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For the Love of Mothers and Others
If upon meeting you for the first time I asked, “Who are you?” How would you answer? (Para español, lea abajo.) Perhaps you’d say: I am a teacher. I am a student. I am a wife. I am a business owner. I am a missionary. I am a homemaker. With the recent celebration of Mother’s Day, you might also identify with one or more of the following: I am an expectant mother, a new mother, an adoptive mother, a single mother, a stepmother, a divorced mother, an empty-nester mother, a widowed mother, a grandmother, a mentoring and disciple making, spiritual mother, I am a caregiver of my mother. Research A…
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The Importance of Pronouns
Recently, I discovered an important lesson in the book of Lamentations from my Bible Study Fellowship (BSF) questions. Upon observing the pronouns used in the different chapters of Lamentations, some things became clear in chapter 3 that impacts my life and how I live. Most scholars consider Jeremiah to be the author of Lamentations. So, in Lamentations 3:1-20, the pronouns “I” and “me” refer to Jeremiah. These particular pronouns occur 30 times in the first 20 verses of chapter 3. Furthermore, “my” occurs 18 times in these verses. The references to God in verses 3:1-20 focus on retelling the devastation Jeremiah has experienced from God’s hand. In summary, in the…
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End Times: I Wish We’d All Been…Discipled
I’ve seen and heard my colleague Dr. Mike Svigel, who teaches eschatology at the premillennial dispensational seminary where I also teach, say, “If your eschatology leads you to fear the antichrist rather than to hope in the Christ…or to hate unbelievers rather than to love your enemies…then get a new eschatology.” Can I get an amen? Abigail Dunlap, a Millennial friend, grew up with a family member steeped in the former sort of end-times focus to which Dr. Svigel is referring, so I invited her to write a guest-post adding her voice to the active end-times conversation (recently seen here, here, and here): The American evangelical church of the 1980s and 90s can…
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Are You Ready for Perseverance in Your Life?
Is something going on somewhere in your country, town, neighborhood, or family that has someone upset, nervous, or in panic mode? It might even be even you! Cancer. Disaster. Job loss. Death. Enemy attack. If you like to plan and control your environment so that your loved ones (and yourself) can rest, relax, and be productive, these interruptions to life are very hard to bear. What do you do? Do you try to escape to something that makes it go away for a while—a feel-good movie, book, or a retreat? But then you get back to the rough-and-tumble of real life and find that whatever is stressing you is still…
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The Greatest of The Big Three is Love
During February we emphasize love. Even though Hallmark has turned love into a marketing campaign Scripture agrees that it is worth celebrating. And now these three remain: faith, hope, and love. But the greatest of these is love. 1 Corinthians 13:13 Since the big three* are often grouped together, we can’t speak of love without its companions—faith and hope. The Apostle Paul describes how they intersect when he greets the church at Colossae: We heard about your faith in Christ Jesus and the love that you have for all the saints. Your faith and love have arisen from the hope laid up for you in heaven, which you have heard…
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The Treasure We Give Back
All of us have something we value above all else. Something we can’t live without. Something that gives us a sense of importance or hope. What can we learn from a woman labeled with capital SHAME who relinquished the treasure she was saving?
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The Story of 12 Years
We all face times of pain, uncertainty, and despair. And Jesus shepherds His daughters through the dark valleys, step by step. Here’s the story of two female lives running parallel for 12 long years: one growing in family, love, laughter, joy, and hope for the future. The other declining in sickness, isolation, financial ruin, fear, and hopelessness. Both experience spiritual healing, renewed life, and eternal hope through faith.
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A picture of healing and hope from the Master Gardener
Today I am honored to feature the heart of my friend Laney Wooten. Laney lives outside of Longview, Texas. She is a wife to Jon and a mother to 8 children. Laney is a worship leader, gardener, homeschool Mom and a faithful follower of the Lord. In the years I have known Laney she has lost a father, released a special needs son to full time care, parented a second child through special needs and walked through adoption and trauma. She invites you in on her most recent journey through loss, grief, and healing. I pray her vulnerability will inspire you to visit the neglected spaces in your own heart…
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But… God
Mental health has taken center stage because people still struggle in a “not normal” new normal. Our mental dialogue can actually drain us of positive outlook and both mental and physical strength. How do we disempower our insecurities?
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Set Aside Your Mourning Clothes––A Prayer Exercise
The last two years have been a time of prolonged loss, anxiety, and uncertainty for many of us. And whether or not we remember when we put on our mourning clothes, many of us struggle with when we should take them off. How do we know?
