Redeeming Thanksgiving: Cultivating a Heart of Thanksgiving to Restore the Broken

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Thanksgiving has been my favorite holiday for a long time! I love everything about it: The food, the fellowship, the family, the fall, and all the wonderful feels. (Hehe, I didn’t even mean to make those all words that start with F until the end. Fun! Haha)  But the past few years have taken a big ole dump all over my Thanksgivings.  In 2015 I caught my husband in an affair (the first time I had discovered an actual physical affair) days before Thanksgiving. I don’t remember much about that Thanksgiving Day, other than feeling completely shell-shocked. Like the world was still moving silently around me, but in slow motion – while I was frozen stiff, with a ringing inRead More →

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Part Two – Be informed. Know the Facts Last week we talked about the dangers of pornography in marriage from a Biblical perspective. This week let’s get informed about some of the facts surrounding this issue. This article was originally published for the site young-wives.com, which is no longer active. So I am publishing it here in order to be sure the content remains available. I am grateful to the ladies who worked at young-wives.com for trusting me with this topic, and giving me the opportunity to speak out. It’s no small issue to tackle. Here is what I wrote: To the readers, let me startRead More →

Pornography & Marriage in a Millennial World

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In: Healing from Betrayal Trauma, Restoring a Broken Marriage
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Part One – Know Who You Are. Know Why It Matters  A few weeks ago, I had an experience that has rocked me to my core. Since that day I have been overwhelmed with a burden for the generation of women who identify as millennials. Many in this young group of ladies are entering the early years of marriage. My eyes have been opened to an issue they’re dealing with that breaks my heart. An issue that sends me to my knees.   It comes as no surprise to me that the world at large has turned a blind eye to the life-shattering dangers of pornography, but I was stunned to find that even among “moral”Read More →

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  A Poem of Thanksgiving  I’m going to do something a little different this week. Bear with me. Life has been moving so fast lately. I feel like Bilbo described in The Lord of the Rings, “Like butter scraped across too much bread.”   So I’m going to take a moment and just breathe.  I’m going to take time to reflect on my God, and to praise Him.  Through the month of November, I will be doing a series on Redeeming Thanksgiving, but I thought it would be fun to get us in the mood a little early this year with a poem written from my heart to the Lord. Enjoy.  When life speeds up, andRead More →

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*This post contains affiliate links. You can read my full disclosure statement here. Book Review: Hope for the Hurting Wife  I’m really excited to tell you about a book I’ve been reading – Hope for the Hurting Wife: 30 Days of Encouragement for Your Marriage by Rebekah Hallberg & Jen Stults. If you find yourself in a difficult spot in your marriage and are looking for something to fire you up each morning and renew your commitment to push through even when you’re stuck in the “for worse” of marriage, this is it!   Hope for the Hurting Wife offers 30 short, easy to read chapters withRead More →

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We’ve been looking at the life of Joshua the past few weeks and learning from one of the most complex characters in the Bible.  He started out as a minor supporting character – Moses’s assistant.  During his time in that role, Joshua watched and learned.  He communed with God, and his faith grew and grew and grew.  Then Moses died, and Joshua was called to take over as the leader of Israel.  The command for his life – be strong and courageous for the Lord your God is with you wherever you go.  Up to this point in the story Joshua has certainly been brave. He’s been faithful, and obedient.Read More →

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It’s time! God has taken more than 40 years to prepare Joshua for the job that only one person in all of history would do: lead the people of Israel into the promised land.  I often feel like this massive task has sort of disappeared into the pages of history.  Seemingly forgotten, or at least overshadowed by other stories, but it was a huge job, and Joshua was a beast! After so many years in the shadow of Moses, Joshua now emerges with an unexpected amalgam of character qualities. Up to this point, we’ve mostly seen Joshua as a quiet observer.  We did see him lead the army into battle once before,Read More →

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I have always loved reading about Joshua in the Bible.  For so many reasons, he is a man that intrigues me. One that I believe there is much to learn from. From the very first time he shows up, all the way through his life, and on into the New Testament, (when he makes it into the Hebrews 11 Faith Hall of Fame) Joshua embodies a life of faith, courage, and obedience. And though he has always been special to me, this particular season of my life brought an even greater appreciation for all that the Bible has to teach me through the story of this amazing man of God. TheRead More →

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Last week I shared with you some final stories from our big trip to Africa a little over two months ago, and promised to wrap up the series this week with some final thoughts and take-aways.  As I told you last week, we’re about as sure as we can be (without the ability to see the future) that there is a lot more Africa in our future.  How, and when that will happen – we have no idea.  But we’re trusting God to lead us in His will and in His time.  I’m going to close this series now telling you what our kids enjoyed most about the trip, and theirRead More →

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It’s been a little over two months since our big family trip to western Africa, but it all still seems so fresh! We’re still talking about it almost every day.  In fact, just this morning as we were driving our youngest son to school, he asked if we could go back tomorrow.  How we wish we could!  Apart from missing all the wonderful people we left behind over there, we’ve also had time to process all that God taught us on that amazing trip, and we long for more!  God opened our eyes in so many ways. May we keep them open and continue to pursue His purposes surroundingRead More →