When you think of the fruit of the Spirit, which one comes to mind first? For me, it’s love. Love is the first fruit listed in Galatians 5:22: “But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control.” Love is far more than
Redemption — to “buy back” or recover something that was lost. Have you ever been in debt? I mean really, really deep debt? While I’ve never personally had massive college loans or overwhelming credit card debt, my husband and I once found ourselves in a situation where our bank account
We named our fourth son Jonas. We didn’t do this because we wanted him to grow up to be a rebellious prophet. Rather, we liked the name, and it worked in English and in Polish (our family lives in Poland). I still remember when he was a baby and the
Moses and Aaron did just as the Lord commanded. Moses raised his staff in the presence of Pharaoh and his officials. He struck the water of the Nile, and all the water was changed into blood. Psalm 145:3 tells us, “The LORD is great and certainly worthy of praise.
David’s opening words in Psalm 61, “from the remotest place on earth” (v. 2), are striking. Pause for a moment and think. What is the most remote place you’ve ever been? How did it feel to be there? For me, it was during a college mission trip to Peru. We
Doubt Turned to Praise Today we look further into Zechariah’s song. Zechariah was the father of John the Baptist, the cousin of Jesus. But when the angel joyfully announced the coming birth of his son, Zechariah was plagued by doubt. His wife had been barren her whole life, and they
Missing the Mark I love playing mini golf. My favorite course is in Cocoa Beach, Florida. It is beautifully designed with palm trees, caves, waterfalls, and live alligators along the way! While I like the competitive nature of playing with family or friends, I’m not very good. On the scorecard,
As God Sees Fit When my kids were young, they loved playing with play-doh and Perler beads. I love watching the things they would create! Plates full of pasta, rainbows, super heroes… but sometimes they didn’t like their own creations. They were stuck. They would get frustrated, upset, and mad.
The Reality of Our Shortcomings One of the deepest desires of my heart is that my children would walk with Jesus. What an incredible responsibility God has given us as parents in raising little humans. There were times in my early 20’s when I thought I was a pretty decent
God’s Design Motherhood was God’s idea. Before it was a dream in a little girls’ heart, it was conceived by our Creator. In fact, it was the way that He designed humans to build His kingdom, by filling the earth with children! In Genesis 1:27-28, we read that God created