More than New Year’s day, birthdays serve as a catalyst to analyze, to ask the questions: what am I doing with my life? Am I where I want to be? What do I need to change to be where I want to be (in relationships, in my health, at home, in my spirit, etc.)? Five […]
Hope
Shut All Other Doors
I’ve been reading through I & II Kings lately and am astonished at how many pagan practices God’s people adopted. Depending on the king and whether he submitted to the law of the Lord or not, the people often threw their children into Molech’s fiery mouth or set up idol worship in their own homes. […]
Paralyzed by Indecision
“Too many options can flood someone, yet their inability to choose may be directly tied to their fear of making a mistake. This is exponentially increased if they have had a history of being corrected when they were making a choice—or always being told what to do and what to want. Both extremes create self-doubt and the […]
Reconciling the Various Stages of Who We Are and Who We Become
Because the kids spent the night with grandparents into Labor Day, I had the rare opportunity to wake up to an empty house Monday and then spend the whole day alone. I can’t recall when that happened–not one person for 8 whole hours. The house was so quiet, I heard noises I’m not usually able […]
Sitting on Your Own Bum
“On the highest throne in the world, we still sit only on our own bottom.” ― Michel de Montaigne Timothy Keller posted this on FB: “Real humility is shy.” I’ve been pondering that concept in relationship to the scared echo of pride awareness in my own life. Sadly, that deepest, darkest sin oozes through every other sin. […]
Noticing the Little Gifts of God
The Hanley family has talked for years about the fun memories made camping and how we want to carry that legacy on with our kids. After 14 years of marriage and several kids later, we finally said, “This is the year we vacation together.” Picking a spot somewhat in the middle, we scheduled our camping […]
Helping Your Kids Deal with Stress
Everyone’s heard of our natural response to stressful situations with the “fight or flight” mode. When our adrenal glands overwork, our liver dumps extra sugar into our system, the hormone epinephrine fuels the body, the heart rate accelerates and the lungs work harder (Exploring Creation with Anatomy and Physiology). But what happens when we can’t […]
- Gratitude
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How to be Grateful When Life Grates
Have you ever been grating a vegetable or cheese and gotten slightly distracted for a split second? All of sudden, you feel the ripping pain as layers of skin are shredded along with your food, blood quickly appearing on the surface. You run to the cold water faucet and press against the wound with a […]
When Your Child Contemplates Death
In our house, death doesn’t stay in the taboo talk topics. Especially since my dad went Home to Jesus five years ago, the kids and I frequently discuss Heaven. Some people may assess our obsession as slightly morbid or imbalanced, but I think the opposite holds true. Losing sight of where we are going and […]
Inspiring Moments
This moment from the past may have occurred decades ago, but it still carries the power to inspire us today. No matter what, God can use you. You are wonderfully made. You can live with joy and gratitude and purpose. Failure might just be a stepping stone to greatest: […]