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Encouragement for every season of lifeIt’s Complicated
Have you ever seen someone’s relationship status on Facebook explained as “It’s complicated”? It seems an apt description for a multitude of scenarios for many relationships in life. Our interactions with others can get sticky sometimes. Relationships take work. And...
The Chair
This is the story of the chair. Yes, THE chair. I needed the chair for stage decor for the Bridging the Gap Redeemed Retreat, and spent months keeping an eye open, expecting the search to be easy. An old chair with some character is tough to find. (Well, unless you...
What’s Your Lens?
I recently had someone completely misinterpret what I had written in one of my posts. At first I was upset, wondering how she could have thought I meant or implied something that I hadn't. But after thinking about her background and some of the hard times she has...
Top Ten Things A Small Group Leader Should Know
Guest Contributor Jen Pattengil lives in Lakeville, Minnesota with her husband and three girls. She is a credentialed minister and a graduate of Rockford Masters Commission. Jen spends her time volunteering in Women’s Ministries at River Valley Church and is...
Healthy and Hearty Tomato Sauce Recipe
About 35 years ago, at the age of 28, I had a huge scare with breast cancer. That's when I began my journey toward eating healthy, before cooking holistically was even popular, like it is today. I often experimented until I found recipes that worked for our family,...
Renew Now
Guest Contributor: Shaunti Feldhahn is a wife and mom, as well as a popular speaker and best-selling author. After receiving a graduate degree from Harvard, Shaunti started out on Wall Street, but now applies her analytical experience in a totally different...
Perfect Storm
Guest Contributor Lisa Skordahl makes her home in Coon Rapids, Minnesota with her husband and two wonderful daughters. She works as an accountant and enjoys teaching and counseling in personal finance. She is driven by a desire to help others succeed when it comes to...
Crossing the Border
The other day I had a bit of a flashback to when our kids were younger – like about 20 years younger. We had traveled up to northern Minnesota for a weekend at my husband’s parents. They lived on the Rainy River overlooking, coincidentally enough, a little town called...
Daddy’s Girls
There is a whole generation of young women (late 20's and 30's) getting cancer -- simply because they were "daddy's girls" at age ten. These daddies* worked with asbestos in the days when the public didn't know it was scary dangerous. The fine asbestos dust hitched a...
What Does Jesus Look Like?
One recent morning while on vacation, I asked my 3½-year-old daughter what she dreamed about the night before. “I dream about Jesus,” she said. I’ve asked the question before, and that’s what she always says. “Really?” I replied. But then I asked another question:...
