Why I think church is important.
Christian Life
Christian Life
Christian Life
How to Love Your Neighbor During Election Year: Tips for Grace-Filled Political Discourse
I was honored that a piece I submitted to The Joyful Life Magazine’s blog got accepted a few months ago. They posted it today on their site. I’ve included an excerpt below, but if you want the whole thing, you can find it here. Welcome to 2020, a year of stark political polarization! We thought 2016 was a divisive year, …
Christian Life, Married Life
How to Be Grateful for Your Spouse (Even if You Wish They Were Different)
This Thanksgiving, I’m particularly grateful for my husband, Zach. He really is the best and I’m so glad I get to spend the rest of my life (God willing) with him. One of the things I have learned in our life together is that it’s easy to take one another for granted. You actually have to work to be grateful …
Christian Life
Why Gratitude Is Better Than Contentment
Gratitude and contentment often get confused, particularly with Christians. I thin that’s a problem because I hate the concept of contentment in the Christian/church world. I hate it because I don’t think the way we talk about it is accurate. Generally, contentment is presented like this: you should be okay with your life no matter what happens. If you can …
Christian Life
Being Grateful When Life Sucks
Let’s be real. Gratitude can be hard. Sometimes you look at your life and there doesn’t seem to be much to be grateful for. I’ve been there. As I mentioned in a prior blog post, when I was single, I had a hard time with gratitude. My Story of Ingratitude The Bad News I always had expected to get married …
Christian Life, Spiritual Disciplines
How Grace and Gratitude Change Everything
November is here my friends! That means that Thanksgiving is just around the corner. As a kid, I was always a big fan of Thanksgiving. It meant I got to see my family and my mom and aunt would start asking me about what I wanted for Christmas. It was a family tradition that my mom and aunt would go …
Christian Life, Theology
Grace: The Best Gift Ever
I’ve received some great gifts over the years. When I turned six, I got a pair of pink roller blades, which I was super excited about. They came complete with a pink helmet and pink knee, elbow, and wrist pads. That was also the year I had my first sleepover birthday party, complete with pizza and ice cream cake, which …
Christian Life, Life Rhythms
Enjoy The Season You’re In
I’m mad right now. Summer has very clearly turned to fall and, to be honest, I’m not pleased about it one bit. We’ve had a fairly cool summer here in Oregon so I feel like I got cheated out of the season a little. There are still so many summery things I want to do. My husband and I still …
Christian Life, Theology
God Loves You, but Your Happiness (or Misery) Is Not His Goal
I have a book on my shelf that I keep because I love the title and the cover. The book itself is not that well written (though at least it’s short), but the title and cover perfectly sum up another paradox of the Christian life. The book is entitled God Has a Wonderful Plan for your Life. The cover features …
Christian Life, Theology
The Tension of Grace in Real Life: 3 Examples
One of my favorite things about studying the Bible and theology is that so often it helps us make sense of our lives. Let’s be real, knowing about the Bible and theology probably won’t make life any easier (actually the opposite is sometimes true). However, when we can look at our lives through a theological lens, often we can start …