I still own the sewing machine that belonged to my grandmother and great-grandmother. The small, black Singer assisted me in making childhood clothes, my wedding dress, and curtains that hang in my house to this day. In the past, when people saw my machine, they often asked, “Is it a toy?” No, it’s a sentimental…
Like many other women I know, I consider myself a “part of the solution, not part of the problem” kind of woman. Our values include not complaining or pointing fingers. Not sitting back and whining while others do the heavy lifting to right wrongs or to address problems in our world. Jesus modeled a face-to-face,…
“Faithful are the wounds of a friend, but deceitful are the kisses of an enemy.” (Prov. 27:6 NASB) If you’ve lived long enough, you’ve more than likely been betrayed by someone close to you. Nothing hurts more than a hurt that you never see coming. Many people refer to this kind of betrayal as being…
The experiences of those of us who grew up in the church vary greatly. The older I get, the more I understand that the people who mentored me throughout my formative years, especially high school and college, understood that I would encounter challenging questions and experiences that could cause me to question my faith in…
A few years ago, I walked through a difficult misunderstanding with a loved one. No matter what I did, I could not convince them of my innocence, nor did any sort of verbal wrangling help them understand things from my perspective. To be misunderstood is to experience some of the greatest pain in our lives….
Should Christians be nicer than non-Christians? Shouldn’t the Holy Spirit be turning Christians into humans who are nicer than their unbelieving friends and neighbors? The obvious answer is yes, yet our experience shows case after case in which non-Christians act with more kindness toward their neighbors than Christians do. Why is this? C. S. Lewis…