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Encouragement for every season of lifeTop 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:...
Spray Paint to the Rescue
Our basement bathroom needed a change. After living in our house for nine years, the walls were still white, and I really wanted to update it with some of my newly acquired French décor. First, I decided on a dark plum color for the walls that would coordinate well...
Currents
I was at a retreat center that fulfilled my need for stillness, silence, and peaceful surroundings. As I stood on the deck overlooking the river, I began to pay attention to the flow of the water. As I watched, I realized the strength of the current in the center of...
The One
Mentor. Coach. Friend. Advocate. The dictionary defines mentor as “a trusted guide” and advocate as “one that pleads the case of another.” She was all of these things. My friend was an angel from heaven. She believed in me when it didn’t feel like anyone else did; I’m...
