There are some things I can’t say without first referring you to this passage (Ephesians 5:17-33). Please read it in its entirety: Do not be foolish, but understand what the will of the Lord is. …be filled with the Spirit, …giving thanks always and for everything to God the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, submitting…
Author: Jess Connell
Are Unrealistic Expectations Ruining Your Holidays?
Moms, on today– Mother’s Day– let’s purpose to be thankful for whatever we are given, however small. Frankly, any holiday can set us up to have unrealistic expectations. Christmas, birthdays, anniversaries… younger women are now even told to expect a “push present” for having birthed a baby. Again and again, we women are primed by our culture…
4 Questions to Help You Evaluate Parenting Advice
As parents look to parenting books, methods, advice, and make decisions about how to raise up their children, there are skads of opportunities to encounter really lousy advice. It can be difficult, in this age of TV psychologists and celebrity moms and PhD-toting “experts”, to know what is right.Rather than try to lay out specifics,…
Seasons of Life & Homeschooling
Like parenting in general, it helps me when I think about homeschooling in terms of seasons. Each season has its own unique joys, its own unique challenges, and each is discernibly different from the one before. HOMESCHOOLING BEGAN LIKE SPRING Was it that way for you? (It’s not that way for everyone, so don’t feel bad…
Heavenward Praises for an Earthly Home
My husband lost his job at our home church, last November. He applied for a number of positions, mostly in TX, and one in WA. It was, and is, one of the more difficult seasons of life that we’ve walked through. Months of hanging on to the Lord in what felt like a swirling vortex….
The Stew or The Cross?
You remember the story. Twin brothers– one with a penchant for cooking, the other a hunter. The cook (the younger of the two) had the favor of his mother. The hairy hunter was his father’s delight. In a moment of desperate hunger, focused on the immediate longing of his belly, the hunter traded his birthright—…
“He Makes Me Lie Down”
Psalm 23 has come up in various places in my life lately… you know how God does that? Sometimes He brings something to your face in various ways all at roughly the same time. Quick story: Last week, we thought we’d found a potential house for our family. It was an old church that had…
We Need What We Would Never Choose
Lately I’ve talked with some friends who are hurting. I should say, who are *also* hurting. From my tiredness, feeling like a towel that has been wrung, all I feel is twisted and dry. I feel very cautious about saying anything about the hurt. Though poets and celebrated authors have received acclaim and income from…
Watching Our Children Leave
This is a guest post, written by my mom, Debbie. As we are currently preparing for a cross-country move, away from my parents, my husband’s mom, & much of our extended family, she had some thoughts she wanted to share. Visit her new website: TheButtonWoman.com. ************************************* Many of my friends and loved ones have commented…
Feelings of Home
I exited Wal-Mart into the bright of day, still stunned by our conversation. The cashier and I had moved one another to tears: “I left L.A. years ago,” she told me. “Never thought I’d stay here. All my family’s there. I’ve only got my husband here in Texas.” Her smile was strained as she typed in…