Introduce yourself

Alethea Skinner · 2022-08-29T13:36:04.424Z

We'd love to get to know you better. Take a moment to say hi to the community in the comments.

Forum

Welcome to the Forum

The Forum is the place “by the fireplace” where we can sit and chat about the things we are concerned about. We ask questions and seek prayerful answers to life’s issues presented on this site. In this forum, we seek truth and are respectful of each other. If you have something that is of a private nature or that is not covered in the site content that you wish to discuss, email me at cruciblecreations@gmail.com and the discussion will remain private and confidential.

What is your Crucible?

Female Crucible

I am a woman and that is a crucible. Why and how could that possibly be considered a crucible? It certainly was not God’s plan for women when Eve was created.

Yet, throughout recorded history, womankind has generally been treated as a subspecies, as property, whose primary function was to keep the species going and do the bidding of the males around her

Button

Caregiver Crucible

If you are a parent, not just someone who has a child with whom you share DNA, you are a caregiver.

That’s a reality parents just accept.

Caregiving for mothers begins the moment we know we are pregnant. For fathers, it begins the moment he gets the news, “I’m pregnant!” “We’re pregnant!” “We’re going to have a baby!”

Button

Divorcee Crucible

Today, who would think being a divorced woman would be a crucible she would need to learn to thrive in?

Divorce is a common occurrence, even within church communities—communities that tended to frown on it in the past.

Why/how could being divorced even be considered a crucible today?

Button

Parenting Disabled Adults Crucible

My first baby was a preemie who contracted cytomegalovirus while in the neonatal intensive care unit. It left her with neurological and developmental problems. I adjusted to that as I learned about her condition. Over 20 years later, I became the intentional parent/caregiver of three children who were expected to have special needs.

Since I planned for these babies, why did I seem so overwhelmed? I had raised a special needs child, had special training in special education, and fostering children who were affected by prenatal substance abuse, yet I so often felt lost.

Why? Why was I struggling?

Button

Let's Talk

Mission

“The Crucibles” exists to help individuals realize everyone lives in heated vessels that change us. We seek to guide the process from surviving to thriving in life’s crucibles—one person at a time.

No one is alone in the Refiner’s fire

Vision

Our vision is to be the place where the wounded receive more than an emotional bandage; to be a community where people come to be heard, to obtain compassionate support, and find help as they seek healing.

Our vision includes the ability to provide funding for respite care to cancer caregivers and revenue to support the ministry of The Crucibles.

Ministry

Why Devotional Thoughts? To share my meditation and learning from a particular text that day and give readers something to contemplate. I share them in the hope that those reading will do a study of their own to add to their understanding of the verse.