Generations
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Workplace Mission Field
When you think of a mission field, what picture do you have in mind? For many, this means a country overseas somewhere. Maybe you think of traveling across the US to a location away from home. But what about where you spend most of your time now? Many of you would say your workplace, whether it’s an office, school, factory, retail store, restaurant, home, or zoom meetings (especially if you work from home). Is workplace what you think of when you hear “mission field?” Maybe you need to consider workplace first since it’s where you spend the majority of the time. I’d like to recommend an article by Courtney Moore,…
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Who Hates Disruptions?
Task oriented people like me! You know, gotta get the job done…today…now! No matter what. What about you? All of us have experienced them. Most of us do not like them. Over 2 years ago the entire world experienced disruption to life as we had known it. In addition to the pandemic, many others also experienced a disruption in their good health, close relationships, face-to-face community we relied on, satisfying jobs, and income that goes with that. And this is the short list. Some experienced continual losses, one after another, along with, and in the middle of, the pandemic. But, what if, for whatever reason, this was God’s plan for…
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Resources for Understanding the Generations
The book of Psalms talks a good bit about the generations, here’s one example: The counsel of the LORD stands forever, the plans of his heart from generation to generation. Psalm 33:11 (CSB) The topic of generations is one I’ve studied for years, probably as far back as the last 80’s and early 90’s. This is when I remember asking the question: “how do we reach the younger women?” This question, asked by many women’s leaders back then, led to the “new women’s ministry” movement. (For those of you younger women, the church has always had some type of ministry for women, but it wasn’t what we know today, nor…
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Empty Nest? What’s That, and How Will I Handle it?
When I married at 19, then had twins at 25, I never even considered this question. But, it’s never too early to realize, for those who have children, that this day would, and should, eventually become a reality. Today, I am sharing with you a post I wrote for LifeWay Women. I pray this will encourage you to see this stage as something amazing and wonderful. Pray and ask God what you need to begin doing TODAY as you think about empty nest! Banner photo by Robert Thiemann on Unsplash
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Is Spiritual Growth Individual or Corporate?
Last summer we enjoyed Olympic sports, my favorite being gymnastics. As I watched the trials earlier, I began to think about both team and independent competition in the Olympics. Both were opportunities to excel and represent their countries. Olympic competitors want to do well for themselves individually, and for their teams, all under the flag of their represented countries. I see a correlation of this line of thought to our spiritual growth as you can see by the title of this post. And, the answer is yes and yes! We must grow spiritual individually, time alone with the Lord is one way we will hear from Him as we study…
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Beach Lesson #2
As I shared my beach lesson on mentoring with Amanda (please read that post first, Beach Lesson on Mentoring) , she told me she got something totally different from that experience of finding shells. So this is her take on it. Amanda’s thoughts are in italics and my comments follow. 1 Our lives are like shells. How many come to the shore completely shattered. Only a few come whole. Most have broken pieces. Perhaps you are a broken shell yourself. Can you trust God for your healing? Maybe you know broken people, can you be a source of encouragement and healing for them? 2 Corinthians 1:3-7 Blessed be the God…
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Beach Lesson on Mentoring
This summer we took our first ever “adult only parents/twin daughters and their hubbys” beach trip. We were celebrating our 50th anniversary and their birthday. We had an amazing week and some great weather. But, not a lot of shells. If you’ve read earlier “beach lessons” blog posts, you may remember my love for shell hunting! One morning our daughter Amanda (who set up the Ninja tent each morning bright and early to get a great spot) was gone about an hour longer than it takes to set up the tent so we began to get a little worried. Then she walked in with a handful of the most beautiful…
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Lessons From Birds
I want to share a post my animal rehabber daughter Alycia Neighbours shared on Facebook recently. Today at work I was giving our aviary birds their food and water. One of the items is some fresh berries and I usually cut most to bite-sized pieces. Some of the blueberries were pretty small, so I left them whole. In the aviary are four grackles who recently graduated to flying free in the aviary to prepare them for outside life when it comes time for release. As I put the food down, they all four each grabbed a whole blueberry as if it was the biggest prize of their lives. They chased…
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Hard Family Convos
Recently I was asked to write a post for LifeWay on a subject that I don’t think I’ve really done very well with: Navigating Theological Differences With Your Adult Children. I’ve needed more grace at times for sure, and maybe even more truth at others. So, I polled a group of moms, friends and colleagues to get their insight as well. This post is the result. I pray you will read Navigating Theological Differences With Your Adult Children prayerfully asking God how you are to approach your adult loved ones in a way that draws them to the Truth of Jesus! Thank you for all who submitted ideas to help…
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And Then There’s Ruth!
The reason we read the Bible over and over is because it’s living and active (Hebrews 4:12) and it always teaches us new things. I experienced this again recently in my chronological reading plan that I have now done multiple times. This is what we use in the D-Group I lead to study scripture. Most of my groups have never read the whole Bible chronologically so it’s very eye-opening for them…and for me! Almost all my D-Group gals begin seeing the thread of the Gospel early in our reading and almost all get bogged down once in a while as we look at laws and repeated disobedience of the Israelites…
