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Dear Ms. DeVos, Please Handle Education with Care
Please handle education with care! Dear Ms. DeVos, I’m sure you noticed your appointment as the Secretary of Education was hotly contested. Pundits, parents, public school teachers, and politicians all had opinions about why you are not qualified for your new position. I have my doubts as well. Some of your understanding of educational issues worries me, but we will have to wait and see. I’m willing to give you a chance, but . . . Before you start this important work, I wanted to ask you to please consider all sides to this educational equation our country is trying to solve. Educating our children is a multi-faceted problem. I…
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The Blessing isn’t a Storm Free Life, but Peace in the Storm
Do you have peace in the storm you’re facing? Despite the challenges of the past 24 months, I’ve learned the blessing isn’t a storm free life, but God’s presence and peace in the storm. (this site uses Affiliate links-purchases support our ministry through a small referral fee that never affects your cost.) In concrete ways, I’ve struggled through the past couple of years. I lost count of the challenges and financial setbacks somewhere around June of 2016 and then began to face physical health challenges. Each month only brought higher and higher hills, culminating in complete physical and technological breakdowns that left me physically wounded and temporarily without my computer…
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Going Gluten Free
Going gluten free isn’t a journey I ever wanted to undertake. I LOVE chewy, warm, rich bread. But being a parent takes me to places that I never would have imagined. Our daughter started complaining about stomach pain early into 2016. In her squeaky, small voice, she would say, “My stomach hurts, Mommy.” And I would answer, maybe you’re hungry or maybe the milk was bad, maybe you have a stomach bug (that led to an interesting conversation!), but at some point, the complaints got more numerous, then nearly continuous. She was uncomfortable and hurting everyday. She seemed able to function and play, but if she sat still, the pain…
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How you can give better this Giving Tuesday
This year Giving Tuesday is November 27. Giving Tuesday is an opportunity to focus on the real meaning of the holiday season, the greatest gift of Christ and His love which frees and transforms us. Honestly, in my opinion, Giving Tuesday should precede Thanksgiving. Maybe we would all be less focused on the commercialized shopping if we started our season with giving instead of following the almost week long shopping binge. And, it would be a good reminder that we are to honor God by giving of our firstfruits, not what’s leftover. Proverbs 3:9-10 ESV Honor the Lord with your wealth and with the firstfruits of all your produce; then…
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We Gather Together – Thanksgiving and Fellowship
After another year of tremendous division and fear in our country, we need Thanksgiving more than ever. As I thought about giving thanks today, I couldn’t stop singing the classic hymn We Gather Together. (this site uses Affiliate links-purchases support our ministry through a small referral fee that never affects your cost.) The lyrics seem extra poignant. Maybe, I’ve never really paid attention to them before, but they drew me in today. We gather together to ask the Lord’s blessing; He chastens and hastens His will to make known; The wicked oppressing now cease from distressing; Sing praises to His Name; He forgets not His own. Not only is gathering…