A few months ago I challenged married people to stop alienating their single friends. The relationship between married and single believers has, for many years, been anywhere on the spectrum from awkward to hostile. Singles feel left out and set up by their married...
For the last episode of Uniquely Woman in 2017, Lisa and I are jumping back in for a full-length episode on body image. We tackle what the Bible says the body is, lies we believe about our bodies, and how we each work on overcoming body image issues.
The little girl cooing in the bassinet joined us only four weeks ago, but with each passing day we love her more than the one before. Geneva Anne joined us on October 21st. She took her time getting here, and judging by her personality so far, that will be par for the course (unlike her sister Adeline, who had to be two weeks early and continues to operate on a packed social schedule and abundant extroversion). As I finally sit down to share her birth story, I see the grace of God for her specific entry into the world – the same way Adeline’s birth was the grace we needed for that season.
The words “spiritual leader” are synonymous with Christian dating culture. If you’re a single Christian woman, you’ve been taught, told, and everything short of commanded to only date men who are spiritual leaders. We talk about this as if the term is actually written in Scripture (it isn’t, though it’s insinuated: Eph. 5:22-23, 1 Cor. 11). The result? A confusing, limiting conversation that is straying further and further from the biblical model of church and family structure.
Christians talk a lot about sexual purity. We talk a lot about being pro-life. Yet we’ve ignored the chasm of understanding between these two issues – issues that are integrally connected not just in reality, but in our spiritual lives. We brandish our “pro-life” monikers as if it’s a given – we’re Christians, after all! – yet fail to understand what sanctity of life looks like day-to-day.
The truth is this: “Pro-life” is not just a political viewpoint. It is a lifestyle.
There was a time when legalists were easy to identify.
They were the ones more interested in “Sunday best” than repentant hearts; more concerned about music and movies than an inner transformation. They judged by outward appearance and were, in turn, judged lacking in both truth and grace.
Gen-Xers and millennials know them well. We grew up hearing about them, and watched the church shift and buckle under the weight of change. It was a good change, for the most part. It exposed things. It revealed how church had become more about doing and being “good” than about God being good in us.
Purity has a cost: It is uncomfortable, unpopular, and difficult at times. Purity is why I no longer wear leggings as pants, don’t watch many TV shows, and rarely read fiction. I don’t do these things because they are inherently evil. I made these choices as I grew in spiritual maturity. The closer I press to the heart of God, the less I think of my Christian “liberty” and the more seriously I take my Christian responsibility.
The day my husband confessed his sexual history to me, I sat quietly as he told me the truth. I wasn’t shocked. But I knew that – going forward – we’d need to work on our relationship in ways others would not.
For the last five years my life has been ruled by an inconsistent schedule. Four of those years my own schedule rotated between first, second, and third shifts, with weekends added on occasion. When I married Josh, the schedule became even worse. We never knew when he’d get off work each day.
As a homeschool grad, homeschool counselor and future homeschool mom (counting the years!), this is my area of expertise. If you’re deciding whether to homeschool through high school or whether to homeschool at all, I hope this article relieves some of your fears and gives you the “push” you need.