My husband and I knew this day was coming; like a hurricane that gives a few days warning, we had prepared for this. But are you ever really prepared for that day? My family of 19, with daughters, sons-in-law, and grandchildren, will not be with us this Thanksgiving. It sounds a little depressing admitting it out loud. But this will be our new normal for a season, what we call our “little”...
Advent, a season of hope and anticipation, can often become a whirlwind of activity for us, even when we have the best intentions to keep it simple and focus on Christ. With all of the additional expectations, meeting invites, and traditions, sometimes mixed with heaviness and hurt, it’s easy to take our eyes off Christ and miss the awe-inspiring truth of His birth altogether. And let’s be...
Charles H. Spurgeon, who was considered by many to be the greatest preacher of his generation, lived during the nineteenth-century revival of the celebration of Christmas in the US and England. He loved Christmas and welcomed the holiday season as an opportunity for reflection, rest, and reunion with friends and family. In A Wondrous Mystery: Daily Advent Devotionals, Geoffrey Chang, curator of...
One of the main reasons I wrote my new minibook, Why Should I Pray? was to help believers experience prayer as fellowshipping with our loving Father, more so than getting stuff from our Father. This shift makes all the difference in the world. My memories of prayer as a young believer aren’t the happiest ones. Prayer felt more like a duty than a delight—a spiritual discipline I wasn’t good at but...
Over the past year, I have dedicated much of my ministry work to parents. I have not sought to provide guidance on how to parent but rather to bring comfort for the many distressing emotions parents experience. One of the more challenging emotions parents experience is regret. When parents struggle with regret, we review and rehearse the choices we made. When we have played a role in a...
