Love and encouragement from an imperfect mom and her fun teen daughters. We welcome you to live life with us.
Encouragement for gals to see their inner value
We must recognize legalism and protect ourselves and others from its milder forms (forcing people to do what they do not need to do) and its dangerous forms (covering the sins of abusers, claiming they are doing God’s work). In its milder form, legalists mistake God for an angry boss and demand too much of … Read more Recognizing Legalism and its Hidden Dangers
In the last two weeks, I’ve written about misconceptions and lies that hold us back from abiding or resting in the Lord. This week I am finally ready to write about the joy this abiding brings. Abiding or resting in the Lord sounded boring to me as an active child. I hated naps and loved … Read more Abiding in the Lord, part 3 Enjoying the Peace
Last week I wrote about conflicts and challenges that oppose our ability to abide (rest) in the Lord, and I promised to add a part two. If you missed that post (Why Abiding in the Lord is Hard), be sure to read it. I wanted to write exclusively about the joy we find when we … Read more Abiding in the Lord, part 2 Resisting the Blocks to Our Rest
Dealing with a Leaking Spirit Jesus urged us to abide in him as branches in the vine (John15:4.) We might read this wonderful news and assume we’ll always trust God and feel close to him. But we get distracted, whether it’s like Martha in the kitchen making too-elaborate meals (Luke 10:38-42.) or due to stress … Read more Why Abiding in the Lord is Hard
People may complain life seems like an endless battle, yet this is not a complaint but the truth. Naïve people may also believe they don’t need to fight in this life. They will suffer for this false belief. We have a real enemy, the devil who hates us. If we pretend the battle does not … Read more Yes, You Can Win the Spiritual Battle if You Admit it is Real!
Many people struggle to have patience, a wonderful fruit of the spirit (Gals. 5:22-23). So why is patience such a hard virtue to master? I mentioned patience and its connection in my last post “The Sneaky Pride of Flesh.” I used to think I had become a very patient person until my daughters got a … Read more Patience for others and ourselves
While there are good forms of pride, our sneaky flesh resists humbling itself before God and others. Our flesh is infested with self pride (“Look at wonderful me, not you,”) and zero God-pride (“Look at our wonderful God; let me love and serve you.”) We need to resist our pride yet not condemn ourselves, because … Read more The Sneaky Pride of Flesh
At times we might question our faith, because we seem to “lose” our peace often. In fact, we could be exactly where God wants us, but Satan (via his demons) is attacking us so often, we mistake our temporary distress for a lack of spiritual faith. You might even be doing many great things for … Read more Not Finding Peace or Relentless Demonic Attacks?
A friend of mine asked me to pray for her to re-discover her passion for God. She felt dry in her Christian walk, despite being a Christian for decades. Another friend, also a super strong Christian, told me this would be a great prayer for her. Both of these women attend church faithfully, read their … Read more I Don’t Feel Close to God: Veteran Christians not feeling that passion
Why does God make us wait so long, often with no specific idea about what God is planning or the exact process we should follow. We call this “blind faith,” meaning we trust God, but we are blind about exactly how things will turn out. For example, God rarely (if ever) says, “Wait for this … Read more Patience: Waiting on God is Hard