If you’re like me sometimes it’s hard to know what the gospel really looks like in relationships. I actually used to think the gospel was something you spoke only to the lost who needed to hear how the sinless life, atoning death and glorious resurrection of Christ made a way for them to have a relationship with God, brings meaning to suffering and provides hope for th...

I’m one of those crazy people who gets up early on Black Friday to shop. It’s a tradition my daughters and I have enjoyed for years. Frankly, I don’t buy much. For me it’s primarily a sentimental opportunity to spend time with my girls and have our yearly lunch at Olive Garden....

This past Monday started out pretty gloomy. I had trouble sleeping the night before, partly because aging brings sleeping issues and, yeah, I’m in “that season” of life when sleeping is typically challenging. But my restlessness was also related to some weighty concerns I’ve been having about people I love…a lot....

Often the moments I hear heart-wrenching comments like this are while sitting on the couch in my living room sharing a glass of sweet tea with women from my church. Like me, they’re dealing with the often-weighty consequences of sins by or against them: pain that runs deep like a knife being slowly twisted through the heart. It’s not always there. But when it’s trigg...

Recently, Sheree Phillips wrote a transparent and helpful post on the struggle of waiting for God. If you're like her (and me), then you probably have an aversion to waiting for just about anything. And the reality is that if you're a Westerner, you're probably just like us in this way. It's no new revelation that with our culture-wide embrace of fast food, fast cash, and ...

I hate waiting. Like last week when I sat at a light. I was in a hurry to get home before the Florida skies open up like they do on most warm, sunny days. The light turned green but there was no movement. Too quickly it turned yellow, then red again. Humph. Huge raindrops started pelting my windshield. Then I noticed flashing lights on a car ahead. I waited some more, h...

At age 60 I remember the days when church women’s ministries were focused on Titus 2: 3-5 which in part teaches women to be “keepers at home.” In fact, I was one of those pastor’s wives who taught this passage in our own church’s women’s ministry. Honestly, I benefited from this. I gained a vision for my home as the primary focus of my gifts and ministry. I lea...

Parenting is hard. You can get help! Please share it will your friends to invite them to our Redemptive Parenting seminar, June 14-15. More information and signup here....

It's not enough to read about "speaking the truth in love." Kristin's story shows us what speaking gospel truth to one another can look like in a real person's real life circumstances....

Yesterday's thoughts has me asking myself some pretty probing questions: Why should I care for my home when I know people are just going to keep messing it up? Why did I discipline my kids for arguing and being disrespectful when I knew they would do it again within days or hours or minutes? Why should I trust God to help my hurting friend when it seems my prayers...

My mom was one of the parents who regularly said, "Because I said so." I told myself I would never say that...like I told myself I would never make my kids clean on Saturday mornings so they could watch cartoons like the rest of the world....

(This is Part Two of this story. Please see yesterday's post for Part One.) The day my Uncle Rocky died I was heartbroken, but I knew I had to tell Josh and Jaime. I still remember feeling perplexed and disappointed. I didn't remember ever believing so strongly that God would heal. I had so wanted them to witness a real miracle......

Our friend, Frank, has been doing a Sunday evening mini-series on prayer. While it's likely I heard him do a variation of these messages in the 90′s at a former church, his words have been freshly challenging and encouraging me. As a small group of us sat our family room listening to him teach last night, the Lord began to show me how easily I'm tempted to discourage...

History isn't very important to a lot of people. But my husband was a history major who has transferred his love of history to our family. Sometime I will have to blog about the competition five of our kids engaged in with the same college history professor… This morning at Redeemer Church history was on display. ...

Do you remember the point I repeated my last post? Our faith-filled obedience to God pleases Him and sanctifies our work. The good news is that while the type of work we do differs, God's pleasure is the same whatever our work is!...

A couple of years ago my son, Jesse, preached a message on the importance of seeing the place into which God has put us as a divine calling. The text was 1 Corinthians 7:17: "Only let each person lead the life that the Lord has assigned to him, and to which God has called him. This is my rule in all the churches."...