Three Obstacles to True Forgiveness

For a wife who is dealing with her husband’s sexual sin, part of the process of forgiveness includes coming to an understanding of what she has truly lost by the betrayal, and then beginning to release the debt of the offense against her. If she doesn’t go through this process, I’m not sure she can truly say “from her heart” she has truly forgiven. (Matthew 18:32-35) But forgiveness can be a challenge because the hurt may still resonate, and the emotions and fears combine to add confusion as to what true forgiveness looks like.  Here are Continue Reading

A Faith Test

I remember back to my grammar school days. (Yes, I can actually remember back that far.)  Of course we studied math, science, English, and the other grade school subjects. We worked our way through homework assignments and hours of classroom instruction, reading the textbooks and absorbing information. Then at long last, there would come a day of reckoning. Test Day.  That was the day we were put through our paces, our teachers eager to see how much knowledge we had retained.  Our test results would help them determine if we were ready to go to Continue Reading

Seven Habits of Highly Effective Moms

It’s hard to be a wife and Mom these days.  Our culture is so full of confusing messages trying to define for us what a woman should be that trying to navigate through them all feels like living in a minefield! There are lots of people holding themselves up as models for us to follow. For instance, there are the Real Housewives whose drama lets us into their private financial issues, plastic surgeries and rocky relationships. Then there’s the woman CEO who writes a book telling us how to make it in a man’s world; and there’s the Media Maven Continue Reading

Honoring Chuck Smith

“You did not choose Me, but I chose you and appointed you that you should go and bear fruit, and that your fruit should remain, that whatever you ask the Father in My name He may give you." John 15:16 I remember the first day I heard Chuck Smith speak. A  freshman in high school, I walked into "The Tent" which served as the Calvary Chapel sanctuary, and began the wonderful journey of  loving the Lord through the faithful teaching of His Word.   Chuck instilled in us a love for the Word of God that has equipped us and kept us "through many Continue Reading

A Deliberate Peace

I’m trapped in a house of testosterone. One husband, two sons, and not a scrap of femininity in sight. As the sole female in a man’s world, I’m just about able to cope with socks on the floor, toilet seats raised and the ape-like slamming of doors and drawers. But I draw the line at television viewing. At the end of the day, when I’m trying to unwind and prepare for sleep, I really don’t think Die Hard III or Crime Scene Investigation is going to speed me to my dreams. So when we’re choosing what to watch I insist, time and again, “I want to Continue Reading