God’s Image Reflected in Motherhood

               What is a woman? In a post-Christian world, this query apparently stumps many who have spent their lives studying medicine and biology. However, my preschool and kindergarten friends understand perfectly what a woman is. Many little girls show me their baby dolls and excitedly tell me their plans to grow up to be a …

Prioritizing Worship When Life Is Hard….And When It Is Good.

If you have ever entered church, barely putting one foot in front of another because of the swirl of out-of-your-control circumstances going on in your life, you have prioritized worship over fear of the unknown. If you have ever chosen to make your reason for going to church God alone, amid church hurt, you have …

I Nearly Died in the Wilderness

Birthdays have a way of making you reflect on your life. The bigger the number, the fewer birthdays are left to have in the future. This week, I thought that with how close Jesus’s return is, this very well could be the last one I celebrate. If so, what would I want to share as …

Casting Burdens

I am away from my computer this weekend, but this thought so encouraged me this week, I wanted to share it with you. I hope it encourages you as much as it did me. There are burdens in life that are so heavy, we must seek God’s help to carry them. The longer we attempt …

Turning Trials into Triumph

Corrie Ten Boom’s story resounds generations beyond her own. Yet, it is not Corrie’s story alone, for it was her sister Betsie who often encouraged her when Corrie had no will to continue in the pit of Ravensbrück. Together they dreamed of the day God would use their story to encourage others who suffered the …

Faith and Worship are Action Words

5 And Abraham said unto his young men, Abide ye here with the ass; and I and the lad will go yonder and worship, and come again to you. Genesis 22:5                The very first time the word “worship” is used in the Bible is here, when Abraham prepares to lead his long-awaited son up …

Interceding for the Next Generation

Jacob’s story of wrestling for a blessing has always intrigued me. Why did he wrestle at this crisis point? What was he asking for? Why did God include this in Scripture for generation after generation to read? And Jacob was left alone; and there wrestled a man with him until the breaking of the day. …

Effective Prayer

One of my classes required me to read a book that is out of print, but well worth reading—“Effective Prayer” by J. Oswald Sanders. It has encouraged, convicted, challenged, and instructed me on the topic of prayer. Because of its influence, prayer was the subject of one of the classes I taught this week, which …

Worship: In Marriage

A recent conversation with a missionary with more than three decades of experience discussed the sad state of Christian marriages. More than anything, he has seen marital conflict derail and destroy those who came to share the Gospel in his country as new missionaries. Their inability to solve conflict sent them home, many of them …

Worship: Adorned with Grace

Small children in Christian schools can be so hilarious. As a class lined up in opposition for a fierce, fake snowball fight last week, the “L” sign on the forehead with the accompanying taunts of “Loser” came out in full force. As the children’s PE coach, I asked the ringleader what the Bible said about …