At the Well: September 2012

Friday, September 14, 2012

Drug Free: My Journey to Freedom

By Berneita Barnes

On January 9, 1990, I entered treatment. I had finally come face to face with the fact that I was a drug addict.

I had three children and no place to call home. I had been living in abandoned buildings. I had no job, no prospects and no education.

At my lowest point, I begged, borrowed and stole just to fulfill the yearning and urges that came with using cocaine. Begging, borrowing or stealing weren’t enough on some days to fulfill the need to get high. When there was nothing left in the house to sell, I sold myself.

My father took me to the place in Chicago where I would be questioned and examined and finally taken to another place where I would spend the next six months of my life reshaping and finally learning who Berneita really was.

To read more, click on the photo and read the full article in The Well Magazine Summer 2012

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The Well Magazine Summer 2012

Encouragement. Enlightenment. Edification. Inspiration. The Well magazine is dedicated to to encouraging, enlightening, edifying and inspiring others through the power of God’s Word and sharing our stories.

Friday, September 7, 2012

From the Editor: Free

Free.

Free. It’s such a beautiful word. It is the opposite of bondage. Not under the control of someone or something. Liberty.

Wars are fought for freedom. There is a longing deep inside of us to be free.

God wants us to be free.

God wants us to be free in Him. Free from fear. Free from addictions. Free from the circumstances that keep us bound and not living up to our full potential and purpose. Free in our minds. Free in our bodies from disease and bad health. Free in our relationships. Free in our finances. But most important free from sin.

For years, I’ve been a prisoner of fear. I have been a prisoner of the fear of failure, others expectations, opinions and approval.

I believe fear is one of our greatest enemies and greatest obstacles. As President Franklin Delano Roosevelt famously said when the nation prepared to face its enemies in World War II, “We have nothing to fear but fear itself.”

Want to read more? Click on the photo to read The Well magazine.

The Well Magazine--Summer 2012

A Place of Encouragement, Englightenment and Edification

At the Well is a place where you can come and draw from the well of God's word and receive encouragement, enlightenment and edification to make it through this journey called life. On At the Well, you will find regular devotionals that include application to help you not only be a hearer of the Word but also a doer. Our regular feature, "Turning Point" features testimonies of men and women who, like the Samaritan woman, have had life-changing encounters with the Savior. The "View from the Well" section features information and articles on subjects from politics and finances to health and relationships. It also includes essays, opinion pieces and thought-provoking questions.

Click here for the complete Welcome to At the Well

Maafa Remembrance

This stained glass window is located in the New Mount Pilgrim Baptist Church on Chicago's West Side. The window is based on a painting by Tom Feelings entitled ''Maafa Remembrance.'' Maafa, a Swahili word pronounced may-AH-fah, means unspeakable horror and is used to refer to the horrors of the trans-Atlantic slave trade, just as Holocaust is used to refer to the deaths of millions of Jews at the hands of the Nazis.

The ship is personified in the Christlike figure of an African man. His muscular, chain-draped arms are outstretched. His body, from his torso to his calves, is the pit of a ship, drifting across the Atlantic Ocean with a cargo of men and women, sardine-packed and bound for slavery.

At the Well

SPEAKING

Friday, September 14, 2012

Drug Free: My Journey to Freedom

Friday, September 7, 2012

From the Editor: Free

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