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Encouragement for every season of lifeSpring Into Diamond Strength
Do you know what makes diamonds so strong? PRESSURE. How does pressure relate to your health and fitness this season as the weather warms up? Two things: 1. Consistency. Exercise even when you don’t feel like it. Consistency makes you stronger and more likely to...
Technology Fail
Maybe it’s my English editor geekiness, but I am just not good with acronyms. Between LOL, BRB, and YOLO, I’m constantly having to stop and remember the correct phrases. Rather than encouraging brevity, it's an exercise in painfully slow futility. Call me old -- I did...
Because They Believed.
She was just a little girl. But she knew that God was big, and that he would work through her to help others, if she would let him. She knew it wasn’t about what she could do, but rather what God could do through her willingness to follow his plans. He was just a...
Quietly Influential Leadership
My Grandma Josephine wore her first pair of high heels when she was 13. For the rest of her life, she wore only high heels, and told me once that she thought her leg muscles had stretched to accommodate. It hurt to wear “normal” shoes, she said. Give her sparkly,...
Pee in a Cup
I was nineteen when I had my first child, John. John was quick to talk, and by the time he was two-and-a-half, he was asking “Why?” He asked questions about everything. Why do we brush our teeth? Why is the cat licking itself? Why do we have seat belts? You get the...
Perfectly Flawed
“The more we understand that our identity in Christ is continually secure and that no misstep, rejection or judgment could ever change that, the more liberated we become from the opinions of others. As the gap increases between God’s opinions and others’ opinions, we...
After the Storm
We sat in bleachers watching my dad’s softball game at fields surrounded by corn fields on the west side of Slater, Iowa. It was hot and sticky with a subtle breeze that teased of rain. I was nine years old and to me baseball was boring, but it had gotten us out of...
Ombre Dyed Blanket
If you are anything like me, chances are you work hard to keep the “front” of your house clean while you own personal bedroom is a disaster. Every time company comes over, the clutter from every other room finds its way to the top of my dresser. Normally, this doesn’t...
Seeing Treasure in Those Considered Trash
Jackie is an ordinary woman but she’s doing extraordinary things to help Russian orphan graduates. Jackie grew up in northern Minnesota, went to school for hotel management and worked in hotels and then in children’s ministry. In 2002 Jackie met her future husband,...
Life’s Just Better with Friends
We looked ridiculous. One friend ran in front of me wearing white Michael Jackson-style gloves, 12-month-old footie pajamas flung around her neck like a scarf, managing to look graceful despite her strange accoutrements. Behind me, our other friend jogged even while...
