What Young Couples Going Into Ministry Need to Know
When my husband and I walked across the stage at our Bible College graduation, we were hopeful, excited, and motivated. We were confident in our abilities and our calling and were ready to change the world for Jesus. Now, almost 10 years later, I look back at who we were then and wish I could have slipped us a note about what we could really expect from ministry and marriage. Things they don’t really teach you in the classroom. So, learn from us, young grasshoppers. Here’s what I wish I could have told us.
Worship Playlist: Abiding in Christ
Today’s playlist was compiled by my sister, Autumn, and is designed to remind your heart to abide in Christ. If you’re struggling to turn your eyes to the Lord and fix your heart on Him, let these songs be that reminder! Her commentary on some of the songs is below, with a preview playlist at the bottom. You can find the full playlist on Spotify or create your own!
Facing Trials With Eternal Perspective
Uniquely Woman is BACK on air! After several months' hiatus, Lisa and I are delighted to bring the podcast back to you with brand-new episodes (and even better sound). A lot happened in our lives this last year - and even in the past summer. In this episode, we...
Dear Girl, Your Sinful Past Does Not Define Your Future
“I just didn’t think it was possible to stay pure after falling.” she said, fighting back tears.
As a girl who had previously obliterated my own purity, I wondered the same thing myself. I was a new Christian faced with the mistakes I had made and the consequences they brought to my doorstep. Could I truly say “no” if my next boyfriend wanted to have sex? Was it even possible to conquer the beast that is lust?
Here’s the biggie: Could I ever love God more than my sexual desires?
Why Your Confidence Isn’t Enough
I shot out of the gate ready. There was no wishy-washy, “Maybe, I’ll give this a try.”, “Maybe I’ll just get my AA for now.” No maybe – I knew. I was leaving my private high school and small town behind, headed straight for a communications degree. A different coastline and cities with more than a handful of stoplights would be my future.
I was decisive and ready.
Ten Podcast Episodes to Catch This Week
I spent the last few weeks compiling this list, listening to these episodes as I mopped floors, walked, did laundry, and otherwise attempted to induce labor with my second baby! So far, it hasn’t worked – but I definitely found some great episodes to share with you this week.
When Birth Doesn’t Go the Way You Planned
We all love a good birth story. It’s one of the first things women will discuss when they start talking about their babies. Either that or the horror stories that get told to first-time pregnant mamas. Today, I’m not here to share either. I’m here to share that you can have a positive view of God even when birth and the postpartum season don’t go the way you want.
Giving Birth to Air: The Labor Pains of Adoption & Foster Care
When we met (online) two years ago, we were both expecting baby girls, just 1 day apart. We didn’t have chance to meet until after her Addie was born, and eerily enough, she had no idea my baby girl would have been called Addie, too. I am so grateful for her friendship, especially as we walked through the trials that child-bearing has brought, and so excited to share with you, her readers, today!
The Ultimate Birth Playlist for Christian Moms
I’ve had this playlist on repeat for the last month – my final month of pregnancy! But even if you’re nowhere near being pregnant, these songs are a great backdrop to early morning devotions or a commute to work. You could even use this playlist for times of day when you’re most stressed or anxious, since the playlist is designed to point hearts to God in a time of extreme stress (labor!).
How to Overcome the Fear of Childbirth
We fear what we don’t understand. But sometimes, even when we know what’s going to happen, we fear that too. Childbirth is the perfect storm of both these fears: Fear brought on by ignorance, and fear brought on by knowledge. As believers in Christ, we have His presence and power in the birthing room. How do we live out this reality and face birth fearlessly? Is that even possible?
It is possible to overcome fear of childbirth and enter pregnancy with courage. It is possible to overcome anxiety as a believer in Christ! This process is simple, but it’s not easy – and that’s what we’re discussing in today’s post.
10 Things I Did Differently in My Second Pregnancy
My first and second babies will be almost exactly two years apart. They were both due on the same day (October 1st)! My first pregnancy was fantastic, but I didn’t know then what I know now. Let’s just say I’ve learned a few things in two years! The changes I’ve made in this pregnancy have made this one even better than the last, even though I’m now working from home with a toddler instead of working in an office full-time (and moving to a new state at 37 weeks!).
Ten Podcast Episodes to Catch This Week
One of the questions I receive every Monday on my Q&A show is, “What are your favorite podcasts?” The list is embarrassingly long! So this week, I’m starting a new blog series that I think you’re going to love: biweekly podcast playlists! Every other week I’ll be sharing the must-listen episodes you don’t want to miss.
10 Things to Do in Your Ninth Month of Pregnancy (Home Birth Edition)
If you're considering a home birth, there aren't as many resources available for planning out your pregnancy. In my own ninth month I was making a list of tasks for home birth - I searched Pinterest far and wide for things to do before baby arrives, but none of the...
Natural Birth, New Age, and the Christian Mom’s Response
In last week’s posts on reframing our view of labor and things we should stop saying about pregnancy, a few readers misunderstood the meaning of “New Age” and its influence on modern pregnancy culture. New Age philosophy is not another term for modern medical practice. New Age practices are the face of spirituality in today’s world, and it benefits every believer to be aware of them – particularly in pregnancy and birth.
4 Things Christian Women Can Stop Saying About Pregnancy and Birth
Yesterday I talked about the importance of reframing the Christian perspective of birth and pregnancy. Today we see why that is so important: Because how we think dictates how we talk, and the way Christians talk about birth needs to change. Every week I get an email,...
Why the Christian Perspective of Labor and Birth Needs to Change
The Christian conversation surrounding labor and birth differs little from the world’s. We throw showers, give gifts, and sympathize over morning sickness; but when it comes to birth itself, the conversation remains dominated by New Age (and in some cases, secular feminist) influences. One look at the Instagram hashtags reveals that the creation, sustenance, and birth of life is a sphere dominated by secular ideology. Unless a pregnant woman is considering an abortion, modern Christianity has little to say about pregnancy or birth.
Why Are So Many 20-30 Somethings Single?
This week on my Q&A show, Ask Anything Monday (hosted on my Instagram), I was asked:
“Why are so many 20-30 somethings still single? Is there a reason people marry later or are Christians too picky?”
I answered with four theories why I think this trend is growing in western culture:
No More Waiting: A Call to Abundant Singleness
When I was in my teens, my bookshelf held titles like I Kissed Dating Goodbye, Beautiful Girlhood, Emotional Purity, and Ladies in Waiting. While I think these books contain some good concepts, I honestly wish I’d never read them. Their purpose was to motivate me to live my singleness for God; instead, they focused so much on waiting for a relationship, much of my early single season was spent wishing I wasn’t single! The emphasis on “waiting” made it seem like singleness was a holding pattern; some sort of in-between time until I arrived at the Destination: a relationship.
God is Glorified in Your Loneliness
Loneliness is a human condition – not relegated to singleness, but present in marriage, motherhood, work, and home as we experience seasons of relational and spiritual drought. We want it to go away, and for good reason. The gnawing feeling of “aloneness” is uncomfortable. But when we rush through these seasons, desperate for them to end, we’re missing out on their purpose.
Your loneliness can glorify God. In fact, when this trial – because that’s what loneliness is – is permitted to accomplish its full work, loneliness always points to the goodness and glory of Jesus Christ.
Why You Should Do What You’re Good At – Not Just What You Love
“Follow your heart” – this is Disney’s recommendation for those seeking life direction. But it’s not just Disney; it’s the kindergarten curriculum and the children’s books, the songs on the radio and graduation cards. When choosing a life path, we’re supposed to “do what we love” – because if we’re doing what we love, we’ve found our calling. Right?
Six years of my career was spent in higher education, five of those years as a college counselor. As I sit down with parents and students, some starry-eyed and optimistic, others uncertain and under pressure, I frequently come back to the “Disney lie”: That doing what you love is the ticket to success, and that success – in and of itself – will lead to long term happiness.
Your Broken Relationship Was Not a Waste of Time
I know what you’re thinking: these last eight months were pointless. The emotions, the time, the dates, the gifts – useless, wasted, the stuff you throw away like scraps of paper. Except the scraps are your heart, and the wasted time was your life. He’s gone, you’re here, and though you know how to move on and you’re walking forward with the Lord, it’s hard to see the purpose in an ended relationship.
So here’s some hope to tape up your heart: Your broken relationship was not a waste of time.
You Don’t Have to Settle for a Safe Single Season
“Fear tricks us into living a boring life.” Donald Miller wrote those words, and how true they ring in my ears and heart. I want to stay safe. I want to avoid risk, pain, and difficulty. I don’t want to be stretched or pulled beyond my comfort zone, my natural limitations; I want to stay on the safe side.
I wanted the same when I was single. I wanted things to go according to The Plan – my carefully laid out, neat and tidy plan, the one that kept me safe and comfortable. But in each season God has pulled me over my line in the sand into an adventure I never anticipated. I was not a willing participant in many of these excursions, but each one left me stronger than the one before. My singleness was no different.
The Number One Question Singles Should Be Asking
Today’s singles are far lonelier, I think, than singles of decades past. It’s a theory for which I have no real proof outside of my own observation, but given the nature of western culture and the habits of my millennial (and younger) peers, I think it’s fairly valid. Singles are lonelier, and there’s a very obvious reason why:
Today’s Christian singles lack real community.
How to Prepare Your Heart to Accept God’s Will
God’s will and our desires don’t always coincide. Yesterday I talked about the reality of this in my own life; how our waiting season has tested our desires against our faith. And though we do not grieve and wait as those who have no hope (1 Thess. 4:13), the knowledge that God answers according to His sovereign will, not always according to our ideas, can be frightening at times.
It behooves us, then, to prepare our hearts to accept God’s will – no matter what His answer may be.