Rocking my youngest child late one evening, I replayed the day. One filled with activity, conversations, and a few tears. We are in a hard season of life, I kept reassuring myself. These stages change, and things will smooth out. No one can be all things to all people all the time.

​Yet, I felt discouraged and worried. I had no idea how best to love my teenager with big feelings, nor did I feel confident connecting with my reserved ten-year-old. I worried I was reacting in anger rather than tenderly discipling toddler and preschool souls. As I moved back and forth in the rocker, my thoughts swayed back and forth between empty assurances that things would get better and condemning fears that I could mess everything and everyone up.

Over the next year, I became increasingly anxious as crises continued from my children, job struggles, loneliness, and discouragement.

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. 

Life is full of changes and things that don’t go the way we expect. That’s just part of it. I didn’t expect to move from one house to another in a foreign country with my family on the other side of the globe, but that is just how it goes sometimes.

Just because life doesn’t go my way doesn’t mean that it’s bad for me either. If we look at Scripture, there are many times that life didn’t go the way people planned.

Did Moses plan to live in Pharoah’s house and then cross the Red Sea and wander in the wilderness for 40 years?

Did Jeremiah plan to be known as the weeping prophet?

Did Mary plan to be the virgin mother of Jesus?

​Christian views on interracial marriage vary widely. Some believe it is a sin, while others believe it's perfectly acceptable.

​Those who believe it is a sin often cite passages from the Bible that they believe prohibit it. While others argue these passages are being misinterpreted.

We often find people emphasizing passages of the Bible promoting love and acceptance. Many consider these parts of Scripture significant when it comes to interracial marriage.

​But what does the Bible say as a whole?

Ultimately, the decision of whether or not to support interracial marriage is personal. Each of us must decide what we believe based on our own interpretation of the Bible and personal values.​

Hello, friend! Are you ready to begin your journey toward greater joy? Join us for our Summer 2023 Book Club-Style Bible Study. We're reading "Choosing Gratitude: Your Journey to Joy" by Nancy DeMoss Wolgemuth. This book challenges and equips us to live a life of gratitude.

What is gratitude? Gratitude is a choice. It is a decision to focus on the good things in our lives, even when things are difficult. When we choose gratitude, we are choosing to be happy and content. Why is gratitude important?

Gratitude has many benefits, including:

• Increased happiness and well-being
• Reduced stress and anxiety
• Improved physical health
• Stronger relationships
• Increased creativity and productivity

Hello, friend! Are you ready to begin your journey toward greater joy? Join us for our Summer 2023 Book Club-Style Bible Study. We're reading "Choosing Gratitude: Your Journey to Joy" by Nancy DeMoss Wolgemuth. This book challenges and equips us to live a life of gratitude.

What is gratitude? Gratitude is a choice. It is a decision to focus on the good things in our lives, even when things are difficult. When we choose gratitude, we are choosing to be happy and content. Why is gratitude important?

Gratitude has many benefits, including:

• Increased happiness and well-being
• Reduced stress and anxiety
• Improved physical health
• Stronger relationships
• Increased creativity and productivity

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. ​