Engage
-
The In-House Holy Spirit
The concept of in-house came to my mind as I was contemplating the Holy Spirit this week. “In-house, or insourcing, is a term used in business to describe the utilization of internal sources rather than outsourcing for activities.”[1] Advantages of in-house as opposed to outsourcing include: less time to understand issues and the way the organization works; better comprehension of the organization’s history and atmosphere; and escalated trust which increases knowledge sharing.[2] Clearly, the Holy Spirit is in-house for every believer (John 14:17; 1 Cor 6:19); yet, His presence and activities are largely ignored.[3] In comparison to a business in-house in the preceding paragraph, the Holy Spirit exhibits the following:…
-
Smart, fun, generous…and difficult—my mom died one year ago
How God is way ahead of us and with us in the Valley of the Shadow It’s been a year since I’ve regularly posted here. After Mom’s death I needed time to process. Grieve. Reflect. Rest. I didn’t intend to pull back this long. One thing that has drawn me back: I’ve wanted to tell the story of how amazingly God provided for us during her final three years fraught with vascular dementia. I’ve also wanted to encourage others on an all-too-common yet nearly impossible journey. Nothing really prepares you for the unimaginable twists and turns of caring for someone who has always been so sharp and fiercely independent, who…
-
Prepare for Academic Success this School Year with One Small Family Tradition that Yields Big Results
As we prepare for the school year, most schools kindly offer up a detailed list of the supplies our kids will need for classroom success. I appreciate my child being well prepared for the upcoming year, but I am also aware that many of my goals for them are not actually academic. Consider one simple part of your family routine that has big results for your student’s academic success; family meal time! While we are focusing on the academic career of our children, it can be easy to forget the integral role our family routines and home environments play in their overall stability and success. Family meal time is a…
-
Let Jesus satisfy your heart with His Love
How confident are you that Jesus loves you? Do you need assurance that He loves you? You might think that Jesus could not possibly want you because your life has been so messy or because someone has told you that you are not good enough for God to really love. The truth is that your heart need for love is real, and Jesus will satisfy your heart with the goodness of His love as you let Him do it. The Quest for Satisfaction Several years ago, my daughter and I were talking about the quest for satisfaction that drives women in our culture. From our experiences in ministry to women,…
-
Creating Space When Your Season Feels Too Full
Life only gets busier. People told me that in seminary. Moms said that to me in the newborn stage. I knew it was coming in the pre-k years. Now it’s here. With three young and growing kids, I spend my days running from one thing to the next. I struggle to create space for my soul to rest and reconnect with the Lord. So I’m getting creative. It’s a work in progress to be sure. But I know I need space. Here are five ways I’m creating it in a hectic season. Get up early. I know this one isn’t for everyone. If your children wake up at 6am or…
-
You are Free!
Most of us know that the world of the earliest Christians included slavery. The book of Philemon details the return of Onesimus. And elsewhere, Paul flips the usual household codes, addresses slaves directly (scandalous!), and tells masters they, too, have a master. But even more personally, Paul refers to all believers as manumitted from sin and free to become slaves of righteousness. Here are three examples from his letters: Romans 6:16-23 Do you not know that if you present yourselves as obedient slaves, you are slaves of the one you obey, either of sin resulting in death, or obedience resulting in righteousness? But thanks be to God that though you…
-
Why Can’t Barbie and Ken Rule Together?
“Let’s go see Barbie,” my daughter-in-law said in a moment of spontaneity on the movie’s opening weekend. We knew this Hollywood production would be silly and fun and full of nostalgia and bright colors. And it certainly delivered! But we weren’t prepared for a deep, profound, soul-searching look at patriarchy and women. [spoiler alert] In Barbieland “Stereotypical” Barbie lives a happy and accomplished life naively believing she has conquered every roadblock women face. But when she personally enters the real world (our world), she discovers that men ogle her and women hate her. Devastated, she learns that “she has been making women feel bad about themselves since she was invented.” On…
-
Historic Siblings Who Partnered in Ministry
During my flight to Italy for a seminary summer course, I looked again at a photocopy of an ancient mosaic of four women. In my pre-course research on the history of women in ministry, I happened upon this photograph of a ninth-century mosaic adorning a wall of an ancient basilica (church). While in Rome, I hoped to find the Basilica of Santa Prassede and to learn these women’s stories, two of whom were siblings who partnered in ministry. A God-Wink One steamy afternoon while the rest of our group toured the Colosseum in Rome, my professor Sandra Glahn joined me to search for the Basilica of Santa Prassede. Though Rome’s…
-
He is Bigger Still
The pediatric dentist had delivered bad news. Our son needed oral surgery on not just one or two teeth, but on multiple teeth. And given the extent of the dental work anticipated and our son’s medical history, the procedures would need to be done in a hospital and under anesthesia. I began reviewing the cost estimates the dentist’s office manager had given to me as my husband drove us home. Hospital operating room + anesthesiologist + dental work = big bills. And it wasn’t just about the additional medical and dental expenses. (Though those were sufficient stress alone.) It was also that, due our son’s other medical needs, he’d already…
-
How Not to Shepherd Visitors
Today I’m happy to welcome Aussie guest blogger Anna Stoyanoff. You can read her bio below. Have you ever felt like the only person in the room troubled by what someone is saying? Recently I had such an experience, looking around at the nods and thoughtful note-taking of others and thinking, Aren’t they hearing how disturbing this is? As I sat through training for ministry workers about what to do when visitors attend church, the speakers used Christian language: “We want to love them well.” They spoke a lot about being shepherds and caring for sheep. If only they’d described the kind of shepherd Jesus was…. Instead, they went on…
