Category: Elisabeth

2 Truths About the Beauty of Adoption

11/3/2023

November is the time of year when we pause to #givethanks. It's also National #Adoption Awareness Month. As an adoptive mother, I’m often asked about our story, what God has taught me, and other questions people are curious about. This November, I challenge you not only to consider the beauty of adoption and how you can help #adopting families but to also remember and thank #God for your status as an #adopted child in God’s family. There is nothing more beautiful than that! #Bible #Christian

November is the time of year when many of us pause to reflect and give thanks. It is also National Adoption Awareness Month. As an adoptive mother, I’m often asked about our story, what God has taught me, and a host of other questions that people are very curious to have answered. Becoming a mom through adoption has been a two-fold blessing.

It has given me the blessing of raising, loving, and nurturing our daughter.
It has deepened my understanding of the biblical doctrine of adoption — how God has loved me, pursued me, and made me His daughter.

In my short, five years of motherhood, God has driven two very important truths into my heart regarding adoption — both of my daughters and my own.

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5 Gospel-Centered Podcasts For Little Hearts & Minds

9/29/2023

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Over the last few years, I have become a big fan of podcasts, and I feel fortunate to have found several that I regularly look to as supplements for my spiritual walk and growth.

Biblically enriching podcasts are a wonderful blessing of our time. They allow us to connect with other believers, whom we may not otherwise ever meet on this side of eternity.

We can learn, be encouraged, and be challenged by the truths they share and the experiences through which God has grown them.

While they are by no means a replacement for the faithful teaching of a local church or our personal time in God’s Word, theologically sound podcasts are a wonderful addition to our pursuit of holiness.

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3 Important Truths About God We Should Cling To

8/25/2023

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Recently, my husband and I have been reading through the stories of the Bible with our daughter each night before her bedtime. Sharing these biblical accounts has not only been beneficial to her, as she is beginning to understand and connect the stories of the Bible, but it has also helped me to see them in a new light through the fresh eyes of my child. The last few weeks have found us chronicling Israel’s Exodus from Egypt and the years they wandered in the wilderness before finally entering the Promised Land. This period in the life of God’s chosen people is marked by a repeated pattern—one even our young daughter quickly picked up on.

God would deliver or provide for Israel in a miraculous/powerful way.
The people would be momentarily grateful for His deliverance and provision.
When the difficulty presented itself, the people would complain, leading to sin.

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A Prayer for the Broken-Hearted

7/28/2023

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The pain, the void, and the uncertainty -- as there are questions for those left behind that remain unanswered. I’ve cried countless tears, not only to have lost a friend but for his family, who are as dear to me as my own. When #tragedy strikes and the unimaginable happens, it feels impossible to think, to #pray. The words just cannot come, and if they do, they don’t do justice to what we're feeling and experiencing. Praise the Lord that He understands us even when don’t understand ourselves.

This past week my husband and I received some soul-crushing news. A dear friend of ours had ended his own life. While we knew that he had wrestled over the years with seasons of depression, most people would never have guessed that he had any such struggle.

He was one of the kindest, most effervescent, and most selfless people I’ve known. He loved the Lord and his family. He faithfully served the Church. But away from watchful eyes and in the private spaces of his heart and mind, he struggled. He fought until the very end to try to overcome the darkness and depression, clinging to His faith and Scriptures such as Psalm 143.

To say that his family and friends are gutted, not only to have lost him but in such a way as this, is an understatement. There are no words. For the past days, even now, it is all I can think about.

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Cultivating Fruitful Habits of Grace: The Church

6/30/2023

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Welcome to the 3rd and final post in our series called “Cultivating Fruitful Habits of #Grace.” In this series, we look at 3 spiritual disciplines--the core of Christian life and the primary tools the Holy Spirit uses to grow & sanctify us. We've examined habits of biblical meditation & prayer. Today, we'll consider what it means to love God’s Church and practical ways to dedicate ourselves to it. The Church isn’t a place to be entertained or a facilitator of social justice. What is the #Church?

Welcome to the third and final post in our series called “Cultivating Fruitful Habits of Grace.” In this series, we are looking at three spiritual disciplines that are the core of our Christian life and are the primary tools the Holy Spirit uses to grow and sanctify us.

So far, we have examined the habits of biblical meditation and prayer. Today, we will consider what it means to love God’s Church and practical ways to dedicate ourselves to it.

As we begin, let’s take some time to remind ourselves of some vital truths regarding the Church. The Church is not a building or a place. It isn’t a social club or activity center. It isn’t simply a religious tradition or a self-help group. The Church isn’t a place to be entertained or a facilitator of social justice.

So, what is the Church?

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Cultivating Fruitful Habits of Grace: Prayer

5/26/2023

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Welcome to the second post in our series called “Creating Fruitful Habits of Grace.” In this series, we are looking at three spiritual disciplines that are the core of our Christian life and are the primary tools the Holy Spirit uses to grow and sanctify us. In last month’s post, Cultivating Fruitful Habits of Grace: Meditation, we examined the spiritual habit of Biblical mediation. Today, we will be focusing on the discipline of prayer.

To begin, let us remind ourselves of two important truths. First, the purpose of habits of grace. Habits of grace are not a means of gaining God’s approval or affection. He loves us with an everlasting and unconditional love, not based on our merit, but rather on His matchless character. Our pursuit of these disciplines is an act of obedience and a means for us to know Him more deeply and love Him more fully.

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Cultivating Fruitful Habits of Grace: Meditation

4/28/2023

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Spiritual disciplines are practices that allow us to grow our #faith, deepen our relationship with #God, and reach others with His #Gospel. They are the daily practices that, if done effectively and authentically, make up the process of God’s sanctifying work in our lives. Studying and #meditating on His Word, meaningful #prayer, and being an engaged member of a local body of #Christ are tools God uses to shape our thoughts and actions to a greater likeness of the One we follow -- #Jesus Christ.

Back in January of this year, my husband, daughter, and I packed all of our belongings into storage and moved to Hawaii as my husband oversees a project here for work for most of this year. While we miss our family, friends, and church on the mainland, we have loved being here and feel incredibly grateful for this adventure! It has been a wonderful opportunity to live in a such beautiful place. But, it has also been a time where we have been pushed out of our comfort zone and stretched, especially culturally and spiritually.

We thank the Lord that we so quickly found a church family here in Hawaii that has warmly welcomed us and sought to love and serve us as we have transitioned to island life. Our pastor here recently finished a series on Godly habits that has really impacted the way I think about spiritual disciplines.

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2 Truths About the Beauty of Adoption

5 Gospel-Centered Podcasts For Little Hearts & Minds

3 Important Truths About God We Should Cling To

A Prayer for the Broken-Hearted

Cultivating Fruitful Habits of Grace: The Church

Cultivating Fruitful Habits of Grace: Prayer

Cultivating Fruitful Habits of Grace: Meditation

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2 Truths About the Beauty of Adoption

5 Gospel-Centered Podcasts For Little Hearts & Minds

3 Important Truths About God We Should Cling To

A Prayer for the Broken-Hearted

​Cultivating Fruitful Habits of Grace: The Church

Cultivating Fruitful Habits of Grace: Prayer

Cultivating Fruitful Habits of Grace: Meditation

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Cultivating Fruitful Habits of Grace: The Church