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Instead of Pleading With God, Try This Prayer Posture
Layers of ivory piled heavenward for weeks—the kind of snow that melts and freezes a half-dozen times, leaving crusty layers like some seven-layer dessert gone horribly wrong. I’d been pleading with God to lead me out of a tough stretch. I had no idea he was about to open my eyes with a very clear object lesson in the form of a pleading child. We kept the yellow snow shovel propped right next to the front door that year. Every morning, we scraped the icy cement and threw out the salt. I didn’t appreciate the morning call to shovel the entryway. However, the four-year-old at my side saw it as…
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How to Be a Woman of Influence and Inspiration
I remember the way the sun beams slanted through the maples the afternoon I told my mom I was running away from home. I’m sure I was no older than eight or nine, and Mom calmly looked at me and asked just where I planned to go. “To Grandma’s house!” I told her. I imagined myself traipsing down the road toward that little green house that always offered solace, joy, and a safe place to sit in the presence of a godly woman of influence. Thirty years later, our family mourns as we celebrate Grandma’s life and legacy. Grandma went to be with the Lord last week, and it’s hard…
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A Simple Perspective-Shift for Overcoming Irritability
It might have been the long walk through winter’s dark days that had me grumbling. Or maybe it was the fact that our household hadn’t been healthy for four months, a certain child wouldn’t obey a single imperative from his mother, or the waterline kept freezing. I needed some kind of help with overcoming irritability, and it seemed I was nearing the end of my rope. I’d been barking orders all day, and by the time evening fell, I couldn’t have been happier when they all marched over to the neighbors’ house, leaving me with silent surroundings for just an hour. I turned on the evening news and shoveled heaping…
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Radically Remake Your Prayer Life With This Simple Tool
It’s a foggy almost-winter morning as I join the other women at the table with my Bible and tall pink mug. We are here to dig into Scripture and talk about how to be consistent when we pray. I know my prayer life desperately needs an overhaul, but I’m too tired to come up with a reasonable plan for the remake. We take turns sipping our respective beverages and talking about what God is doing in our lives, and then the conversation turns to how to be more deliberate in prayer. How to Connect Your Prayer Life With Your Thought-Life And then it happens. The dear older woman sitting next…
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How to be Hospitable Without Being Stressed
Grandma Miles’s house always seemed to smell of molasses, and I still remember the tall jar of hard candy she kept on the shelf by the door. There were always shoes scattered clumsily in the doorway. There were always dishes in the sink, and coffee cups lined the countertop. When I think of how to be hospitable, I think of Grandma Miles. It wasn’t the presentation of perfect baked goods or gourmet coffee that made Grandma’s house the picture of hospitality. It wasn’t the neatness of her shelves or the trendiness of her home décor. What made Grandma’s home the picture of hospitality was the warmth that exuded from the woman…
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10 Refreshing Bible Verses for the Weary and Burdened
The translucent breath of heaven lingers on the morning window panes, and the burdock lifts barbed hands toward a grey sky. Sometimes this season of darkness leaves us all feeling just a little too threadbare. We crave light and warmth. If this is you today, I invite you to soak in these refreshing Bible verses for the weary and worn. 10 Bible Verses for the Weary and Burdened As I prepare my heart to walk through this season, I’m reminded of the burdens our little family faced throughout past winters. Our past few winters have been difficult. We have faced struggles that often felt beyond our strength. We have faced blustery…
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This Word for the Year Could Change Your Life Forever
Prickly pine needles rise from the carpeting like tiny daggers aimed at stocking feet. I should hoist the vacuum cleaner from the basement and take care of it, but this mounting pressure to pick a word for the year has me glued to the recliner like a woman with a deadline. Last year’s word came effortlessly. Had it not, I might have forsaken the idea altogether. It was a mind-boggling year. I read an article on picking a word of the year last winter, and while I’d picked a Bible verse and name of God for the New Year many times, I’d never picked just one word. Last year on…
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Disappointed in God: How to Handle Spiritual Frustration
Regardless of the depth and strength of our faith, most of us will be disappointed in God at some point in our lives. When God doesn’t heal our loved ones, bring our great dreams to pass, or answer our prayers according to our hopes, it’s easy to feel disappointed in him. We all face times when we struggle to make sense of God’s work in our lives. I invite you to join our family on a chilly Christmas morning, and we’ll talk about how to navigate those times in life when God’s ways don’t make sense to us. Disappointed in God It is Christmas morning here in Pennsylvania. This is…
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How to Find Strength in God When Life Is Tough
Winter was bearing down on us with a stranglehold that left me breathless at times. Every morning, I sat beside the window and wondered whether our family was about to walk down the most broken road we’d ever known. Day after day, I opened God’s Word in hopes that I might to discover how to find strength in God as we faced our storm. There was a medical prognosis on the horizon, and I was terrified. I’d been standing on Truth that held the power to slay the giant of fear. I’d been rebuking, taking back ground, worshiping, and fixing my eyes on the pure and good. Nevertheless, as I…
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Keeping Christ in Christmas: 8 Practical Ways
We recently pulled out the Christmas boxes. Surrounded by a hodgepodge of fake pine, glitter, and the faint aroma of cinnamon spice, I reminded myself of the importance of keeping Christ in Christmas. It’s easy to get so caught up in holiday festivities that we overlook the reason for celebrating. Keeping Christ in Christmas If the idea of focusing on Jesus at Christmas resonates with you—and if you want less stress and deeper peace this Christmas—here are eight suggestions to help you. 8 Tips for Keeping Christ in Christmas 1. Keep Christ in Christmas by slowing down. Whether you’re shopping for gifts or decorating your home, aim to complete these…
