing the heart of the show and the topics that will inspire all the others as she continues the new daily format.

After two days with Pastor Leslie Martin, who taught the Bible in this daily radio time slot for fourteen years, Cinthia continues introducing listeners to the intentions for this new daily format for her show.  She explains what it means to "be your own best version" and discusses the three basic tenets by which she helps people move toward self-management: First, you are alive for a reason.  Second, you can move toward change in yourself and the world around you.  Third, pain is inevitable, but we can effectively manage pain so that it results in gain instead of occurring in vain.  You don't have to live in survival mode, and there is a God Who cares enough to keep His arms around you through the process.  What is standing between you and what you were created to be?

Today Cinthia and Leslie continue passing the baton, transitioning from Leslie's fourteen years of ministering in this radio time slot to Cinthia's.  Change is never easy, even when it's good, and these two friends are spending two days helping listeners transition well from Leslie's Bible teaching to Cinthia's teaching as a Christian psychotherapist.  How do we end things well when it's time to go?  How do we begin with strength on a new endeavor?  How do we pass on the mantle when God calls us to move somewhere else?  These two model a transition discussion that covers lots of topics and biblical insight.  Leslie cites II Timothy, which Paul wrote as he moved toward a looming death sentence that would take him Home by way of Nero's court, and Cinthia offers an analogy that encourages cooperating with God's sifting process instead of continually retreating.  

Today Cinthia branches out from the weekly show to begin this daily version!  She is joined by Pastor Leslie Martin, an old friend Cinthia greatly respects who also occupied this time slot until recently.  The two discuss what it means to deal with the grief and loss associated with change - even good change - while also trusting that God is with us as we face it.  Cinthia and Leslie also discuss the difference between guilt and shame and the way that Jesus's death and resurrection cover both.

Today best-selling author Tim Cameron joins Cinthia for a discussion of his book 40 Days Through the Prayers of Jesus: A Journey to Pray More Like Christ.  Mr. Cameron explains that he determined to learn more about prayer during an illness that he thought would be terminal.  Although he read extensively on prayer, he continued to struggle in his own prayer life until he began focusing on the prayers of Jesus while He was on earth.  Mr. Cameron now discusses busyness as what diverts our time from prayer and worldliness as what diverts our attention.  He talks about prayer as the way we get to know the Holy Spirit, learn to have unity with one another, and engage in spiritual warfare.  Refreshingly, he also emphasizes that we can learn to pray, no matter how old we are or how much we struggle.  Join him and Cinthia to rethink the purpose of prayer, the approaches we often take, and what Jesus showed us about the needs of human beings to pray.