Faith

Speaking with our Heavenly Father is important; in fact, I dare say it’s one of the most important things we can do in our Christian walk along with reading God’s Word. But speaking without listening is only a monologue. To truly commune and develop a relationship with our Heavenly Father, we must make room for dialogues to happen daily. As …

As a mom, I wish I could protect my kids from everything from heartache to natural disasters. Realistically, I recognize that’s not only impossible, it’s not healthy for them. Think back with me to your own childhood and adolescence. When I reflect on the moments that made me who I am today, most stemmed from how I responded to the …

Do you ever wonder how to hear God’s voice? And if you do hear something, further wonder if you can trust that it truly is God speaking to you? One of my biggest pet peeves is coming onto a website or blog, only to discover yet another way I’m not living up to my potential as a parent. I don’t …

Just like you cannot send your kids to church for an hour a week and expect them to know all there is to know about Jesus, I’d dare say you cannot expect your kids to have a successful school year without preparing them with lessons from foundational Bible stories. Starting a new school years brings up a lot of emotions …

Of course, it’s impossible to tell your child everything they need to know before heading back to school, but I dare say there are 5 important things your daughter needs to know before starting school this year. It’s hard to believe we’re already even mentioning the phrase “Back to School”, but for those of us here in Middle Tennessee, our …

Summer (for those of us with school-aged children) lasts about 60 days. It might be unrealistic to expect our kids to follow a devotional plan for each of those days, but these 40 days of summer devotionals should set your kids on the right course. Even if school isn’t out for your family yet, I’m betting you can feel it …

I just finished a book I really didn’t want to read: Present over Perfect by Shauna Niequist. Shauna’s dad is Bill Hybels, founding pastor of Willow Creek Community Church in Chicago, which was where my mom started going to church when I was in junior high. I never knew Shauna personally, but to me she represented an ever-increasing number of …

Emma would have been 17 years old today…but she died tragically almost two years ago. Her parents, Paul & Tiffany, are friends of mine from the blogging world and when they lost her, we all lost a treasure. Paul & Tiffany describe Emma this way on her tribute website, AGiftFromEmma.com: Emma Evelyn Ivanovsky is our 15 year old daughter who …

“Nobody can help everybody, but everybody can help somebody.” ~ Denver Moore This is my favorite quote from “Same Kind of Different as Me” (and the new “Same Kind of Different as Me for Kids“). The beautiful lesson this teaches our children is that although everyone cannot help everybody, someone can help somebody. This simple concept demystifies the definition of …

With the New Year comes resolutions, plans and goals to live differently in the coming months. While some will quickly fade, there are others we hope and pray will stick around forever. One of those, at least for our family this year, has been to start a consistent Bible reading routine – not just for ourselves, but with our kids. …