Journal Gently: Helping Introverted Women Find Healing After Grief, Hurt, and Trauma

This week, I welcome back Jennifer Brianne from Pens to Prison Ministry to share with us about a special project to express God’s love to the inmates this holiday season. It is such a tender and prac…

It is now November, and that simple change in month means that so many of us are starting to think about the holidays—planning and buying gifts and decorating. And I know a lot of people are buying g…

Today I want to share with you something that I shared with my Sunday school class a few weeks ago. It has been a message that has continued to resonate with me, and I know that many of you will rela…

Imagine with me, if you will… you get that email from church letting you know that so-and-so’s family needs meals for the next three weeks as they adjust to having a new baby at home. You click the l…

Can I guess what you’re thinking? You saw the title to this episode and thought, “Job was the one who needed encouragement, wasn’t he? Not the one to offer it.”

But today, I want to share with you th…

Oh, my goodness, do I have a treat for you today. I sat down with a new friend, Jennifer Brianne, and we had a great chat about reaching out to those who are hurting. And you guys, we had never reall…

Today, I wanted to talk about the idea of getting ready to meet with God.

Now, the caveat is that you can talk to God anytime, anywhere, right? In fact, we’re instructed to pray at all times, aren’t …

Today, we are going to talk about something that might seem a little unusual, and that is written spiritual direction.

A couple of months ago, I did an episode that explored spiritual direction in ge…

I don’t know what season you are in right now, but I do recognize that in some seasons of life, we are simply going to have more availability than we do in others. But we looked in episode 20 at how …

Today, I just want to have a bit of a heart-to-heart conversation with you about something that I feel so many of us get stuck by, and that is failure. And what I want to focus on today is when we th…

I’m starting this episode with a confession: I am a bookworm. I’m actually one of those nerds who, since 2015, has kept track of every book I’ve read.

Anybody else? Anybody?

There is no doubt that I …

One of my core beliefs as a children’s ministries director, one that I continue to hold today, is that children already experience and know God in a deep and personal way.

Kids are not junior varsity…

“When our soul is in turmoil, God does not want us to be passive. We must pray, yes. But sometimes we need to stop praying. We need to stop listening to our soul recite its fears. Then is when it's t…

I love when I am reading God’s Word and He just brings to light something I haven’t seen before, don’t you?

A year ago, I was reading through the books of First and Second Kings, and I really lingere…

Today, we are going to talk about a part of encouragement and care that is often overlooked—or, rather, it’s often used as an excuse to NOT reaching out to those around us who are hurting.

We’re talk…

I don’t know about you, but I always get a little anxious when visiting someone who is sick, especially when they aren’t a close family member. Am I interrupting them? Are they truly up for visitors?…

Eugene Peterson wrote, “It is easier to find guides, someone to tell you what to do, than someone to be with you in a discerning, prayerful companionship as you work it out yourself. This is what spi…

Raise your hand if you have ever set a goal or intention at the beginning of the year and then promptly forgotten about it? Or maybe you got distracted and it simply got pushed to the side.

This is w…

It was about 15 months ago when I stepped down from my job in children’s ministries to go what I call “all in” with Love Does That. And as I share that story with different people, I keep getting ask…

We are on the last day of our 5-Day Courageous Care Challenge. This challenge is going to help you replace fear and uncertainty with courage and compassion. We are going to be looking at the top five…