It was 1995. I was away at college when my mom said on the other end of the line – “there’s trouble at church. We might be leaving.” WHAT? My beloved church? The one where I had spent all my Jr. High and Sr.High Years learning and growing in Christ. Basically – my most profound years of growth in my spiritual walk that led me to to Bible college. Leaving??? My safe haven away from public school. The place where I sang songs of worship with my best friends, went on missions trips yearly and learned how to share my faith. The […]
Read MoreHow to Deal With Wounding In the Church
Insults hurt from those outside the church but inside the church, the wounding can hurt so much more deeply. The reason is because the church is meant to be a safe place. Over the years, I have experienced my deepest wounds from my church family. I suppose it’s because I trust the people in my church and have assumed that if we are all following God’s Word, wounding should not happen. But it does. Why? Because the church is filled with sinners and the reality is we fail each other. Sadly, I have been naive at times and too trusting. […]
Read More“Your Ministry” Webcast & Extra Resources
We have completed Part I of the book. Next week, we will begin Part II on “Your Marriage.” I’m super excited about that!!! This book was written with our inner world in mind – but we MUST not forget that there is a hurting world outside of our home that we are called reach out to and love! So, today we have a treat. Many of you know and love our Wednesday recipe girl – Janelle from Comfy In The Kitchen. She has a warm, inspiring message for you. The first 20 minutes are Janelle sharing her heart and the last 22 […]
Read MoreThe Women Living Well Book Club – Chapter 5 {Never Walk Alone}
Welcome back to the Women Living Well Book Club! Chapter 5 Discussion Image via Sally Clarkson In Chapter 5, I list the 4 ways I have found community, accountability and friendship within the church. 1. Women’s Bible Studies – raise your hand if you have been in a women’s Bible study! Women’s Bible Studies are not all created equally. Depending on the leader, the book choice and the group that attends – experiences can vary. For me personally, this has been a huge piece of the puzzle of my spiritual growth and connection with other Christian women. I LOVE Women’s […]
Read MoreConnecting to Your Sisters in Christ
I remember the first day we brought our first baby boy home –it was over ten years ago. To enter our house there were 4 steps to go up and as I stepped up onto the first step I fell completely flat on my face – my leg gave out. Luckily, my husband was carrying the baby. But I said to him – “something is wrong with my leg, it is numb and I can’t bear my weight on it”. It had been numb in the hospital for 2 days (I thought the epidural was still wearing off) but I […]
Read MoreWomen Friendships {In Opposite World}
I got a phone call a few years back from a friend at church. The girl called me to talk about our friendship that seemed strained. She called to see if anything was wrong (I LOVE that she took the time to call me). I really had no issue with her –only that I could sense that she didn’t really like me. And I accepted the fact that not everyone in the world is going to like this fast talking, loud laughing, Bible girl…so I had made peace with it. We were polite in the halls at church but […]
Read MoreMy Feelings About The Woman Who Confronted Me & WLWW Link-Up Party!
2 weeks ago, I posted a blog post about a woman who confronted me for being immodest. While the post was mainly about modesty, a huge part of the conversation to follow was about this woman who confronted me. To be honest, the focus was not meant to be on her and I didn’t expect the huge response that post received! (It was shared on facebook over 9,959 times – and in one day I had a whopping 89,000 visitors to my blog!) I’ve received emails and comments from women begging me to say something about this woman who many called…”legalistic, […]
Read MoreUnity With Our Sisters in Christ & WLWW Link-Up Party!
Photo credit I love this image above – it is SO powerful. It shows how the two eggs on the outside may differ but on the inside they are the same. I think of my two children – one boy and one girl. On the outside, they are very different and when they fight it makes this mama miserable! All I want is for my two children to GET ALONG! When they play cheerfully for over an hour together without needing a referee, this mom-heart is blessed! You see what’s on the outside is different but their hearts are the […]
Read More6 Essential Elements to a Thriving Women’s Bible Study Group
On Monday, I talked about Social Media and Our Friendships. I encouraged us all to take our friendships off-line. Starting or joining a women’s fall Bible study is a PERFECT way to do this! Here’s what I’ve learned about women’s studies. For over 30 years, I’ve watched my mom lead Women’s In-depth Bible Studies. I followed in her footsteps 15 years ago and began leading women’s studies also. The studies I have led have always met on a weekly basis. We usually go for 10 weeks in the fall, 15 weeks in the winter/spring and 8 weeks in the summer. […]
Read MoreSpring Cleaning Your Facebook Account
During the year of 2010, 250 million NEW people joined Facebook bringing the total users on Facebook at the end of 2010 to 600 million! Facebook is growing and the pressure to be there is not going away. It’s the new front porch.Last summer I went on evening runs through my new neighborhood and it was the dogs, crickets and me outside. Everyone else seemed to be inside enjoying their family, air conditioning, computers, and televisions. I thought – I know my friends on Facebook, blogland and twitterville better than my next door neighbors! So let me preface all that I am about to say about Facebook with […]
Read MoreMy Battles With Loneliness
After posting the picture of my Good Morning Girls Group, I received a few comments and emails from sisters in Christ who are lonely and long for Christian friendships. My heart broke, as I can recall the seasons in life where I was caught in the dark cloud of loneliness. I remember weekends in college in Chicago, when most of the girls either went home or out on dates with their boyfriends – I was homesick. I would sit in my dorm room alone eating popcorn and listening to George Winston’s Pachabel’s Canon play on repeat for hours(I still do […]
Read MoreHere’s What Happened Last Night
I woke to the most beautiful sight! Dirty dishes in my sink, a reminder of a wonderful evening of fellowship! My Tuesday Morning Fall Bible Study group has come to an end. We used Anne Graham Lotz’s Book “I Saw The Lord” with the video series. The videos were excellent! My Bible study leaders were Julie (an amazing mother of 5) and Mem (a Godly mother of 4 from Thailand.) (this group picture is missing 6 of the ladies)Mem offered to cook a Thai dinner for the entire group if she could use my house – and I said a […]
Read More9 Doors Down
I have never emailed another blogger and asked if I could literally repost their entire post for my readers. But on Friday, Karen Ehman posted this post. Since moving into my new home in February, I have found it extremely difficult to get to know my neighbors – they just don’t come out! And to be honest I’m on facebook or the web with a lot of my free time – so I’m not out there either! When I run in the evenings, it’s just me and the crickets! If my neighbors want to get to know me they’d have […]
Read MoreVlog: Teaching Our Children About Friendships
I originally made this video with plans to run it on a Friday – but it’s Wednesday! So up it goes and I’m sorry for mentioning the wrong day on the video! (and the freeze frame of me below is even funnier than my mess up on the days lol!!!) Deuteronomy 6 says that parents are to teach our children along the way of life, the truth of God’s word. Sometimes we will be in formal settings reading God’s word to our children. But other times there will be opportunities just in the normal course of the day, to speak […]
Read MoreWomen Friendships – Ecclesiastes 4
Wednesdays in the Word Women Friendships – they can be complicated at times can’t they? We all know how hard friendships are for little girls with the “mean girls”. Then there’s cliques in Jr. High and High School that can be terribly painful. Then we grow into big girls and hopefully by this point we have learned a few things about how to be a good friend and how to avoid the “porcupine” people – the people who seem to poke us all the time. We want to learn to NOT be the porcupine – and how to manage those […]
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