Growing up in the church and in a Christian home, I knew that studying the Bible was something Christians were supposed to do. My parents and grandparents had modeled faithful Bible reading to me my whole life. But, when I hit my young adult years and tried to put what I’d seen into practice, I […]
Most of us have likely discovered that screen usage is decreasing our attention span. These days, we have more trouble focusing while reading, holding conversations, waiting in line, and even watching movies with complicated plots. The increasing focus deficit can make prayer—a discipline that can already feel challenging—seem even harder. We’re not good at sitting […]
After a four-month absence, I went back to the gym this morning. I had a significant surgery on my hand in early December, and the recovery was slow, but truthfully? I quit going before the surgery, and I could have gone back weeks ago. I also could have made accommodations for my hand and found […]
I once heard Tim Keller say that when life is particularly difficult and you’re struggling with your emotions or you don’t know how to feel about suffering, one of the most helpful things you can do is to turn to inductive Bible study.[1] It’s interesting advice because we often feel the need to dissect our […]
One of the things I used to tell myself all the time was that I didn’t have enough time to read the Bible. In my mind, if I wanted to be serious about Bible reading, I’d have to get up at 5 a.m. and read for an hour. Granted, my priorities were mixed up, because […]
You never know when fear will come rushing into your heart. Maybe it hits as you open a bill you weren’t expecting, crushing you with the question of financial provision. Perhaps it’s the moment the doctor calls with those long-awaited test results. Maye it’s a knife that slices your heart with pain when your child […]
I’ve long used January 1st as the day I’m going to get my life together. New diet? Clean slate starts on the first day of the new year. Exercise plan? I’ll begin on the first of the year. Keep the Tupperware cabinet from throwing plastic containers at me every time I open it? Organization will […]
I cook dinner for my family most nights. I don’t mind cooking, and often I even enjoy it. But I have a little problem in the kitchen and that problem is tasting while cooking. If you’re the resident chef in your household, you likely know what I mean. I don’t usually follow recipes when I […]
I was twenty-nine when the pain started. It was subtle. Just a little soreness in my low back that began waking me up at night. But as the weeks turned to months, the pain increased steadily, growing from a flicker to a blaze that burned all night. Unable to sleep, I walked the floors in […]
I spent most of my twenties not reading the Bible. I was a Christian, I believed in Jesus, and I was even a pastor’s wife for the second half of that decade, but I did not have any regular habits of Bible reading. Like many churched folks, I knew that I should read and study […]
