The Amazing Race
March 7, 2025 by Christine Thomas
Filed under Christian Life, For Her
By Christine Thomas
Lately my days have been an exercise in scheduling. With four children involved in sports, music, tutoring, rehearsals, and youth groups, not to mention the bustle of the holidays thrown in the mix, I spend so much time in the car that my right foot brakes and accelerates when I sit down to eat at home, although I usually grab a snack on my way out the door.
In between this endless shuttling to and from commitments and appointments, I make an occasional pit stop at home to throw in a load of laundry. Every day feels like a live TV show in which I’m an actor who must hit her mark or the program is thrown off track. Consequently my mind is always racing as I mentally contrive the order of each day.
When describing my harried life to a friend, she passed along a word of advice which helped her during one of life’s hyper-busy seasons.
Time For War?
February 23, 2025 by Julie Cosgrove
Filed under Christian Life, For Her
By Julie Cosgrove
Beat your plowshares into swords, and your pruning hooks into spears; let the weak say, “I am a warrior.” Joel 3:10
The prophet Joel is reversing what Isaiah once said in 2:4- the more familiar verse that is often stated on greeting cards along with Peace on Earth near Christmas and into the New Year. We think of our Lord as a peaceful God, one that wants us to turn the other cheek, who told Peter to put away his sword in the Garden, who wouldn’t fight to defend himself from execution on the cross, and told His disciples after the resurrection “Peace I bring to You.” In fact, we call Christ the Prince of Peace.
Slow Slide Into Sin
February 9, 2025 by Shae Hamrick
Filed under Christian Life, For Her
By Shae Hamrick
“Mom. The speed limit’s 40,” my daughter said as I sped down the street to take her to a friend’s. I was hurrying. I had been working on a project and was anxious to return in order to finish as much as I could today. She always asks to be driven somewhere when I’m in the middle of something. I sighed and slowed from 45 to 40.
Over the last several weeks, I have taken notice of my tendencies to push the boundaries of right and wrong. Listening to the news, I wonder about our nation’s tendency to change what is right and what is wrong. A bill was put forth to protect the sanctity of marriage, while at the same time, measures are being pushed to protect gay rights to employment under the hate crimes bill. Our freedom of speech, protected by the first amendment, is threatened in the same manner under the same bill.
When did it become wrong to have opposing positions and beliefs? To exercise our rights to them?
Tickets For Two
January 29, 2025 by Christine Thomas
Filed under Christian Life, For Her
By Christine Thomas
“Your Mom and I talked and we want to do something different for Thanksgiving this year.”“ Oh really, like what?” I said gripping the phone tighter. “We want to take you and Jim, and Joe and Amy, to the Cowboys game on Thanksgiving Day.”
My Dad’s offer was simple and appealing, but at the same time it put me in a familiar place, stuck between two good decisions. I twirled around the logistics of his offer like a Rubik’s cube. We were planning to spend Thanksgiving at my in-laws. If we accepted, my Dad’s offer where would everyone stay? Should I cook a turkey meal?
“Wow Dad, that’s really generous,” I said weakly. “Jim will probably want to go, but let me check and I’ll call you back.” As predicted, my husband wanted to go. He thought his parents would understand why we couldn’t make it. “Let me call my Dad.” I picked up the phone, and then set it back down. “Uh-oh, what about the kids?” If we were comic strip characters, we would have question marks above our heads. Realizing we couldn’t leave the kids home alone, and not knowing who would babysit on Thanksgiving Day, I insisted that Jim go without me. I could tell he wanted to say yes, instead, he made an announcement.
Should People Be Able to Make Their Own Decisions?
January 16, 2025 by Susan Wollman
Filed under Christian Life, For Her
By Susannah Wollman
“People should be able to make their own decisions, don’t you think? Don’t you agree that as long as they aren’t stepping on someone else’s toes, people ought to be allowed to make their own decisions?” She is twenty-something, this daughter of mine, and although she has a husband and kids, she still likes to hear what Mom thinks. I’m grateful for that, because it does two things. One, it keeps me in her life. Two, it puts us on “friend footing.”
Friend footing is where you can discuss anything, and there is no judging, no preaching, no cajoling, and no directing. Just equal to equal, sharing hearts and souls. And I like that about my daughters, even if I don’t always agree with them.
I wish I could say that all my daughters are Christians, but that wouldn’t be true. Two are, and one says she is no longer a believer. She says she never truly was, although I held her little hands in mine to teach her how to fold them to pray. I showed her how to bow her head and bend her knees. We demonstrated thankfulness everyday, and showed generosity and unconditional love to all, friends and strangers alike. We homeschooled, with Christ as the center of our curriculum. In fact, one year I spent the whole summer preparing a curriculum that was based on the Sermon on the Mount. Every single subject related back to the Beatitudes in some way. It was tedious work, but work that made me very happy. I was leading my children to God! If only I could make THAT choice for them.
