All The More: Collective Blog - Author Shelby Kieffer

Traitor

February 2, 2018 Shelby Kieffer 4 min read

As the new year started, I dove into the only real New Year’s resolution I made for 2018: actually and intentionally reading the Bible every day on my own. Not for class, not in church, not for the sake of my son, not at the prompting of my husband or prayer group. One might think as a seminarian, missionary, Christian blogger, yada yada yada I would already be doing this. One would be wrong. Well, we’re 23 days into January as I write this and I’m pleasantly relieved to report that we’re going strong. I chose, somewhat randomly, to start in the book of Joshua and it’s been fascinating. Having grown up around church, I am often struck now reading the Old Testament through adult eyes and realizing that many of the stories were presented through unnecessarily rose-colored glasses, sometimes changing their meaning altogether. (Judges, for example, not what I […]

Do you love me?

October 13, 2017 Shelby Kieffer 3 min read

My husband and I are seminary students, working our way through graduate school with a myriad of side jobs with odd hours to fit around our class schedules. This past March, we became parents and joined the community of crazy people attempting to juggle seminary, work, marriage, parenthood, friendships, individual interests, and sanity.

Stillness Is Not About Zen

July 14, 2017 Shelby Kieffer 3 min read

I read an article recently that told me I should always feel encouraged by Scripture. That sounds like a great plan, except for the fact that the Word of God is not a book of feel-good stories. In the Old Testament, we see a history of people – real, human people – clumsily, messily working their way through life until the coming of their promised Savior. They took one step forward and two steps back, if they were lucky enough to take a step forward at all. By the time I make it to the New Testament, I’m desperate for Jesus to come fix this mess! My heart gets heavy with each parallel I see between sin in the cultures of the Bible and sin in our world today. “Have we learned nothing?” is my most common thought. Often I walk away from Scripture feeling the weight of human depravity; […]

Feeling Insignificant

June 6, 2016 Shelby Kieffer 4 min read

Recently there have been hundreds of books poured out on tables in my school’s library. They’re old or out of date, scribbled-on or just past their usefulness and they were being sold for 10¢ a pop when I found them. They have what they call the “Bargain Box” and anything you can fit into that box you can get for one sole $1. In other words, I bought over 20 books for a grand total of $1 – not too shabby when you’re a bibliophile like myself and your husband has put a cap on your book spending for fear that we’ll have to buy yet another bookshelf. (We will.)

Why We Need to Meet

May 1, 2016 Shelby Kieffer 4 min read

Alone time. It has a beautiful ring to it, doesn’t it? Sometimes, retreating from others gives us space to grieve and grow, to process, to heal, and to listen to God’s still, small voice.