A Dad’s Greatest Strength
The swift current of the an icy North Branch Skokomish river was up to my chest and I hadn’t even reached the halfway point of my...
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A Fatherless Journey: A Walk Down No Memory Lane
Dear Daddy, I did it again tonight. I went looking for you. Well, at least the faint outlines of your footprints. I found the street you...
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Smile…Save a Life
This weekend a ninth grade girl from my son’s high school committed suicide. This is the second teen suicide in our community this...
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More than a Single Surprise
I stared at the cars lining the driveway. I hadn’t invited anyone to my house. What in the world is going on? Walking the familiar path...
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Bitterness to Betterness
Finding our way from hopeless to hopeful by, Tammy Whitehurst I don’t like conflict. (You probably don’t either.) The thing is, God...
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The One Thing You Need to Know When Your Life Feels Small
by, Alicia Bruxvoort I spotted it the moment I stepped out of the shower: a small blue footprint on the crisp white tile. My stomach...
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Busyness is Not a Spiritual Gift
‘Wait’ is a tough word to deal with in today’s busy world. {Tweet This} by, Tammy Whitehurst I easily become overloaded,...
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10 Ways to Honor Your Mother on Mother’s Day
Mothers. The women who lay down their lives for their families day-in and day-out. The women who serve their husbands and children, usually...
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How Much Difference Do You Make?
On January 18th of this year, I retired after 25 years of teaching high school English in public schools in Louisiana. Teaching was...
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Overcoming the Grief of Losing a Child to Suicide
by, Jean Ann Williams A Mother’s Heart – Part Two I will never know what life would be like if Joshua had lived. At one point,...
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A Mother’s Heart – Part One – A Child Lost to Suicide
by, Jean Ann Williams My son Joshua died by suicide. When at times all I wanted was to be with Joshua in the Hereafter, I considered...
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Every Choice Has Consequences
Parents make it a point to teach their children that every choice has consequences. Good choices tend to have good consequences, and bad...
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Tool of Worship
“All who are gifted artisans among you shall come and make all the tools of worship that the Lord has commanded. ” Exodus...
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Do Our Kids Belong to God?
I knew it would happen, but I always harbored a hope that my mothering experience would somehow be different than those of all the other...
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Hands Free Parenting for Teens?
Jane left her teenage son, Benny, alone in a room with a stack of Hustler and Playboy magazines, completely confident that he would never...
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Marriage Rite or Wrong
Marriage is a mystery, miracle, sacrament and a modern tragedy. A man shall leave mother and father and cleave to his wife and the two...
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No Ordinary Discipline
By Michelle S. Lazurek I walked onto the red-stained deck of my workplace to be greeted by the laughter of thirty energetic...
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My Recommended Beverage: Living Water
I feel old, but in a wizened way when I meet the woman who shows up my first day of work proclaiming loudly that she’s drunk, then later...
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I Am His
We were having an ice cream cone after church one Sunday and our children, ages 10, 11 and 12 at the time, were clowning around as usual....
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But for the Grace of God…
By Jennifer L Griffith I don’t tend to watch movies on a regular basis. However, I just watched a movie about two girls arrested in...
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The Perfect Father
For me, Father’s Day has always been a reminder of what I never had. I lost my father to a car accident when I was a baby. Before I...
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Father’s Day: An Earthly Glimpse of Heavenly Love
Daddy was the first. The first one I loved unconditionally. I first one I loved unselfishly. Other loves came and went. Some even came and...
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Love Your Neighbor…in 140 words or less
I must admit that I was one of those who resisted the social networking craze that has swept the world over the last few years. Seriously,...
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Liberty or Death
The only female patron in a newly opened restaurant, I found myself seated close to a table of military men in uniform. It seems the...
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Becoming a ‘Dult’
I tried to hide it from her, but the tears came anyway. Harder, faster, accompanied by sobs, louder than I expected. But make no mistake;...
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Mentoring: It’s a Beautiful Thing
In honor of Mother’s Day, I’m thrilled to introduce you to a brand new ministry for moms, The M.O.M. Initiative, founded by...
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Is joy really more than just a brighter shade of happiness?
“What have you been thinking about joy recently?” my husband, Mike, asked me over lunch the other day, knowing that I’m working...
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The Thorn in My Smile
It’s been over ten years. That’s a circled-on-the-calendar date for those diagnosed with cancer. A true reason to celebrate. In...
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Kevin
The year I was six all my siblings moved out of the house except Kevin. That meant I had my thirteen-year-old brother all to myself. He was...
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Three Things Parents Can Learn From Blended Families
by Tina Ann Forkner From Dr. Phil, to reality television, to gossip around the water cooler, disputes between ex-spouses are a hot...
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What I Love About Teens
“Awww. Mom. Look how cute. Can we keep him?” I glanced over to the sidewalk. He wandered, as if he had no place to go, but kept...
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Can Preachers Have Sex on Sundays?
Can Preachers Have Sex on Sundays? Well, can they? Or is it some kind of unmentionable sin to share intimacy with your spouse on...
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In the Spirit of Adoption
When my husband and I chose to get married, we also chose each other’s children. by Tina Ann Forkner Thirteen years ago I...
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Loving your Neigbours and Retaining Your Sanity: What Would Jesus Do?
View from back porch of our house in Laos So I have a What Would Jesus Do problem. I don’t usually use the WWJD phrase, even in my...
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Daughters…one day you’ll fill their shoes
If you’re the mother of a teenager daughter (or daughters–mercy), and you’re wondering why God hasn’t extended you...
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Jesus, Can I Hold You?
Our relationship would never be the same. I was sure of it. Somewhere, at that foot of that cross, it hit me. Finally. The earth shook...
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8 Tips For Building a Marriage That Thrives
By Kathy Carlton Willis The mega-millions spent by Kim Kardashian and Kris Humphries, and Katy Perry and Russell Brand, on their lavish and...
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Proper Documentation (Or why I choose to scrapbook my faith…)
Proper Documentation (Or why I choose to scrapbook my faith…) By Courtney Walsh Not all that long ago, my family moved from Illinois to...
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Turning Over the Keys
She edges closer to the door, activating the checklist in my mind. “Here, take the GPS. And your cell phone charger.” I pile both items...
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If you want to move mountains, you’ll need a Mustard Seed
Over twenty-five years ago, I couldn’t have imagined that Sarah or I would have the opportunity to write this chapter in my...
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No One Can Change Me, Except Me
by Tracey Bateman The one thing I’ve learned from my oh-so-vast 42 years, is that growth means pain, but...
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Creating a Vision
My daughter gave me the raised eyebrow, at first. This gesture grew more common as she approached the age of 18. She was long past the age...
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Love: The Most Versatile Word in the English Language
In these bodies we will live In these bodies we will die Where you invest your love, you invest your life (Mumford and Sons) Love: What...
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Cupid’s Weapon Makes Sense
One day, one lucky, married day, I read a familiar verse of scripture that made sense of the familiar. I press toward the mark for the...
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Sprinkling of Grace
“Indeed, he gives us second chances, third, fourth, fifth chances, –oh, far too many to count.” – Liz Curtis Higgs,...
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Imperfect Parenting
At first, I thought it was just my little secret. As a first-time mother, still basically a child myself, I gazed into the eyes of my...
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Where Does Your Addiction End?
Not how or when … where does your addiction end? I know several men who have been addicted to some form of lust. It all starts with a...
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Pucker Up: 6 Health Benefits of Kissing
Okay, you probably won’t hear your doctor say, “Take two kisses and call me in the morning,” but did you know there are...
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Love The Feeling, Love The Action
Three weeks after my first child was born and two days before my husband, Mike, left for a month in Laos, Mike and I went out to...
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7 Ways to Guarantee a Great Valentine’s Day
Yes, this is for the ladies. And, yes, I am of the male persuasion. But after 21 years of marriage, I’ve got a pretty good handle on...
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Books Saved My Life
By Carla Stewart Kathy Patrick of Jefferson, Texas, has two passions in life: making women feel beautiful inside and out and...
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It’s time for a breakup when . . .
“You’re dating him…really?” We’ve all seen it and a lot of us have been there. We’re strong. We’re single. We aren’t...
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Everyone Wants To Be Better, But No One Wants To Change
We all want improved relationships, less hectic schedules, and healthier physiques, but we’d like to get them without rearranging the...
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The Drive To Matter
By Guy Hatcher As is tradition whenever I am driving my 7 and 8 year old daughters to school, they request a story from the best...
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Letting Go of Petty Anger: A Confession
by Tina Ann Forkner Anger is an acid that can do more harm to the vessel in which it is stored than to anything on which it is poured....
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Seeking the Fruits of Motherhood
Three weeks after my first child was born, my uncle leaned towards my husband, Mike, over the dinner table. “It would be nice,” he...
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Ten Steps to Emotional Stability
Ten Steps to Emotional Stability: Wrangling the Overwhelm by Angela Breidenbach Do you feel all alone in trying to figure out how to...
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Peace, Good Will Toward Men
By Carla Stewart With three boys in grade school and one still in diapers, it was a daunting task to make the nine-hour trip to be with our...
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The Superior List
Santa’s got one; it’s the naughty and nice categories. Every anticipating child has one; it’s full of all their hearts can wish...
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Christmas Homeport
When the guilty parties who started this website asked me to contribute, they never asked me to pick out a specific theme, or niche. Most...
Read MoreSeven Ways to Lower Stress and Learn To Be Funny!
Laughter releases endorphins. Laughter lowers health risks. Laughter lifts the ambience. Sarah said, “God has brought me laughter, and...
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Hurry Less, Worry Less This Christmas
By Judy Christie. When I was a girl, I was shopping at a Woolworth’s store that came complete with a costume-jewelry counter and a...
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Shoot The Moon
“In the game of pitch, you can shoot the moon with only an ace and a deuce – providing it’s the first hand of a new game.” This is...
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The Year of Firsts
THE YEAR OF FIRSTS by Jean Ann Williams Imagine a young son who has struggled his whole life with pain and illness. His parents have cared...
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How To Restore A Broken Relationship
by Waylon Bailey Can a relationship be restored? Can a marriage plagued with infidelity become a marriage again? Can broken trust ever be...
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Giving Thanks Far from Home
Thanksgiving is one of those holidays that seems to change in meaning as we get older. It begins as a day home from school to stuff...
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Near and Dear — Gwen Ford Faulkenberry
I say these things…so that they may have the full measure of my joy within them. John 1 7:13 NIV These words from John 17 come from the...
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Time Capsule
By Deron Spoo We stumbled upon it. During a recent renovation of one of our older church buildings, we accidentally uncovered a...
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Fighting Fear: Winning the War at Home
When Your Soldier Leaves for Battle Today, war is a part of life. It touches every family, as more and more have someone they care about...
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Practical Religion – Jerry MacGregor
{Excerpt from Jerry MacGregor’s book 40 Ways to Get Closer to God] by Jerry (Chip) MacGregor An acquaintance of mine took her...
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What Do You Do When the Pain is Deep?
by Robin Prater This morning while on facebook I looked on my home page and there before my eyes were pictures of my beautiful...
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The Fallout of Faith
by Leah Morgan He came from a family of ten, whittled down to nine when his father burned alive in an accident. He had a...
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What The Wind Blew In
By Miranda Lewis. It’s sort of ironic that I’ve often blogged about the weather in Oklahoma—the beauty of the wheat, the...
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Whose Yoke Are You Under?
When I first became a Christian, I had no idea what my faith really meant. I held the worldly way of thinking that is so prominent in...
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When Prayers Take Too Long
Christine’s story is bittersweet and beautifully full of faith challenges. “Can a mother forget the baby at her breast and...
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Healing Branches
By Tina Ann Forkner I watched her scatter her favorite seashells across the top of the hope chest. She added a silver framed photo of...
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Quilted With Love
By Carla Stewart The boys and girls at Cal Farley’s Boys Ranch northwest of Amarillo, Texas are always anxious for the yearly visit from...
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The Challenge We Face
By Jerry (Chip) MacGregor To address God as Abba is the boldest and simplest expression of that absolute trust with which we rely...
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From the Front Lines of Prison Ministry
by Will Schmit (Find out more about will by visiting our “about us”page at the very top of the site.) Jorge got the letter from...
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When a Man You Love Was Abused
How does a person gain an abuse survivor’s trust? You gain trust by proving that you’re trustworthy. Don’t be intrusive...
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