Posts Categorized: Encouragement

Your Armor Is Ready

I have a bookmark designed by a friend that says, “Your armor is ready. Put it on.” You wouldn’t go deep-sea diving or mountain climbing without the right equipment. And you wouldn’t simply carry your gear, you’d wear it, right? You’d know when and how to use it correctly too. “Put on the whole armor…

World Read-Aloud Day 2018

Make plans now to be sure to read aloud to your child or grandchild tomorrow! February 1 is World Read-Aloud Day, a day to enjoy reading aloud with children and to develop awareness of literacy needs around the world. Did you know, for example, that o A child born to a mother who can read…

How to Face Challenges

I was prepping to start a new writing project. It felt overwhelming. I felt a little like Moses when God called him to lead the Israelites out of Egypt. “Moses again pleaded, ‘Lord, please! Send anyone else’ ” (Exodus 4:13 NIV). But then I glanced over at the shelf where my foreign editions were lined…

Living a Godly Legacy—Part 4

In this series I’ve said that how we live every day becomes our legacy, that God instructs us to communicate faith in Him to the next generation, and that He tells us how. We’ve also looked at specific ways to help our kids and grandkids experience and grow in faith by how we bring God…

Living a Godly Legacy—Part 2

In Part 1 of this series, I talked about living a legacy for our children and grandchildren—realizing that the way we live every day is the legacy we will leave. Is a legacy of faith your goal like it is mine? Then here in Part 2, let’s begin by looking at our own relationship with…

Living a Godly Legacy—Part 1

Last fall two different events—a sermon and a MOPS talk—got me thinking about how we pass faith on to the next generation. I realized we don’t just leave a legacy, we actually live it too. Legacy: “A gift; something passed on; something received from the past; the influence of a person or thing.” What we…

Make God’s Word a Staple, Not a Side

Do you take a multivitamin or use a dietary supplement? I have, and now I keep some Ester-C and echinacea tea on hand to help me fight off colds. But day to day, I’m trying to nourish my body with a whole-foods, plant-based diet. It’s a challenge to view vegetable and fruits, nuts and seeds…

Let’s Ease the Pain of Mother’s Day

This coming Sunday, May 10, is Mother’s Day … as all the ads and flyers and greeting card aisles have been reminding us, every day now for weeks. But the joy and gladness of the advertising and retail worlds rarely reflect reality. Mother’s Day can bring a lot of joy . . . To new…

What to Do When Christmas Just Isn’t the Same

Will you be far away from family this Christmas? Has life changed for you this year, and have those circumstances altered Christmas too? I’ve lived most of my adult life far from my parents and siblings, and we’ve almost never been together at Christmas. When my daughters were 6 and 2 (quite some time ago!),…

Some of the Bravest Moms I Know

I once walked through a large hall at a missions convention, talking with convention goers waiting to hear a speaker. “Do you know any parents of missionaries?” I asked. “We want to invite them to a special event tomorrow.” Most people looked at me funny. “Parents of missionaries? I don’t think so.” But then one…