As the pastor’s wife of a young church in a young city, I hear and feel the need for discipleship within our church. There are people hungry to be poured into by older men and women, desiring to grow in their relationship with God, and just want some guidance on how to do that. But the overwhelming perception is that there are no older men or women who are available to disciple them. (Remember: our context is in a young church in a young city. They’re kind of right…the older people they’re looking for are few and far between!) So, what do you do when you desire to be discipled, but you don’t think there’s anyone to disciple you? What is Discipleship? First, I suspect that perhaps our view of discipleship is more narrow than the full Biblical picture of discipleship. After all, a disciple in the Bible is simply […]
Want to Know the Will of God for Your Life? Give Thanks.
Want to know what the will of God is for your life? Give thanks. No, don’t give thanks in order to coax God into laying out His will for you; giving thanks is God’s will for you. Give thanks in all circumstances; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you. (emphasis added) 1 Thess. 5:18 So often, I focus on seeking God’s will for the “big” things in my life, but miss His will for the “small” things in my life, which aren’t really small at all. Thankfulness, for instance, is clearly Biblically part of God’s will for me and is commanded throughout the Scriptures as a key component of the Christian life. And yet, I can be so focused on seeking God to reveal the next step or direction of my life that I forget the will of God that He’s already revealed. There are […]
Having Kids is the End of Your Life
I’ve heard before that Austin, Texas, the city I live in and love, has more dogs than children. Needless to say, having my first kid at 25 made me weird, and now having four kids qualifies me as absolutely crazy. It’s not surprising that people often look at me and say: “I’m not ready for kids. I just don’t want to give up _______.” Often that blank is filled with “my freedom,” “my time,” “my selfishness,” “my career,” “my money,” etc. We live in a culture that is looking for life in traveling the world, drinking lattes, and happy hours (which don’t get me wrong – I love those things! Lattes are my love language), but we tend to value our enjoyment, entertainment and ease more than we value giving our lives away to the next generation. We want to live our life and then have kids. Because having kids […]
Desire a Better Home
Over the past year, there have been some of the all-time highest levels of home improvement sales in America. People have been staying home more due to the pandemic and, out of both desire and necessity, putting more money into their homes. We’re seeking more space, more comfort, and better aesthetics for the spaces we inhabit for so much of our lives in this season. Basically, the general population is finally experiencing what stay-at-home moms like myself have been feeling for years! Okay, I’m (sort of) joking. But as long as I’ve been a stay-at-home mom, I’ve craved for ways to make my home more comfortable, more organized, and more functional (though my execution is lacking!). After all, like so many people this year, my home is where I spend most of my life. After our fourth daughter was born, my husband and I started talking about selling our house […]
What lies have you been believing this week?
At the time, I felt so confident, but now I feel like I missed my chance. Why on earth did I do that? That was so dumb…What am I going to do now? Recently, I found my mind spiraling towards anxious thoughts and regret about a lost opportunity. Feeling discouraged, I told my husband, looking for him to encourage me but instead he just listened and then went on with whatever he was doing at the time. All I wanted was for him to affirm me and the decisions that I had made, to tell me that everything would work out, to speak truth and life to me. Unfortunately, not even pastor husbands can read your mind and give you exactly what you want, when you want it, without having to say it. By this time, I had been dwelling on these thoughts for most of the day. After my […]
Struggling to be thankful? Know the Story of God.
Give thanks to the LORD, for he is good, for his steadfast love endures forever. — Give thanks to the God of gods, for his steadfast love endures forever. — To him who alone does great wonders, for his steadfast love endures forever. Psalm 136:1-2, 4 At our family Thanksgiving dinner, we go around the table and share something from the past year that we’re grateful for (I know, creative, right?!). There’s something beautiful about a holiday built into our calendars to encourage us to take the time to stop, remember, and respond in gratitude to our God. And it helps to have friends, family, and some good Thanksgiving sides around, too. But thankfulness may be hard to come by this year. How can we be grateful in this season of what may feel like chaos or confusion? How can we be thankful in sorrows, hardship, or anger? How do […]
Ancient Wisdom for Our Social Media Age
Between a pandemic and feeding a newborn a billion times a day, I’ve spent a significant amount of time on social media over the past several months. I pick up my phone, use my thumbprint to unlock it, and pull up Instagram or Facebook like a bad habit. By the time I’m done, my heart is heavy because while my thumb was busy scrolling, my heart was busy comparing, judging, loving self-promotion, and wanting to respond to someone’s online foolishness with my own folly. For such a simple and mindless habit, my heart can really come out spinning. While social media may be an area of temptation we need to flee at times, there are many beautiful, redeeming aspects of social media, especially in this moment in history. Social media is not the reason why my heart spins out of control; my sin is. Social media may be new, but […]
What I’ve learned in 10 years of marriage
In any healthy relationship, we have to recognize our own sin and our own harmful contributions to the relationship and be a spouse/friend/employer/church leader marked by repentance.
Waiting Is Not Wasted Time
I’ll never forget the look on the man’s face at the store as he scanned my items and casually asked me my due date. It was obvious the time was near, but he gave a look of horror as if I’d give birth right then and there on the store’s floor when I answered, “Four days ago.” That was with my first daughter; today is my due date with my fourth daughter, though of course, I’m writing this weeks in advance. I could possibly have had her by today, but it’s not likely; my babies love to make me wait. So it’s probable that this little one will also make me play the waiting game I’m all too familiar with and not very fond of. Ralph Waldo Emerson said, “How much of human life is lost in waiting,” but I disagree. As much as I dislike waiting when I’m in […]
Newness and the Never-changing
The Frozen II soundtrack has been on repeat in my home over the past few weeks. On it, there are two songs that stand in contrast to one another. The first is “Some Things Never Change,” which is about the desire for some things in life to remain constant and true. But Elsa’s song, “Into the Unknown,” is a song about stepping out of the ordinary and into something new. It’s a song that foreshadows the changes that are coming for Anna, Elsa, and friends. While the songs and feelings seem in contrast, they both remind me of the longings we all tend to have, particularly around the New Year. The New Year brings with it the longing for change – that somehow this year will be better than last, that things will be different, that maybe this year we’ll finally be able to stick to our goals and become […]