How many times in your parenting or teaching journey have you felt like you couldn't parent or teach one moment longer? You count down the minutes until bedtime or parent-pickup time. Man, I have. More than once I've wondered where my strength to take one more step would come from. I Can, Because He Did This weekend God reminded me ...
Encouragement
Can You Help for a Moment?
My Be Intentional Planner informed me that it is now August. While I am so sad to see summer in the rearview mirror, I am excited for this school year and what God has before us. This year we will launch two to high school. One to middle school. And after 11 years, this will be our final voyage in elementary school. Oh, how I wish I could ...
Do You Feel Invisible Right Now?
He sees you. He sees the disappointments you had over the plans of celebrating Easter with your family. He sees you doing the dishes for the umpteenth time. He sees you folding laundry when you want to be reading a book. He sees you wipe those tears when you wish someone would wipe yours. He sees you as beautiful even if you don't ...
How to “Grow” a Child
I am in "spring" mode. Over half of my garden is planted. The flower pots around the house overflow with little flowers. I anxiously await the joy that will come from the juicy produce and gorgeous display of color. Raising Seeds A friend posted this verse (pictures above) on Facebook. It immediately caused me to think about the work ...
From Need to Ministry {giveaway}
Eleven years ago our family had a need. To my great surprise, God took this need and turned it into a world-wide ministry. But I realize that many of you don't know the background of this "need" or the many levels of support our ministry provides. Today I share in hopes that you will utilize all that we offer and join us in praying for the ...
Let It Go…
My friend Cyndi shared this quote from Louie Giglio on Facebook. Every day we hold on to something with a clenched fist is a day we miss the possibility of God putting something amazing in our hands. When you let go, you don't lose out. I've tried to control everything from my marriage, my children, to each speck of dirt in my home. Desperate to ...
Changing Grief into a Ministry {Giveaway}
The first part of this post has been in draft form for almost 3 years. I don't know why it was never posted, but I am continually amazed at God's perfect timing. Each night I silence my phone before bed. But for some reason last night I forgot. So when my phone signaled a text received from my mom, I was surprised. The text said, "If you are ...
What Is Filling Your Brain?
Garbage in, garbage out. This statement is often used when talking to teenagers about the importance of guarding their hearts and minds in regards to the media that they view and listen to. But the older I get, the more I realize the truth in this statement in my own life. What I put in my mind comes out in my words, emotions, and ...
Impacting 2017: Are You Healthy?
Are You Healthy? For the past four weeks we have looked at healing the mind, body, and soul so that we can fully love God and others. It is easy to see unhealthy people around you. They do unhealthy things like live in fear, isolate themselves, let bitterness or depression control their life, or they stop taking care of their bodies. But it ...
How Do You Fill in the Blank?
Fill in this equation. Jesus + ___________________ = Salvation How did your mind fill the blank space in the sentence above? Hard work? Perfection? Sacrifice? My abilities? Raising perfect kids? Building a ministry? My talents? Doing the perfect Advent activity? Actually, the answer to this statement isn't what you might expect. ...