My daughter is nearing her teen years and there are so many voices willing to tell her what to think about herself. I wanted to encourage her to know who God says she is, so I wrote out this list of 36 affirmations from the Bible for teen girls and woman to build character and know their worth and value. The statements are all based on the truths found in the books of Ephesians and Proverbs 31.
While I was pregnant, I made this list of scriptures that I would read and pray over whenever I was feeling anxious or overwhelmed. I also planned on using them during my labor to help calm and relax me. It turns out I was too tired and delirious during labor to look...
Tonight I spent the evening at the Laura Dester Shelter, which is our city's emergency shelter for children. When the police pick up the kids from a house because of neglect, abuse, or their parents being arrested, the kids go the the shelter. The idea is then that...
This is my commandment: Love each other in the same way I have loved you. There is no greater love than to lay down one's life for one's friends. You are my friends if you do what I command. I no longer call you slaves, because a master doesn't confide in his slaves....
And that’s the way it was with us before Christ came. We were like children; we were slaves to the basic spiritual principles of this world. But when the right time came, God sent his Son, born of a woman, subject to the law. God sent him to buy freedom for us who...
But if you refuse to serve the Lord, then choose today whom you will serve. Would you prefer the gods your ancestors served beyond the Euphrates? Or will it be the gods of the Amorites in whose land you now live? But as for me and my family, we will serve the Lord."...
8046 children in Oklahoma were in the foster care system as of Jan. 1. On the front page of the Tulsa World today was an article about the 843 meth labs found in Oklahoma this past year, with 429 of them being in Tulsa. When the parents are arrested, the kids enter...
I'm concerned about the moral ambiguity of my generation. I'm concerned about the harm and pain that is caused from failing to set boundaries and from failing to value precious gifts. I want to share my own story because I think it's important to be honest, especially...
While I drink my tea this morning, I’m sitting at my kitchen table gazing out at thousands of snowflakes falling. It’s said that no two snowflakes are the same. They all have a unique lattice structure, just as each human has a unique set of fingerprints. I heard yesterday that scientists are looking at the bacteria on our bodies and have discovered that we carry and spread our own unique set of bacteria on everything we touch.
Last week, Pastor Alex finished his series called "Wired," that was about our personality gifts that God gives each of us. He said at one point that the gifts were divided into two broad categories: speaking gifts and serving gifts. My top two were speaking gifts....
Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself from being polluted by the world. James 1:27 Have you considered adoption? If you are like most people I know, you have adopted,...
Therefore, holy brothers, who share in the heavenly calling, fix your thoughts on Jesus, the apostle and high priest whom we confess. - Hebrews 3:1 Fixing your eyes on Jesus is vital to every believer. There are so many distractions in every part of our lives, and so...