A friend who just lost his job sits across from you with tears in his eyes. “I know I have a purpose,” he says. “I need to know that what I do matters, that I’m doing what God wants me to do.” A young mom shares with her friends at playgroup, “I just wasn’t prepared for the drudgery of caring for a baby. I love her so much, but how do you cope with doing the same thing day after day on little or...
“We want to honor our newest moms,” the pastor announced one Mother’s Day—our first at the church where my husband had been hired as the new youth pastor. I froze as a few women started to stand. I was about five months pregnant with our first child. I felt taps on my shoulder and elbows nudging me to stand, but still, I hesitated. As I finally rose to my feet, my pregnancy just beginning to...
In this episode of Straight to the Heart, our host Rush Witt enjoys a conversation with Juan and Jeanine Sanchez, coauthors of a new book called Reaching Your Child’s Heart: A Practical Guide to Faithful Parenting. Juan and Jeanine share wisdom about the value of reading aloud as a family, the importance of being present in our parenting, and finding a balance in our parental discipline–not too...
I did it. Everyone told me not to, but I did it anyway. I blinked. You remember meeting the older lady in the grocery store; you have a new baby, you’re definitely not getting enough sleep, and she tells you how quickly the years go. Don’t blink. You might miss it. In only a few days, my husband and I will give away our fourth daughter in marriage. It all went so fast, except when it didn’t. It’s...
When a woman loses a baby to stillbirth or miscarriage, it feels like the ground has fallen out from underneath her. Because every experience is different, the grief that follows can be extremely isolating and misunderstood. Speaking from experience, in You Are Still a Mother: Hope for Women Grieving a Stillbirth or Miscarriage, Jackie Gibson reaches out, offering the only balm that will bring...
