These last few months have been such an incredible journey for me! I just want to share some of the multitude of things that God has been teaching me. When God is working in our lives, I believe that He wants us to share with others the things that we are learning. This is one of the many ways that He can work to change lives. After all, isn’t that what a lot of the letters in the Bible are? People writing to others about what God has inspired in their hearts and lives?
Anyway, if you read my last post, you’ll remember that I did a deep dive into the spiritual disciplines of prayer and fasting. This has opened up an entirely new facet of my spiritual walk that just wasn’t there before. Either that, or I just didn’t have my spiritual eyes opened to see what was right in front of me!
Let me share first, about what the discipline of fasting has done to change my life physically. The most obvious, of course, would be weight loss. Since February, by using a combination of Whole Thirty and intermittent fasting, I have lost 45 pounds and I am down 3 clothing sizes. I have struggled with iron deficient anemia for many years and now my iron levels are consistent with no supplements needed. I have also struggled with hypothyroidism for a long time, and I am no longer on medication for that either! I have a consistent sleep pattern and my energy is at a higher level than it’s been in a long time. I also can see that I am thinking with more clarity.

Even though my physical changes might be more noticeable to those who aren’t around me constantly, it’s the spiritual changes that I am most excited about. I mentioned in my last post that my quiet times had become more productive and meaningful. This has only increased with time.
I used to get up with my husband at 4:30 and get coffee and breakfast for him and pray with him before he left for work. I would then try to go back to sleep for an hour or two before getting up and squeezing in my quiet time before jumping into life with my kids. Now, I still get up with my husband at 4:30, but instead of being excited about jumping back in bed and sleeping for an hour or 2 more, I am excited to jump into God’s Word and to spend time in worship and prayer. By being up that early, I usually have 2 hours alone in a very quiet house before any of my kids are up.
Something else that I’ve noticed, is that I am much more sensitive to the Holy Spirit guiding me throughout the day. My decisions, my thoughts, and my actions are becoming results of His leading instead of my own. Instead of looking to find some way to be helpful, I ask God to show me how I can best serve. I turn to prayer so much quicker than I have in the past, and I have seen answers to those prayers come about time and time again. It’s becoming a normal occurrence for me to ask if I can pray with someone right then and there instead of telling them that I will and then doing it in private or not at all.
With all these changes, I feel like God has given me much more responsibility in my walk with Him. By His leading, I began a women’s prayer and fasting ministry that grew from 12 – 120 in less than 2 months! I also helped to initiate a church wide 24 hour prayer and fasting event at my church. I have been asked to share at several different events and there are new ministry opportunities being placed before me all the time.
None of these changes have ANYTHING to do with ME and EVERYTHING to do with GOD. All of these changes have come about because of obedience to His command to pray and fast. Practicing these two disciplines hand in hand opens up access to the presence and power of the Holy Spirit within us. He has always been with me, I just never understood the full potential of the gift that I was given when I trusted Christ as my Savior.
If you have never practiced the discipline of fasting, I would encourage you to do so. If there are areas of your life that you struggle with, whether they are physical or spiritual, I believe that you will find answers to these issues by fasting and praying. I’m not talking about just skipping breakfast for one or two mornings — although done with the proper heart attitude this can definitely be affective. I am talking about making a commitment to fast for an entire day or longer if God so leads.
I haven’t personally done a fast for longer than 24 hours yet, but I believe that after the New Year that is something that God might be calling me to. My desire is that through my obedience in practicing these disciplines, I will, like it says in Galatians, “keep in step with the Spirit”, and according to 1 Corinthians 2, would have “the mind of Christ”.
I can’t even begin to fathom what an extraordinary gift this is to actually have the mind of Christ, yet it is gifted to us if only we will tap into it by denying the flesh to make room for the Spirit inside of us.
Here is what the rest of that passage from 1 Corinthians says:
“These things God has revealed to us through the Spirit. For the Spirit searches everything, even the depths of God. For who knows a person’s thoughts except the spirit of that person, which is in him? So also no one comprehends the thoughts of God except the Spirit of God. Now we have received not the spirit of the world, but the Spirit who is from God, that we might understand the things freely given us by God. And we impart this in words not taught by human wisdom but taught by the Spirit, interpreting spiritual truths to those who are spiritual. The natural person does not accept the things  of the Spirit of God, for they are folly to him, and he is not able to understand them because they are spiritually discerned. The spiritual person judges all things, but is himself to  be judged by no one. “For who has understood the mind of the Lord so as to instruct him?” But we have the mind of Christ.”
When we are in tune with the Spirit of God living in us, everything about our lives becomes richer and deeper. Our worship, our conversations, our thoughts, our prayers and every single action that we take begins to be “in step” with what God wants for us.
I have seen first-hand what this can be like! I have experienced that still small voice speaking to my heart giving me guidance throughout the day. I have been overwhelmed in worshipping Him, I have seen Him answer prayers in ways better than I could ever ask or imagine and I have felt his presence in my life grow stronger every day since I began this journey of fasting and prayer.
I would love to talk to anyone who is thinking about starting on this journey. If you have any questions about it or simply want someone to pray for you as you begin, I would count it a privilege to be that person.

About a month ago, I decided to add a component to the health journey that I’ve been on. Its called intermittent fasting. Back in February, I made a choice to try something new with my eating plan. I cut out tons of foods like carbs, gluten and dairy as well as a few others, and began walking a lot and continued with drinking a gallon or more of water a day. Things have been going great and I have seen a huge change in my appearance as well as how I feel overall. The reason for adding the fasting was more to shake things up for me and to move past the plateau I had landed on weight wise.

I went with the 16:8 fasting plan. All of my meals are eaten between the hours of 12:00 pm and 8:00 pm, and I fast for the other 16 hours. As I suspected, I was able to move past my plateau and I once again began shedding pounds. Being healthy is a great feeling!

As I continued with this new plan, I began seeing another benefit to this new way of eating, but it had nothing to do with my physical health. During those hours that I would normally be eating breakfast, I found that I had a deeper awareness of spiritual things. My prayer life became more intense and I began to hear God’s voice more clearly than I have in a long time. This led me to start studying the practice of prayer and fasting.

Did you know that throughout the Bible, fasting is actually mentioned more times than baptism? When looking deeper, I found that God’s people fasted for a variety of reasons:

• they were facing a crisis
• they were seeking God’s protection and deliverance
• they had been called to repentance and renewal
• they were humbling themselves in worship
• Moses fasted before being given the Ten Commandments
• Daniel fasted when seeking wisdom from God
• Nehemiah fasted before beginning a major building project
• Jesus fasted during His victory over temptation

Some might argue that fasting is an outdated practice that was only observed during Bible times. I don’t think so. Jesus gives a sermon in Matthew chapter 6 about prayer and about giving. He uses phrases such as, “WHEN you pray, WHEN you give and WHEN you fast.” Jesus is assuming that those listening WILL pray, WILL give and WILL fast. These things are not optional! I would venture to say that most Christians pray and most Christians give, but why don’t we hear more about Christians fasting?

I think one of the biggest reasons here in America would be materialism. Sadly, this is true even within the church. G. Jeffery MacDonald says, “The church has become the handmaiden of desire,” giving people what they want rather than holding up a vision of what God knows we need. We are living in a largely consumer-absorbed society that is filled with with the love for perishable things. This “me-first” culture will find it hard to voluntarily give up an amenity such as food. The truth is, compared to the rest of the world, our western society lives in luxury simply because most of us know where our next meal is coming from. Perhaps experiencing hunger would birth empathy amidst a culture that pushes entitlement over compassion.

Another reason for a lack of fasting, could simply be ignorance of what God’s Word has to say about this subject. We as Christians do a disservice to ourselves when we don’t seek to learn about something we don’t fully understand in the Bible. If you don’t understand the spiritual discipline of fasting, then you need to see what the Scripture has to say about it or at least read the works of scholars who do.

Understanding God’s Word should be a practice in personal discipline just as fasting should be. You will never be able to fully understand everything that is written in the Bible, just as you will never be able to stop eating completely. On either front, though, you should still press forward. Make the effort to deny your natural needs in order to pull closer to our supernatural God.

Our lives are to be a “living sacrifice” as it says in Romans 12:1. Fasting requires a certain amount of self-sacrifice. When we deny ourselves of the basic necessity of food in order to draw closer to God, we open up our hearts and minds to experience a different kind of need – a hunger and thirst for a deeper relationship with our heavenly Father, and the knowledge that we are completely dependent on Him.

When we talk about the discipline of fasting, it is almost always coupled together with prayer. It is possible to fast without praying just as we often pray without fasting. It is when these two disciplines are combined, however, that they will reach their full effectiveness. Far too often, the focus of prayer and fasting is on the abstaining from food instead of where is should be, which is to take our eyes off the things of this world and focus on prayer and fellowship with God.

In the book of Ephesians, Paul talks about the six pieces of spiritual armor. The last piece, the sword of the spirit, is often looked at as the only weapon mentioned. What many fail to see, however, is another weapon that is just as powerful, possibly even more so at times. He talks about it in Ephesians 6:18-20. In these verses, Paul writes about prayer. He says, “Praying at all times in the Spirit, with all prayer and supplication. To that end, keep alert with all perseverance, making supplication for all the saints, and also for me, that words may be given to me in opening my mouth boldly to proclaim the mystery of the gospel, for which I am an ambassador in chains, that I may declare it boldly, as I ought to speak.”

The fact that Paul writes about prayer immediately following the list of other spiritual weapons serves to prove an important point – that prayer is vitally important to spiritual warfare. In these verses, he shows us several ways to use prayer effectively.

• He says to pray at all times. He mentions this again in 1 Thessalonians 5:17 when he says, “pray without ceasing.” This doesn’t mean that we have to be on our knees 24/7, but that we are to always maintain an attitude of prayer.
• We are to pray “in the Spirit”. Remember our other weapon here: The Sword of the Spirit, which is the Word of God. I would think, then, that this implies that to some degree our prayers should be based on the Bible. If we are using His very words to pray to Him, then we can be certain that we are praying according to His will.
• He says that we are to bring our requests to Him (“with all prayer and supplication”). While it is true that God is all-knowing, He still desires us to humble ourselves and ask Him for what we want or need.
• We need to persevere in our prayers. To be persistent, even repetitious in praying for something is not because God doesn’t hear us, but because there is spiritual warfare going on and sometimes, perseverance in prayer is required for our prayers to get through. If you read Daniel 10:11-21, we see that Daniel had prayed 3 times a day for 21 days for a particular request. He finally gets a reply and it is brought to him by an angel that tells him that God heard him on the very first day, but that because of evil forces, the angel could not get through for 3 weeks. Battles aren’t won by swinging your sword once. We need to keep swinging. Keep fighting. Keep praying.
• We are to pray for others. More specifically, we are to pray for other Christians. We should focus less on praying for ourselves, and more on the body of Christ.

Suffice it to say, I have learned a lot over the last few weeks, and God has brought about a wonderful ministry as a result. In one of my prayer times, He made it abundantly clear that I was to hold a women’s day of fasting and prayer. I will admit, there was a lot of hesitation on my part and I doubted my ability to lead something like that, but God gave me a willing heart and brought me to a place where I was able to simply pray, “Lord, use me however You want to.”

That event was so amazing! There were roughly 2 dozen women fasting and praying together either in person or virtually. We had wonderful times of worship and prayer, and the weather that day was truly a gift from God. It was very clear to all of us that God’s presence was among us. When we finally broke our fast together at the end of the day, we all agreed that this should not be a singular event.

Since that time, God has continued to burden my heart with the great need for fasting and prayer. Our nation is on a downward spiral and we as Americans have turned our backs on God. We are in desperate need of revival in our country and it can only come about by God’s people falling on their faces before God and pleading for His mercy.

The women’s prayer and fasting ministry is just beginning to take off. I have launched a Facebook group where we will be taking one day a week to fast with a designated prayer focus. I also plan to host several all day events over the next few months. In less than 48 hours, over 40 women have committed to join. Some of these ladies are in different states across America. My desire is that this ministry will continue to grow by leaps and bounds, and that all across our country, women will be on the front lines of the spiritual battle that is waging all around us.

If you wish to be a part of this ministry, please contact me and I will add you to our page. If you are not on Facebook, you can e-mail me and I will add you to the prayer and fasting e-mail updates list.

I count it an honor to be used by God in this way, and my prayer going forth from here is, “Lord, here I am, use me as You will.” Ladies, let’s get ready for battle!

Isaiah 33:6 “He will be the stability of your times, abundance of salvation, wisdom and knowledge;”

I think that if we could all agree on one thing today, it would be that our nation is in trouble. From whatever angle you may be looking from, America is falling apart. Economically, emotionally, morally and most importantly, spiritually. America is headed for destruction.

As individuals, there is not much that we can do about this, but as the Body of Christ, His church, there is Hope. Martin Luther King, Jr. said, ” The church is the moral conscience of the nation. She is not the master and she is not the servant.” When the church remains silent, when pastors are too timid to speak out and when the people of God don’t want to do anything, the states will see this and will begin to see just how far they can push their agenda. They will continue to push and push until they’ve achieved their goal of eliminating the voice of God’s people. At some point, we as a church HAVE to PUSH BACK! That is how wisdom and knowledge will be the stability of these times.

We as a church cannot live in the fear of man. We must not let Satan get a foot hold amongst the brothers and sisters of our churches. We must not cower in silence. We cannot allow anything to stand in the way of shining the Light of the Gospel on the sinful condition of a wayward people. Ephesians 5:11 says, “Take no part in the unfruitful works of darkness, but instead EXPOSE THEM.”We aren’t just supposed to roll over every time one of our God given freedoms are stripped away, we are to fight for them.

Notice that I didn’t use the word “rights”, I specifically chose the word “freedoms”. Rights are something that we talk about when speaking about something that we are owed or something that we have earned. It is a sense of entitlement. We as Christians are called to die to self, so in one sense we shouldn’t really even have rights. God given freedoms, on the other hand, are something that have been given to us by God (i.e. the pursuit of life, liberty and happiness that our forefathers spoke of, the freedom to live is why we speak out against the slaughter of innocent babies, the freedom for purity and innocence is why we guard our children, etc.).

God given freedoms are to be fought for. The freedom to worship is definitely something we should fight for. Daniel was told not to worship anyone except the king and he went against that order and prayed openly to God. Although he was sentenced to the lions’ den, God intervened because of his obedience to stand up for his God given freedom to worship, and he was miraculously delivered from a certain death.

In the same way, we have the opportunity to show the world our great God who still works miracles today. However, if we give up our freedom to worship together and fail to minister to those who are hurting when the world needs Christ the most, I believe that as a church, we will be fueling our own irrelevance.

Maybe some of you are thinking about Jesus’ commands to love our enemies and pray for those who persecute you. Maybe you are thinking of the passage from Colossians 3 that says to clothe yourself in compassion, kindness, humility, meekness and patience. I absolutely LOVE that passage, but you need to remember that even the apostle Paul fought for his freedom. He said, “I appeal to Caesar” when he was unjustly arrested.

Maybe you are convinced that Jesus was only a timid, mild-mannered man that only spoke loving and tender words. He was not a pacifist just going with the flow! How about these direct quotes from our loving Savior, “You brood of vipers…” and “You white-washed tombs…”. He often had the message of, “I love you. You are a sinner. Turn and repent.” We are to speak out against anything that is an attack on God’s character and his Word.

Perhaps Leonard Ravenhill said it best when he said, “If Jesus preached the same message ministers preach today, He would never have been crucified.” Don’t get me wrong here. I am not saying that every single preacher in America is silently cowering in fear. I just think that there is a vast majority of men who call themselves pastors out there that are catering to what the people want to hear in order to avoid confrontation. The pulpit once set the tone for our great nation. Now we can hear the echos of Psalm 94:16 ringing across the land, “Who rises up for Me against the wicked? Who stands up for Me against the evil doers?”

Let it be us! Let it be the church! Oh, that we would not be willing to be led as lambs to the slaughter! “Boldness is a direct reflection of the Holy Spirit working in your life.” (unknown) We need to rise up and fight! This is a spiritual battle and we will need spiritual weapons with which to fight it. We need to fight from a Biblical perspective; with praise, worship, prayer, fasting and seeking God. As Pastor Shane Idleman said, “We don’t need full gun safes (at least not yet) we need full prayer closets!”

Isaiah 30:27 says, “Behold the name of the LORD comes from afar, burning with His anger, and in thick rising smoke; his lips are full of fury, and His tongue is like a devouring fire; His breath is like an overflowing stream that reaches up to the neck; to sift the nations with the sieve of destruction, and to place on the jaws of the peoples a bridle that leads astray.”

Nothing can hold back the hand of God but a broken and repentant people. We need a revival of brokenness and dependence on Him. These are hard times, but pandemics aren’t something new to God’s people. Locusts, famines and plagues were all in the Bible! When God’s people went through these things, what did they do? They CRIED OUT TO GOD!

Church! Rise up! Arm yourselves with the Sword of the Spirit, which is the Word of God and get ready to fight. The best place to start our battle? On our knees.

“If my people who are called by my name humble themselves, and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven and will forgive their sin and heal their land.” 2 Chronicles 7:14

“Then King Nebuchadnezzar leaped to his feet in amazement and asked his advisers, “Weren’t there three men that we tied up and threw into the fire?”They replied, “Certainly, Your Majesty.” He said, “Look! I see four men walking around in the fire, unbound and unharmed, and the fourth looks like a son of the gods.”

We are all probably familiar with this amazing story about 3 Jewish boys who were thrown into the fiery furnace by the egotistical King Nebuchadnezzar. It’s one of the classic Sunday school stories listed along side of Noah’s ark, Moses crossing the Red Sea, David and Goliath and Daniel in the lion’s den. It truly is inspiring to see the loyalty that Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego had to the one, true God.

However, that is not what I got out of this story the last time I read through it. What impressed me most was Nebuchadnezzar’s reaction to what he saw after the boys were thrown into the furnace. It says, “he leapt to his feet in amazement”.

No doubt the king was surprised at the fact that the boys were walking around unharmed. He had heated the fires so stinking hot that the guards who were tasked with binding them and throwing them in were incinerated immediately. I don’t think that was what caused him to react in such a way though.

Honestly, I think that it was more likely that he was looking at the radiant, glorified body of Jesus Christ. I mean, come on! How many of us can say that we have ever gotten to see Jesus in the flesh? As amazing as that would be for us, think how much more amazing it was for the pagan, unbelieving man that Nebuchadnezzar was?

It was truly a moment like no other for him. Could there be anything more amazing than someone seeing the Son of God for who He really is? If you’re a believer, then you’ve gotten a taste of this because we’ve come to know Jesus intimately. We see Him working among us in our churches and in our own lives. We see His presence in every sunrise, sunset and in every flower blooming.

Let me ask you something, though. When is the last time seeing Jesus caused you to leap in amazement? Have you ever leapt to your feet? Maybe during sports when you’re upset over a bad call or when you’re excited about an amazing catch. Maybe your amazement comes from something else entirely, like seeing something you’ve never seen before.

Whatever the case is, there is nothing that should ever cause us to stop leaping in amazement over what Jesus has done, is doing and will continue to do. That very same presence that walked with those three brave boys lives inside of us and walks us through every trial and pain that we will ever experience.

Whatever difficult, scary or hopeless circumstance you find yourself in, walk confidently, knowing that Jesus is right there with you in the fire moving and working with you to bring glory to the Father.

So, the next time you see Jesus at work, go ahead and leap in amazement because you are experiencing the unique privilege of having the Son of God walking in your midst.

This morning as I was moving around my kitchen doing my normal routine of making sure my two youngest have breakfast, emptying the dishwasher and fixing myself something to eat, I felt like the Lord kept repeating this phrase to me over and over: “These are light and momentary troubles.” When I sat down to eat my breakfast I immediately looked up the verse that includes this phrase. It’s found in 2 Corinthians 4:16-18.

“Therefore, we do not lose heart. Though outwardly we are wasting away, yet inwardly we are being renewed day by day. For our light and momentary troubles are achieving for us an eternal glory that far outweighs them all. So we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen. For what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal.”

I don’t think that it’s a coincidence that God chose this particular time to impress this verse on my heart. Not only did one of my pastors preach on this text last Sunday, but these times that we are in right now are like nothing that anyone has seen – at least within my generation and younger. Having a world-wide pandemic would definitely rank on my top ten things not to ever experience again! I say this tongue-in-cheek, but in all seriousness, our world is in the midst of a great trial, and this verse speaks directly to how we are to deal with it.

If anyone is qualified to speak about trials in their life, the apostle Paul should be considered an expert. He had super legitimate reasons for being discouraged and in a state of despair. If you think about all the things that he went through in his life time, it’s amazing to think that he could pen these verses at all! He endured beatings, shipwrecks, being stoned, starvation, being homeless as well as receiving death threats and that isn’t even the whole list . On top of all of these horrible things, he had to deal with the tormenting thorn in his flesh.

How in the world did this man find the strength to press forward despite these circumstances? He actually refers to them as light and momentary? My idea of light and momentary troubles would be opening the fridge to find out that we are once again out of milk or maybe being in a hurry to get somewhere only to be stopped by what seems like every single red light along the way. So why is it that Paul was able to bare the crushing weight of his suffering and consider it light and momentary?

I believe it’s because he changed his perspective on his situation. He was never trying to cover up the hard things that he endured; instead he began to look on them as achievements. I’m pretty sure that when this virus is over and done with, no one in this world will ever look back and say something like, “The Covid-19 virus was one the best achievements ever.” Nope. Not going to happen. People simply don’t consider hardships as something to be proud of. Paul, on the other hand, was looking at his trials from an entirely different vantage point.

Instead of weighing his troubles on the scale of human nature, he decided to take a leap of faith and to plop his sufferings right down in the middle of God’s scales. Scales that view what’s on the inside instead of the mess that is happening on the outside. So to those looking on the outward appearance, Paul was wasting away, but when Paul looked inward, to where God was at work in his life, he saw that he was being renewed every single day. Paul was able to then consider the weight of his suffering as light and momentary compared to the weight of God’s eternal glory.

While we are “suffering” at home with boredom, monotony and maybe fear of the unknown, we need to remember that our lives are but a speck on the timeline of the Kingdom of God. We can use Paul’s words to assure and encourage ourselves as well as other believers. “For our light and momentary troubles are achieving for us an eternal glory that far outweighs them all.”

He has great things in store for us. Not just for today or even for the coming season, but for all of eternity. Our struggles are going to pass. Our fears are going to pass. Our world’s brokenness is going to pass. The Corona Virus is going to pass and will no longer exist. The things of the Lord and His kingdom and glory will last FOREVER.

Now let me encourage you to make a conscious effort to fix your eyes on eternal things instead of the woes around us. The trials you are facing now are just the raw materials for your future glory – they are achieving in you something eternal! God uses our problems to do some of His greatest work in our lives. He even allows us a glimpse of this for the here and now and doesn’t make us wait until eternity to see it. James 1:2-4 says, “Whenever trouble comes your way, let it be an opportunity for joy. For when your faith is tested, your endurance has a chance to grow. So, let it grow, for when your endurance is fully developed, you will be strong in character and ready for anything.” So think of it this way: For your present good, for your future glory.

“Many men owe the grandeur of their lives to their tremendous difficulties.”

~Charles Spurgeon~

Every day I hear more and more stories about kids being bullied. Name calling, teasing, body shaming and physical abuse are just some of the forms of bullying that are prevalent in today’s society. Kids as young as middle school age battle depression, anxiety, self-harm and even go as far as taking their own lives because of rejection from peers and feeling like they don’t have a place in this world any longer.

Why do kids feel the need to poke fun at other kids? Could it be rooted in a desire to be accepted themselves by others and so they do things that make them look “cool” to those around them? Is it a tactic to make others recognize their abilities or just a way to simply be noticed because they fear being alone?

Whatever the reason, what can we as parents do today to ensure that we are raising kids who are kind and compassionate towards everyone? In Ephesians, it tells us to train up our children in the way that they should go so that when they are old they won’t depart from it. What exactly is “the way he should go?” We can find the answer for this woven all throughout the pages of the Bible.

1 Corinthians 13:4-5 ” Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It is not rude, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs.”

Colossians 3:12 ” As God’s chosen people, holy and dearly loved, clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience.”

Galatians 5:22-23 ” The fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control. Against such things there is no law.”

Ephesians 4:32 ” Be kind and compassionate to one another, forgiving each other, just as in Christ God forgave you.”

2 Peter 1:5-7 ” Make every effort to add to your faith goodness; and to goodness, knowledge; and to knowledge, self-control; and to self-control, perseverance; and to perseverance, godliness; and to godliness, brotherly kindness; and to brotherly kindness, love.”

Matthew 7:12 “So in everything, do to others what you would have them do to you, for this sums up the Law and the Prophets.”

Are we as parents modeling these things to our children on a day-to-day basis? I don’t mean are we kind to our own children, rather, are we showing them kindness that we give to others outside of our home? For example, do you help that elderly person in the store carry their groceries to their car? Do you offer to give your friend a ride even if it takes you out of your way? Have you taken the time to stop and help pick up all the change that fell out of someone’s purse? Do you tell the grumpy person in the toll booth to have a nice day?

Generally speaking, I believe that humans today are rude, self-centered and don’t really care about people that they don’t know. If they’re not in our circle of influence, then they aren’t really worth our time. The Bible often refers to being kind to our neighbors. Who are our neighbors? Are they just the people that live in a mile radius of our home? I don’t think so.

I think a neighbor is anyone that you come in contact with in your day-to-day life. It’s that person driving 5 miles below the speed limit when you are already late for work, or the person in the check-out line that is taking forever because their credit card was rejected. It’s the homeless person that asks for spare change or the hooker that stands on the corner. Perhaps it’s the people in your church that you see every week but you don’t know their name because you’ve never taken the time to introduce yourself.

What are we as parents modeling to our kids in these situations? Maybe we’re not out rightly rude to people, but do we go out of our way to show kindness to other people who need to be shown God’s love? Are we portraying the fruits of the Spirit in our actions and attitudes toward everyone around us? Are we loving, joyful, patient, good and kind even when we don’t feel like it? (Just in case you’re wondering, I’m preaching to myself right now.)

My husband has been such a wonderful example to our children in this area. He has the gift of helps and they have witnessed his acts of kindness to strangers countless times. He has stopped on every single road trip that we have ever taken to help that random person broken down on the side of the road. Either he will stay and change their tire or do whatever he can to get their car running again, or he will at least make sure that they are safely off the road and have someone coming to assist them. He has even put himself in harm’s way to make sure that someone that he has never seen before and will probably never see again is taken care of to the best of his ability.

He has also always encouraged our kids to help the elderly and those in need around us. Our neighbor is a widow in her nineties that lives alone. Dave and the boys take care of her yard work, and all of the kids make sure that her sidewalk and driveway are shoveled after it has snowed. She knows that they are dependable and has referred to them as her little elves! My oldest son has even gone to the hospital and acted as her orderly as per her request, because she knew that she could trust him to have her best interests in mind.

The other day, it brought tears to my eyes when I was out with my 16 year old daughter and I witnessed her walk up to a lady bent over with age who had many bags in her cart. She asked if she needed someone to help her get to her car. This simple act of kindness is evidence of God’s grace in her life, and that she has learned to look beyond her own selfish desires to the wants and needs of others around her. She is truly a kind person.

My youngest son is a very passionate person. Any emotion that he is feeling is readily displayed for all to see! When he’s happy, he’s exuberant. When he’s sad, he is extremely distraught. When he’s mad – well, watch out for an explosion! We are working on self control in this area and choosing to handle his emotions in a better way that will please Jesus, but it definitely is a struggle. He doesn’t always get along with his friends, but I have encouraged him that no matter what happens, and no matter if what has been said is mean or hurtful, he MUST respond with kind words. I don’t think that we as parents should force our children to have to be friends with anyone. You simply cannot make someone be friends with someone else. You can, however, require kindness no matter what.

Kids today don’t know how to treat even their closest friends kindly because we as parents aren’t requiring kindness within our own homes. Brothers and sisters are constantly bickering with one another and have little to no desire to spend time with one another. I am so tired of seeing kids have zero respect for their parents or for any adult. They are rude and uncommunicative and they show very little skill in actually knowing how to communicate with adults in any other capacity than grunts, one word answers or by simply shrugging their shoulders.

In our home, from the time that they can speak, our children are required to respond to their father and I with “yes sir/ma’am” and “no sir/ma’am”. This is not because we think that we are better than them, it is simply because the Bible commands children to honor their parents and we feel like this is a simple act of honoring and respecting us as their authorities. We also ask that they respond this way to any adult or authority figure that they are talking to outside of our home. A little respect can go a long way!

One of the best places to teach our kids how to be kind is within our own circle of friends. Often, the people we are most unkind to are those that we spend the most time with. Kids can be so mean to other kids simply because they are different. Maybe they don’t run fast enough or don’t enjoy sports like the other kids do. Maybe they like things that others think are weird, and so they are left out simply because they enjoy something different than everyone else.

We need to teach our children to look for common ground and not focus on the things that make them different. Find things that they can enjoy talking about or doing together so that no one gets left out or feels belittled because they can’t do something as well as the other kids. Let’s teach our children to recognize and appreciate each others gifts and talents that God has given to each one of them, even if they are vastly different!

Something that has become far too common, especially among Christians, are people forming cliques. if you’re not familiar with this word, I’m talking about groups of people who only do things with each other. They are usually friendly to other people, but when it come down to doing things together, they are often unintentionally exclusive to the point of being rude and seemingly unkind to people who they normally would consider to be their friends. This happens far too often, and while it’s not wrong to have close friends that you feel more comfortable with than others, it is wrong when you make others feel like they aren’t good enough to be in your “crowd” and therefore, feel left out.

We cannot sit by and watch this happen! Jesus teaches us to love one another and we need to make sure that we are modeling this for our children, especially among our closest friends. Some of my dearest friendships have come about as a result of looking outside my normal circle of influence to include others. There are some truly wonderful people out there. You just have to take a chance and get to know them.

Are you familiar with the term “trash talk?” This is where you intentionally hurl insults at people. It’s very common in the world of sports, and it’s very unkind. You may be more familiar with another form of trash talking. It’s when we talk about people behind their back. It’s called gossip. We should not tolerate gossip in our homes, especially about those who we consider to be friends. We call it trash talk because that’s exactly where it belongs. In the trash. Did you know that gossipers are listed along with murderers, liars, idolaters and those who practice immorality? That seems to me like it’s a pretty serious thing. We need to set the example for our kids in this area as well. If a person is not there to defend themselves, then we should not be speaking about them. If it’s something worth talking about, then talk directly to that person and only to that person, and work out your differences among yourselves. Don’t involve other people in something that is none of their business. When speaking about the godly woman, Proverbs says that “the law of kindness is on her tongue.” We would do well to practice this!

Another thing that contributes to unkindness is a lack of compassion. Do our kids make fun of others when they get hurt or can’t keep up? Do they poke fun because someone isn’t good at something? This is not only hurtful, but it can cause the other children to have low self-esteem as well as lack confidence in their ability to do things correctly. Opinions of peers are extremely important to everyone, but especially to children and teenagers. We can encourage compassion in our children by having compassion towards others ourselves and by teaching them to encourage and build up one another instead of belittling and tearing down.

There may be some of you reading this that find yourselves to be repulsed by certain groups of people and so you find it difficult to show kindness to them– perhaps people of a certain religion, lifestyle or maybe people that hold to different standards than you. I may not agree with the gay and lesbian lifestyle, but I have welcomed with open arms people who choose to live their lives this way into my home and have had let them know that they are more than welcome in our home. I certainly don’t agree with the beliefs of Mormons, Muslims or Hindus, but I would most definitely engage in a conversation and even pursue a friendship with someone who believed this way just so that I could show them God’s love through the kindness of friendship.

This has brought about conversations with my children on why we do what we do and why we welcome everyone into our home. Simply put, it is because Jesus wants us to be kind to everyone no matter who they are or what they believe. He associated with all manners of people so He would expect us to do the same. Who knows? Maybe we will be the tools used to point these people to the amazing life that they can have in Christ.

It starts with kindness, though. If we don’t show our kids what kindness looks like, then their only view of Christians will be that we are unaccepting and ignorant people who actually don’t know the first thing about showing the love of Christ to others. If we aren’t setting the example of being kind for this next generation, then who will?

“Be kind whenever possible. It is always possible.”

~Dalai Lama~

(With the new year approaching quickly, I thought I would share something I wrote a few years ago, in hopes that it will encourage someone who may be in the same place that I was at that time. Since then, I have moved beyond my oldest children being in the teenage stage and into having young adult/married adult children. This stage of life has come with a whole new set of life lessons to reflect back on, but that will have to be put in a separate post!)

If I could write to you,
What would I say?
Would you even want to hear?
Would the words of caution from me looking back change who we are?
Would it make you choose a different path in hopes of being a better person, a better wife, a better mother?

Remember as a little girl, the times you would run and tell the wrongs that others had done, but hide the truth about yourself? I’ve learned that talking about others should only happen on my knees in prayer; that offering kindness and friendship is better than offering judgment or holding onto a grudge. Look for the good in others and remember that they are only human and are prone to make mistakes – just like you are. I’ve learned that being honest and accepting correction makes others value what I have to say.

Remember back when you were scared of the unknown? You were quiet and shy around new people and never wanted things to change. I’ve learned that there is adventure in the unknown, and that sometimes you have to leave the past behind and step out of your comfort zone and try new things in order to grow and be changed into someone that God can use more effectively.

Remember being full of pride because you led a privileged life that was every child’s dream? Lots of space to run and play, animals to enjoy and the fame that came with letting others know whose daughter you were. Since then, I’ve discovered that the things that we hold tightly to can be taken away in a heartbeat. Living with less can actually be more of a blessing because you learn to value things that are eternal. Instead of drawing attention to myself because of who I am, my life should be pointing others to My Heavenly Father, because of who He is and what He has done for me.

Remember falling in love with the most amazing guy and struggling to keep your promise to hold onto your purity and save everything for when you got married? You promised to love and respect him forever and to honor him as your leader, provider, and protector. He’s still an amazing guy, and I’ve learned that honoring and respecting him brings honor and respect to God; submitting to his authority keeps order in our home. I’ve learned that he needs to be shown that I love him, not just told, and that I should love him unselfishly and unconditionally. I now cherish every moment I have with him, knowing that he loves me as Christ loves the church.

Remember when you first started having babies and you wondered if God made a mistake entrusting you with the care of a precious little one who was dependent on you for everything? I now see that motherhood was the greatest calling that God could have given me. Children are truly a blessing and I have the privilege of raising disciples, who, by the grace of God, will one day fulfill the calling that He has for their lives.

Remember those seemingly endless days when your kids were little and you felt like you never had a moment alone? Remember feeling like a failure because you lost your temper and snapped at them over some small offense? I know now that I may not always set the best example for my kids, but I can show them what humility looks like by apologizing when I lose my patience or when I react in anger instead of responding in loving correction. I’ve learned to treasure those times that memories are made of, because before I know it, they’re not little children any longer.

Remember holding your sixteen week old son in the palm of your hand and crying because you would never see your child run and play, never kiss him good night, or see him grow into a man? You questioned why God would bless you with a child only to have him snatched away. I’ve learned that God has a purpose for everything, and that He gives and takes away, not to punish us, but to develop steadfastness which in turn develops our faith and trust in Him. He takes that experience and uses it to encourage others going through the same thing. I am confident that when God takes me to heaven, I will be greeted not only by my Savior, but by my four precious children that He called home before me.

Remember when your teenagers started making decisions for themselves and began expressing interest in the opposite sex, and all you wanted to do was go back to when they were little because this stage of life was too hard to deal with? Now I embrace this part of their life because those little children that I nurtured and trained up have grown into strong young men and women who I am proud of and who have become some of my best friends. They truly love the Lord and the people that they have become reflects that love to those around them.

So if I could step back in time and tell you all these things so that you wouldn’t have to learn the hard way, would I do that? Would I save you the heart aches and the struggles that I’ve been through in hopes that we would turn out to be a better person?

My answer would have to be “no”. No, I would not save myself the heartache. No, I would not take the struggles for an easier life. No, I wouldn’t change a single thing. You see, those very struggles that we went through, all the lessons that we learned, those things have shaped us into the person that we are today. They define us and they remind us of how far we’ve come and what we have been able to leave behind. They’ve taught us that we can wear the mask of being a good Christian in the words we speak or in living a certain lifestyle so that people think that we are worthy of some kind of spiritual recognition, but without compassion, humility, grace and the integrity to do what is right even in the face of adversity, our life would virtually be for nothing, because who we really are is what we hold inside of us. Is it something that we would rather hide from those watching, looking at us to see if we are truly as righteous as we appear to be, or are we willing to be transparent and let others see that we aren’t perfect; that we struggle with sin and doubts and we need to be accountable to others who, like us, are trying to be like Christ?

So—if I could say anything to you, if I could pass on any wisdom that I’ve managed to obtain from life so far, it would be to press on through your struggles. Keep fighting for righteousness when trials come. Don’t give up when you think that you are failing, because it is during these times that God is shaping you into the beautiful person that He already sees you to be.
Don’t give up.

Love,
Me

All across the globe, children and adults alike have been preparing themselves for today’s celebration known as Halloween. Americans alone buy nearly 600 million pounds of candy each year in anticipation of this one night. Costumes have been bought, made or pieced together and houses are draped with spider webs and jack-o-lanterns while yards are littered with everything spooky from ghosts and witches to huge inflatable dragons with glowing eyes.

Is this holiday really just all about scary decorations and kids getting overdosed on sugar, or is there a deeper meaning behind all of these things? Is there truly innocence in dressing up and knocking on people’s doors in hopes that you receive something sweet? What if all of this actually started with something so far from innocence that our founding fathers actually forbade the celebration of Halloween?

Growing up, my family never celebrated Halloween. I didn’t have a problem with that and gladly skipped over it as I eagerly anticipated all the fun of Thanksgiving and Christmas that soon followed. As I got older and stopped just relying simply on what my parents told me, I began to do my own research on the origin of Halloween and how I would explain to my own children why we don’t celebrate on this day despite its popularity. What I found only served to deepen my resolve that we would have nothing to do with it.

The roots of Halloween go back beyond 2000 years, to a Celtic culture living throughout Ireland, France and the United Kingdom. It was a celebration called “Samhain” back then, and more or less it was a pagan festival honoring the dead and involved large sacrifices of animals and crops. People believed that during this festival, the world of the gods was able to be seen with the human eye. It was also believed that spirits from the “otherworld” and ghosts of the deceased returned to the earth at this time. The sacrifices were made to appease deities and were burned in bonfires to seek protection from evil beings, and offerings were left out for mischievous spirits that might be visiting.

Samhain is celebrated today by witches, Wiccans, druids and many other modern pagans around the world. It is a time filled with rituals, ceremonies, divination and seances all with the intent of reaching out to those who are dead, or to reach out to spirits on their behalf. Most of our traditional Halloween customs originate from Samhain and the beliefs surrounding it. Here are a few examples:

1. Carving a jack-o-lantern and putting it on your porch with a candle in it may seem innocent enough, but it actually comes from the tradition of carving scary faces into turnips or potatoes and leaving them on porches to scare away evil spirits.
2. It was believed that ghosts would be encountered if you left your home during Samhain. In order to keep from being recognized, people would wear masks and other costumes for protection.
3. The first trick-or-treaters were actually poor children going from door to door during the Samhain festival asking for food or money in exchange for praying for the souls of the neighbor’s deceased loved ones. It was a tradition called “souling” and the children were known as “soulers”. Candy wasn’t originally a part of this tradition, but in the 19th century, a round pastry began to be handed out to the little beggars and soon became known as “soul cakes”.

These are the origins of just a few of the many traditions that are a part of Halloween today. As you can see, the central theme of all of it is death. Death is not something to be celebrated or to be made light of. It is the punishment for sin. Romans 6:23 says, “the wages of sin is death…” Why would we turn such a horrible reality into some sort of fun holiday? As a Christian, I believe that the only death worth celebrating is the sacrifice made on our behalf – Jesus Christ, whose death and resurrection made it possible for us to have the gift of eternal life.

This is why we as a family have chosen to stand apart from most on this day. We celebrate a risen Savior, not some wandering dead spirit that we have to be afraid of. Instead, we choose to celebrate a different occurrence in history that just so happens to be on this same day.

On October 31st, 1517, Martin Luther nailed the 95 Theses to the door of the church in Wittenberg Germany. This act began what is known as the Protestant Reformation. Luther taught that salvation came through faith in the gift of God’s forgiveness and was not something to be earned by good works. He said, “I admit that I deserve death and hell. What of it? For I know One who suffered and made satisfaction on my behalf. His name is Jesus Christ, Son of God, and where He is there I shall be also!” Thank you, Jesus! We don’t have to earn our way to heaven, rather, we can have a personal relationship with the only One who can give us audience with the King of Kings. The One who died in our place is right now preparing a home for us in heaven where one day we will live forever with Him!

I admittedly have a hard time reconciling the involvement that many Christians choose to have with the celebration of Halloween. I realize that many of them just choose to take part so that their children can have fun dressing up and getting candy. The church has adopted the tradition of making their annual trunk-or-treat an outreach for the community where they can talk to people who may not otherwise have anything to do with the church. In searching for wisdom on this, I can only look to the Bible for answers.

Philippians 4:8 says, “Finally, brethren, whatever things are true, whatever things are noble, whatever things are just, whatever things are pure, whatever things are lovely, whatever things are of good report, if there is any virtue and if there is anything praiseworthy—meditate on these things.” What part of this holiday is praiseworthy? What part of these origins that I mentioned are pure or noble?

Ephesians 5:11 says, “And have no fellowship with the unfruitful works of darkness, but rather expose them.”  It also states in Deuteronomy and Leviticus that we are to have nothing to do with witchcraft and sorcery. God calls these things an abomination. These are the very building blocks of Samhain and therefore of Halloween.

As I think about what dwells below the surface of today’s celebration, I again turn to Scripture to be my guide. 2 Corinthians 6:17 says, “Come out from among them and be separate, says the Lord. Touch no unclean thing, and I will receive you.” Our family may be among the minority in choosing to not celebrate Halloween with the rest of the world, but I willingly choose to stand apart for what I believe, and to celebrate my salvation by grace through faith in the wonderful gift of God’s sacrifice.

• Sola Scriptura – Scripture Alone
• Sola Christus – Christ Alone
• Sola gratia – Grace Alone
• Sola fide – Faith Alone
• Sola Deo gloria – Glory to God Only