Browsing Tag:

Blog

In Blog, Book Reviews, Busyness on
May 25, 2020

Crazy Busy

How has your life changed since the COVID-19 pandemic began? Throughout this pandemic, I have kept my normal hours at work (thank God), though my duties look a little different than they used to. My college classes were already all online, so there was no transition for me to struggle through. I stopped going to church in person. My vacation was cancelled. My women’s conference was postponed. I couldn’t go to Disney World on the weekends. For me, things have been okay, but they’ve been different.

One day, though (hopefully soon), things will eventually return back to normal. Restaurants, stores, and businesses will reopen. We’ll be able to go to work, and our kids will be able to go to school. We’ll be able to travel again and go on vacations. And we’ll get back to our normal, busy selves.

But do we really want to return to that crazy busyness? Where we’re working overtime and it seems like we can never pull our eyes away from our screens. Where we’re driving our kids around to soccer games, and piano practices, and dance classes, and after-school clubs. Where we have so many things going on that we can barely keep our heads above water and our important relationships are oftentimes neglected. If we’re not careful, we’ll once again be consumed by our busyness. How do we fight against it?

continue reading
By
/
1 Comment
In Bible Study, Blog, Daniel on
May 18, 2020

We Will Not Bow

Our society today pushes a lot of ideas on us that they want us to accept and affirm. They want us to accept and affirm that all religions and belief systems are equally true and that every person should “live their truth.” They want us to accept and affirm that gender is fluid and that same-sex-attracted people should be able be together and get married. They want us to accept and affirm that fetuses are merely clumps of cells and that a woman should have the choice to get rid of those pesky cells (it is her body, right?).

All of these ideas clearly go against the truth we find in God’s Word, so we, as Christians, should not and cannot accept or affirm them. As Paul said, we are not to “be conformed to this world” (Romans 12:2, ESV). But this is easier said than done. When we refuse to affirm these worldly ideas, we’re labeled as hateful bigots, and it’s possible we may receive malicious messages, physical attacks, or even death threats. But this is not a new problem.

continue reading
By
/
1 Comment
In Blog, Book Reviews, Spiritual Growth on
May 11, 2020

Stop Calling Me Beautiful

You are a beautiful daughter of God.

True? Yes. Encouraging? Perhaps. Helpful? Not really.

This is the message we hear from a lot of Christian women speakers. We see it hand lettered on pretty Instagram pictures. You are beautiful. You are so loved. All you need is Jesus. This is all true. It sounds good. It feels good. But are these sayings really all that helpful?

How does knowing you’re loved help you when you’re struggling with crippling anxiety? How does knowing you’re beautiful help you battle the shame over the damaging sins of your past? How does knowing you need Jesus help you when He seems to be silent as you’re swallowed up in grief? We need something more.

continue reading
By
/
1 Comment
In Blog, Motherhood, Theology on
May 4, 2020

Extra Ordinary

Motherhood. It’s a beautiful gift and a tremendous blessing from our heavenly Father. But sometimes, motherhood can seem so ordinary.

While I am not a mother, I’ve spent time with women who are, and many of the women I follow on Instagram write and post about their struggles in motherhood. I’ve come to realize that daily motherly tasks often prevent women from doing things they believe make a great impact for the kingdom of God. While artists are creating products that support uneducated women in another country, you’re washing your dishes and folding your laundry. While pastors are planting churches in unchurched cities, you’re changing diapers and training your toddlers to use a toilet. While others are hosting revivals and seeing hundreds or even thousands of people come to Christ, you’re sitting in carline for an hour every day. While missionaries are preaching the gospel to unreached people groups, you are dragging your kids to church every week kicking and screaming, sometimes literally.

Mommas – can’t you relate? Sometimes, motherhood feels ordinary, and it seems like you’re just not in a season to do anything extraordinary for God.

But the Bible teaches us differently. Over and over again, God works through the most ordinary of people to do extraordinary things. And a lot of these extra ordinary people are mothers just like you.

continue reading
By
/
5 Comments
In Bible Study, Blog, Colossians on
April 27, 2020

With Him

“In the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, buried with Christ in baptism, raised to walk in newness of life.”

Baptism is one of the two ordinances that was instituted by Jesus during His life on this earth and is practiced by the Church today (the other being communion). The act of baptism, being immersed in a body of water and being raised up out of it, is an outward symbol of an inward event – salvation, the death of the old self and the birth of the new self.

When pastors perform a baptism, they say something like the quote at the top of this blog – “buried with Christ in baptism, raised to walk in newness of life.” Those, like myself, who have been attending church since childhood tend to not pay attention to these words. We hear them, but we hear them so often that we usually don’t contemplate their meaning or origin.

continue reading
By
/
1 Comment