abandoned to Christ.

Parenthood. Biblical parenthood. There is a difference. The well-known phrase, "The hand that rocks the cradle, rules the world" is an abbreviated version of the refrain in a poem written by William Ross Wallace (1819-1881) that honors motherhood; but above what God decreed. The second to the last stanza reads like this, Woman, how divine your mission Here upon our natal sod! Keep, oh, keep the young heart open Always to the breath of God! All true trophies of the ages Are from mother-love impearled; For the hand that rocks the cradle Is the hand that rules the world. A mother's love, acceptance, and discipline (or lack of all three) has an enormous impact on whether her children will learn between right and wrong. But she's neither the sole, nor sovereign influence on her children. How a father engages, or doesn't engage in his children's lives also plays a significant role on a child's demeanor. ...

This is my second year of reading through God's awesome Word using Professor Grant Horner's 10 List Reading System . And I still LOVE it so much, words are not enough to express how much this reading plan has effected my life and continually increases my gratitude and love for my heavenly Father sacrificing His Son to save my soul; for the Son giving us His Holy Spirit to sanctify me, and seal me until the Day of Redemption. Hallelujah! Every day is different. Some days I'm in awe of how all 10 chapters tell the same story. Others days I'm in awe of how all 10 chapters teach me the same lesson through very different circumstances. And some days, like today, I'm reminded of the awesome gift of knowing God Almighty and being adopted as one of His holy children through repentance and faith in Christ, His Son (Mk 1:15, 2 Cor 7:10). Reading Ruth 3 and Isaiah 47 on the same day, I'm finding, is a very healthy heart exercise; spiritually and physically. W...

The condensed version of, "I told you this would happen, but you wouldn't listen." is, "I told you so." It's been ingrained in me and I think, most, if not all of you, that saying "I told you so" is wrong. It's considered to be harsh, inconsiderate, unkind, jabbing; and therefore, the most unloving and graceless thing to say to anyone after they've neglected to heed wise counsel, and find themselves in an unsavory and often, painful situation. "Call me crazy, but in the history of conversations, has the phrase 'I told you so' ever really generated a positive response? I'd say no, it has not...'I told you so' is a negative and counterproductive way of saying, 'I’m right and you’re wrong,' that does neither party any good. Even if the person in the wrong has been stubborn and refused constructive advice, that does not give another person the authority to rub their face in it... "If you must sa...

Being a mom, and especially a Christian mom, is hard. It's what I call, hard heart-work. God builds a special bond between a mother and each of her children. There's something inexplicably wonderful about the life that proceeds from a mother's womb. Which is why abortion is such a horrible and wicked thing to encourage women to do—to strip herself of the beautiful life God graciously gave her in spite of what sins she may have committed, or what sins may have been committed against her.  Every child is an unmerited gift from God. Therefore, in view of God's mercy, we offer ourselves as living sacrifices, holy and acceptable to God, which is our spiritual worship. This command extends to motherhood also. Which means, rather than mothering our children in order to please and seek love for self, we care for our children in order to please and love God and our children sacrificially, and not just when it's easy, fun and dignified. It means we must love God a...

Tomorrow, we'll celebrate another Mother's Day. For some, it'll be a day in which we have the opportunity to honor our mothers who love the Lord and taught us to do the same. For others, it'll be a day when we miss our mothers who are no longer with us, but have entered eternity with Christ, or grievously, without Christ. And for others, this Mother's Day will be a day where we're tempted to send cards filled with untruthful, feel-good sentiments and share posts on social media that describe a godly mother we never had/have. Regardless of what kind of mother we had/have, we're called by God to love and honor her... biblically (read: Celebrating A Different Kind of Mother  to find out how to practically obey this biblical mandate). Some, like me and my husband, were raised by mothers who worked hard to put a roof over our heads and food on the table. But sadly, neither are/were believers (my mother-in-law entered eternity without Christ🥺) However,...

On March 26, 2015, a monumental act was signed in the beautiful and picturesque state of Indiana. Since the signing of this act, ugly and false accusations have been hurled at Governor Mike Pence by the bullies of the LGBTQIA . I know in the news, you'll only see the acronym LGBT used, but it's not accurate since all hands are on deck when it comes to trying to ring the neck of Governor Mike Pence and anyone else who stands with him. Before I continue, I want to clarify that I'm sure not everyone who is a lesbian, gay, transgender, etc. person, is part of this monstrous faction of LGBTQIA who, like bullies, purposely target and threaten those who are not like them. I'm sure there must be some who are a part of the LGBTQIA community who despise this hypocrisy, and truly aspire to allow all people to peaceably live as they choose, rather than impose their lifestyle choice on others. If you're not familiar with the acronyms, I'll give you a quick update...