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Singleness and Vocation and Comfort
By Keri Wolfmueller Dear Sisters, I have a question that I hope you can help me with. I know that marriage is a good gift from God, and so are children. But what does that mean for those of us who haven’t gotten married yet and might not? Hi Sister! Thanks for trusting us with your question, that’s a special place to be. First, know you will be in our prayers. We will pray that God will grant you His comfort, peace, joy, wisdom, and contentment with whatever your future may hold. I feel like everything I’m going to say you know. You are a student of the Scriptures. So,…
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Comfort in Private Confession
By Vanessa Rasanen That drive to church might have been the hardest I had ever made — and I’ve made plenty of white-knuckled, stress-filled, holy-moly-please-be-quiet-or-I’m-going-to-lose-it Sunday morning drives with my four littles. That particular weekday afternoon, though, I was headed to our near-empty church to meet with my pastor in the sanctuary for private confession and absolution. While I’ve often encouraged friends to seek this out for themselves, and I have openly confessed this pastoral service to be a blessed gift, truth is I was downright scared to do it myself. I had actually been considering making it a regular practice. After all, there’s no reason you need to have…
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What To Look For in a Husband
By Amanda Hinton I have been married for 16 years and have been blessed with six children. My oldest is 11 and, although marriage is not immediately on the horizon for her, she is already forming an idea of a husband in her mind. What do I want her to know about a husband? What do I want her to have in a husband? What does God want her to have in a husband? What should she be looking for? Find a man that puts God first in his life. When God is first in his life, He will be first in your life together. When God is first, all…
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When You’re Walking in Doubt
By Holly Scheer Sometimes life is really hard. Life might stink because of a lot of big, scary things. Or, maybe it’s a cascade of small things that together start to become overwhelming. Burnt toast and spilled coffee aren’t worth tears on their own, but when you’re looking for a tiny moment of peace in your day, the tiniest of disappointments can be the breaking point. When it seems like everything is going wrong, and life is just disappointing and scary, doubt can be a constant and troubling companion. What does it mean for the Christian when you’re walking in doubt, and when you can’t seem to shake the fear…
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To Compare or Not To Compare
By Vanessa Rasanen ”You cannot compare your children to each other.” I receive this admonishment at nearly every well-child visit. I hear it so often from our pediatrician that I now anticipate it as much as I do her sweet hellos to the kids. This latest appointment for our youngest’s 18-month check up was no exception. Yet it was. Immediately after reminding me not to compare my kiddos, she asked me if any of our older kids had similar body proportions (ie, bottom of the charts for height and weight but top of the chart for head size). I laughed. Inside, of course. I’m not completely rude. Most of the…
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Some Dreams Have to Wait and That’s Okay
By Vanessa Rasanen Years ago during my active blogging days I attended a conference for Christian bloggers and writers. It was a disaster for many reasons, none of which are pertinent here, but there’s one piece of advice a fellow writer had offered to me — unsolicited, of course — that has nagged at me since. We had been discussing how to write a novel while being a parent with young kids. Her advice? Don’t put it off for years. Get it done. Make the time. It was really the only piece of advice I heeded from that awful weekend, and I set to work on my manuscript. I worked…
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The Sacred Work of Mothering in the Pew
By Shelley Hurt Mielke I was recently talking with a friend about the challenges of worshiping with small children. She was lamenting how hard it is to teach her children how to participate in the liturgy while juggling wiggly siblings and easily distracted littles. And with every fiber of my being, I got it. I have blogged here and here and here and probably scores of other places about how hard worshiping is with little ones. I can’t count how many times I came away from worship frustrated, exhausted, sad and even angry. Not exactly the emotions one would hope for after worship! While we always wanted a large family, I used to joke with my…
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I’m Failing to Parent in the Pew
By Vanessa Rasanen That Sunday was pretty much like any other, except my husband actually had the day off work and was able to join us for church. I don’t know if having him there with us caused me to drop my guard or what, but shortly after the Lord’s Supper had concluded and our pastors were returning the chalice and such to the altar, I looked up to see our almost three year old little girl smiling at me from the other side of the chancel railing. Somehow she had slipped away from me and her Godmother while my husband was out in the narthex disciplining the five year…
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Born Still Part Two
By Genevieve Wagner Editors Note: Genevieve is a dear friend of mine for many years. She has graciously agreed to share her family’s recent full term stillbirth, and the hope and faith that her family has. Our world had tipped. How was this possible? What are we going to tell our kids? What do we do next? How do you pack for this? Everything we were planning for – the unmedicated birth like 3 of the siblings, the peaceful home waterbirth like the 4 year old’s – it was all instantly switched for a very medical birth… and we wouldn’t be bringing a baby home. Now traveling in rush…
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Forty for Lent
By Holly Scheer It’s almost time for Lent, and this year I’d like to invite you to consider giving up something. I’d also like to encourage you to add something. Stick with me for a moment. We’re all used to New Year’s Resolutions (that we don’t keep … or maybe that’s just me) and it’s not new at all to think of penitentially doing without something during Lent to remember Jesus and His sacrifices. This year, I’m not giving up chocolate or coffee or bacon. I’m not swearing off beer, and I’m not going to promise I’ll exercise. Instead, I’m going to work on giving up on stuff. The accumulation…
