The day after surgery for breast cancer I sat on the edge of the hospital bed, looking out over a brilliantly sunny July day. I had cancer but did not know how far it had progressed. I was thirty-nine years old with four children to raise. Our youngest, Mark, was ten years old…

The Hebrew Christians were scared and weary. They had started their walk with Jesus, filled with hope and a passion for reflecting His compassion to one another. Their faith compelled them to offer practical help to one another…

How many times have you witnessed grief that seems impossible to comfort? Your experience might not include helping a friend whose grief threatens to drive her to the brink of despair. Instead, it could be your teenage son or daughter whose heart is breaking because…

The topic of encouragement is dear to me because encouragers helped turn my heart toward the Lord after the fatal car accident that took the lives of our son Mark and his friend Kelly.  When God seemed far away, He sent His people as..

The heart of a life-giver is focused on glorifying God, but when our identity is wrapped up in our roles, our children, family, achievements, beauty, career, friends, financial security, good works, health, money…

Several years ago, God turned my world upside down and put me on a pathway that forced me to learn how to be a spiritual life-giver when my instinct was to be a life- taker. If you had asked me if I was a life-giver, though I was unfamiliar with the term, I would have answered…

Remember Eve, whose name means life-giver? She seemed to take credit for creating life when she gave birth to her first son. Well, actually, she implies that God and she partnered in this amazing event. Then life happened…

“This is too hard. I am a widow and my adult children live too far away to just drop by. I’m lonely and I’m angry that God has killed my dreams. We had such plans to enjoy this season of life. Everything seemed to be falling into place and then that phone call, that terrible phone call…

Did you know that in a landmark study researchers found that women react to stress differently than men because different proportions of hormones are released into the bloodstream?  Men release much smaller…

“Oh, look! I used to go to youth group at that church!” My friend and her daughter were Christmas shopping. The daughter’s invitation to go to the mall shocked her mother because of the ongoing conflict between them. Her daughter’s life choices..

We need endurance to finish a race well, and that includes our lifelong journey of faith, obedience and love. I’m strengthened to know that Jesus is with me and that He eagerly provides running mates along the way. Friends, mentors and teachers are provided by God to encourage…

God uses disappointments in powerful ways in our lives, if we’ll receive it!  As I type this, I’m facing some disappointment in a relationship, and feel sad. Nestled in the melancholy cloud over my heart is an assurance that He is at work in me, His workmanship, whom He has created for specific good works.

Escape. Vacation. Getting away from it ALL! Life sometimes feels like too much, doesn’t it? I mean, the pressures of ministry, financial burdens, health trials and tough relationships can tempt me to a) dream up a fantasy career…

A friend of mine shared about a painful disappointment in her marriage. Seems that her husband had planned a day trip by himself to a favorite getaway in the mountains for some solitude and refreshment. After settling the details and booking a reservation, he casually mentioned his plans to my friend…

Have you ever, like me, had the humbling experience to realize that a certain electrical gadget or appliance wasn’t broken but just needed to be switched ‘on’? After getting myself in a frenzied, frustrated state with “Ugh! Yet another broken thing to get fixed,” I remembered to check that important little on-off knob.

Most of us love a great relationship story. It might be a romantic movie like “While You Were Sleeping”, or a soul-knot friendship like that between David and Jonathan in 1 Samuel, or Anne and Diana in Anne of Green Gables. There’s something about people truly caring, loving and being devoted to one another that stirs something in our emotional DNA…

Ellen Dykas joins us this week as guest writer for our special series, "What She Said!" No doubt many of you are familiar with Ellen but for those who aren’t, you are in for a real treat! I am drawn to Ellen for many reasons, but at the top of my list is that she shares powerful truths sheathed in kindness and love…

Most likely Lamentations was written after Jerusalem had fallen.  There was much grief, and the author wants to offer hope. Hope in our God. What was the struggle?

Through my MS, God has taught me that getting aggravated hampers my physical well-being.  The dictionary defines aggravation as “an act or circumstance that intensifies something or makes something worse”.  Aggravation can also hamper our spiritual well-being…

My silent emotional tantrum, still cracks loud and real, and causes my body to shudder. If I go to this memorial service, then that means she is really gone. If I go to this memorial service, then the hole in my heart is reality. If I go to this memorial service, I witness the heartbreak piercing her husband.