Covering topics that impact today's Christian: family, marriage, raising kids, spiritual growth, forgiveness, etc.
He told them, “My soul is crushed with grief to the point of death. Stay here and keep watch with me.” (Matthew 26:38) I had the privilege of teaching the message at our church this past Sunday. The message was on Jesus’s prayer in the Garden of Gethsemane. I love this story. Oh, I know that might sound strange. After all, it’s not an uplifting passage, like the Sermon on the Mount or one that demonstrates Jesus’s mighty power, like
I clicked the button to confirm my account and the first question popped up: “What are your core values?” And I had to stop and think. I wasn’t expecting such a deep question from an app. I was working in my new goal tracking app, Lifetick, and thinking I would just enter in my goals for 2018 and a set a few deadlines and notifications and be done with it. But before I could do that, this app wanted to
It’s 10:30 p.m. and I’m exhausted. The kids have been in bed for an hour, and my husband is asleep on the couch next to me. I shut down the laptop, turn off the TV, and pick up the cordless house phone to put in the charger. I am aware that if I don’t remember to do this tonight we won’t have use of our home phone the next day because someone has used the other handset, forgotten to put
In the big picture, 90 days is just a tiny blip on the timeline of my life. A small fraction of the days I have spent here on earth, and hope to spend in the future. But when you’re in the midst of something really challenging, or when you’re waiting for something, 90 days can feel like an eternity. Ninety days ago I began an experiment, set-out on a small journey, to see what it would be like to practice
“God is within her, she will not fall; God will help her at break of day.” – Psalm 46:4 Recently I was looking at Facebook and a collection of my “September memories” popped up. At first glance, I smiled thinking about all the joy and special times that had come in September. But the reality is there were also a lot of not-so-great moments, struggles that left me feeling very depleted and scared. In late-August my son was diagnosed with
Have you ever had one of those weeks, or months, where you keep seeing the same message over, and over again? Usually when that happens to me it’s because God is trying to get a message across. And for the last several weeks it’s been all about a seed. A mustard seed, to be exact. How many of you have seen a mustard seed? It’s pretty small, right? Smaller than a 1 carat diamond, tinier than a grain of rice.
Last year I decided to do a 90 day thanks and giving challenge, in the weeks leading up to Thanksgiving. The day I started this challenge just happened to be the day before my son started a new medication. What followed was four of the hardest parenting weeks I’ve had in a long time. There were many days I faced my own limitations, fear, and anxiety as I struggled to help my son, seek answers, and trust the doctor. I
My face flushed and my heart started to race as I felt all eyes on me. The guy in line behind me gave a heavy, dissatisfied sigh, and the cashier trainer muttered to the trainee at the register, “welcome to summer.” I wanted to crawl in a hole somewhere and disappear. I was on vacation with my family and friends and had gone to the local grocery store to buy a week’s worth of food and supplies. I was distractedly
I believe there are two things in this world that can improve our attitude, inspire hope, create unity, and spread love more than anything else, and I’m challenging myself to be more intentional about both. They are genuine gratitude and generous giving. A few years ago I was inspired by a colleague to do a “100 Happy Days” challenge. What at first seemed like a fun exercise to focus on my blessings, turned into a real lesson on the power
Forty will be here in a few days. Something happens when you start approaching a milestone birthday like this one. You spend a lot of time in quiet introspection, contemplating where you’ve been and where you’re headed. True, it happens at other times, too. But as I conclude the final days of my 30’s I’ve been feeling a surge of what I can only describe as equal parts nostalgic joy and quiet anticipation. I take great pleasure in sentimental remembrance of all