Category: Family Life

Choosing Gratitude: Week 5

7/4/2023

There are unmistakable differences in the personalities and temperaments of those with whom we do life. The extrovert vs. the introvert, the planner vs. the spontaneous, the thrifty vs. the spender. These differences can drive us crazy, but they also add the balance and spice to our lives that is needed. One spice we can do without though is the whiner--he complaining spirit. I rarely throw away a spice, but the whiner in me must go. It cannot blend, it cannot coexist, with worship and gratitude.

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

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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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5 Ways to Pray in the Valley of Despair

5/19/2023

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I don't know if you've walked through the valley of #despair, friend, but if you haven't, you probably will someday. Maybe you are right there right now. Maybe today, your journey finds you in the valley. There's #hope there! I was once walked in the valley of despair, and who's to say I won't walk there again someday. What I found in that valley was 5 ways to #pray. Today, I want to share those 5 ways with you. #griefjourney #griefsupport #griefandloss #grieving #griefawareness #griefrecovery

I don't know if you've ever walked through the valley of despair, friend. But if you haven't, you probably will someday. Maybe you are right there right now. Maybe today, your journey finds you in the valley. There's hope there!

"When the righteous cry for help, the Lord hears and delivers them out of all their troubles. The Lord is near to the brokenhearted and saves the crushed in spirit. Many are the afflictions of the righteous, but the Lord delivers him out of them all. He keeps all his bones; not one of them is broken." Psalm 34:17-20

I was once walked in the valley of despair, and who's to say I won't walk there again someday. What I found in that valley was 5 ways to pray. Today, I want to share those 5 ways with you.

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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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Does God Want Me to Be Busy?

4/14/2023

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We celebrate Easter--when our hearts are tuned to the amazing Gospel story. For a while, everything that is truly important comes into focus as we picture the empty tomb. Then we dive back into our week where we juggle housework, grocery shopping, meal prep, a messy family, work projects, relationships, volunteer work, business meetings, church ministries, and a never-ending to-do list... In our culture, being busy is a bit of a bragging right. Busyness is what it takes to be an adult, right?

We recently celebrated Easter—a time when our hearts are turned back to the amazing Gospel story of Jesus.

For a little while, everything that is truly important comes into focus as we picture the cross and the empty tomb.

And then we dive back into our week where we juggle…

Housework
Grocery shopping
Meal prep
A messy family
Work projects
Relationships
Volunteer work
Business meetings
Church ministries
And a never-ending to-do list

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How the Resurrection Impacts Mamas Who’ve Lost

4/4/2023

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I recall standing over my #baby’s fresh grave. #Tears streamed down my face. Waves of #grief welled up inside. I laid carefully-picked blue and white flowers down and looked up to the same colored sky. This #pain is too great! #Jesus, come quickly! So often, our reaction to pain is for Jesus to take us out of it. But what if He doesn’t? Where is #hope if not found in relief? Hope is in Jesus. He is the One who endured unimaginable pain and conquered #death so we could have life and hope. #grief

I remember standing over my baby boy’s fresh grave. Tears streamed down my face as waves of grief welled up inside me, about to explode through my chest as great sobs.

I laid the carefully-picked blue and white flowers down and looked up through the trees to the same colored sky.

This pain is too great! Jesus, come quickly!

So often my reaction to pain is for Jesus to take me out of it. But what if He doesn’t? (which is typically the case) Where is hope if not found in relief?

My hope is in Jesus. He is the One who endured unimaginable pain and then conquered death so we could have life and hope no matter the pain or death we experience.

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What is Biblical Fasting?

3/31/2023

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Fasting is arguably the most ignored of the #spiritual disciplines we see in #God’s Word. As believers, we more readily apply ourselves to #prayer, #Biblestudy, and even meditation. However, #fasting is often viewed with hesitation or apprehension. It can seem daunting, unattainable, and even impractical to some. While we find no direct commandment to fast in #Scripture, we do see plenty of evidence that fasting is a discipline that is meant for all believers for our good and the glory of God.

In my post last month, “Thoughts on Lent,” I shared how I learned the origins of Lent and how to view it through the lens of Scripture. In the process of my research on Lent, I discovered what is true biblical fasting for the first time.

Fasting is arguably the most ignored of the spiritual disciplines we see in God’s Word. As believers, we more readily apply ourselves to prayer, the study of the Bible, and even meditation on it. However, fasting is often viewed with hesitation or apprehension. It can seem daunting, unattainable, and even impractical to some.

While we find no direct commandment to fast in Scripture, we do see plenty of evidence that fasting is a discipline that is meant for all believers for our good and the glory of God.

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