This summer, I was laying out by my parent’s pool one evening and I saw two shooting stars within a span of five minutes. I smiled and wished upon those comets, just for the fun of it. There’s a part of me that will always have a child’s imagination and, for the duration of a story, I’m willing to pretend there’s a Neverland or whatever you wish upon a star really does come true. But does it really?
Read MoreIf you’ve been around here for any length of time, you know how much I love studying the Bible and talking about what God is teaching me through His word. There are a few tools I use almost daily in my quiet time that I wanted to share with you.
Read MoreA trip to the grocery store this time of year is an opportunity to witness balance at its finest; families are often seen roaming the aisles together, putting boxes of crayons and boxes of graham crackers into their shopping carts in equal quantities. The start of the school year is right around the corner, but that doesn't mean that there still isn't time for one more camping trip, one more opportunity for quiet and reflective family time, and one more new memory of summer before the dinner table becomes a site for homework help and weeknights get busier with the start of after-school sports and clubs.
Read MoreIt’s a simple question: “Where are you from?” The question seems innocent enough, but I never know what people are actually asking. From where did you drive to arrive in this place? What does your license say? Where did you grow up? Where do you call home? North Carolina. Tennessee. Arkansas. My car.
Read MoreI’m sick, and it’s late. I came home and my room is still a wreck. I manage to hang up my jacket. This is fine. I’ve been so jetlagged and tired the last week and a half, I haven’t worked out. The mirror shows awkward curves reforming. I force myself through a short workout, but my sore throat reminds me that I need rest. This is fine. I have a meeting in the morning, an article due tomorrow, a presentation to create, and a stack of thank you notes to write. There are so many hats on my head, I’m no longer certain which hat was there in the first place. This is fine.
Read MoreGrowing up there was one thing my dad had to tell me more than he should have: “Allison, you need to think before you speak.” My stubborn and prideful self was too focused on how I felt and getting what I had to say off my chest. Meanwhile someone was on the other end of my words, feeling the effects of my emotions.
Read MoreToday, Christians view hardship as a “season” that will come and go. In order to be victorious Christians, we need to reframe our thinking by accepting that most of our lives will be hard for one reason or another. I’m writing this as a gentle yet sober reminder to today’s Christians: We are in the trenches of spiritual warfare. We may not see it as we go about our school schedules, work routines, and summer holidays, but we are in the thick of it. By deciding today, if we will use our moments to the glory of God or the glory of self, we are declaring whose side we are on.
Read MoreAs women, many of us fall into the trap of believing that we can multitask our way through life. It’s easy for us to finish up some work with the TV humming in the background, talk to our friends while scrolling through social media, and workout while listening to the latest audiobook. For a lot of areas of life, multitasking seems like a great solution. It enables us to be able to get a lot done in a short amount of time and to cross more and more tasks off our never-ending to-do lists.
Read MoreMy plane had just landed, and I was already quoting lines from ‘Dumb and Dumber.’ I was in Colorado and ready to explore. Rocky Mountain National Park was at the top of my list of things to do. When I arrived at the park, I had my hike to Sky Pond all mapped out and was ready to go.
Read MoreI go to a really small church that geographically sits on a line between “gentrified” and “poverty.” The vision for this body is to reflect the kingdom of heaven by celebrating diversity of wealth, race, and life experiences. A year ago, this body was meeting in a house church. Ten months ago, a barber shop. The body has grown and shifted and changed over the past year, but it has been a joy to watch.
Read MoreHoly. I don’t understand this piece of God. I cannot wrap my mind around it. He is holy. Holy means He is intensely good, righteous, radiant, and anything that is not holy will be obliterated by His presence. I don’t visualize Him as holy. It’s easy to see Him as present, or good, or faithful, but not holy. This last week my eyes were fixated to the blinding holiness of God, and my absolute unworthiness to approach Him on my own.
Read MoreWorry and stress are seemingly inescapable. Even if you have a relaxed personality—which I for the record do not—you will still face numerous changes that are just part of life and will create stress. If you are already more prone to worry, then any event can cause you to become more and more anxious.
Read MoreSocial media and one’s online presence has become a milestone or achievement for so many people that we have even coined a term for it: influencer. Influencers are found on many social media platforms, where they are praised for their ability to create content with cohesive feeds, have thousands of followers, and influence people on all kinds of decisions, like things to buy or places to shop.
Read MoreWe often get to a point in life where there doesn't seem to be a convenient community to fall into. Our circumstances are lacking a built-in group of people that can give godly guidance, share our hopes and dreams, and walk through life together. Through living what lives we have lived, most of us realize that choosing the people we want to invest in us (and vice versa) is crucial in our walk with Jesus.
Read MoreAbout a year ago, I decided to do my first Whole30. One of the foods you are asked to give up for the 30-day eating plan is bread. But here’s the thing: I absolutely love bread. It only took a couple of days without it to make me seriously contemplate giving up and pulling into the nearest Panera. Needless to say, that month was a hard one. But the fast made me realize just how dependent on certain foods I had become, and each day, I had to make a conscious decision to stick with it.
Read MoreIf years of watching HGTV shows has taught me anything, it's that our society perpetuates an expectation of getting more than we are willing to work for. So many future homeowners set out on their way to finding the house of their dreams with a long list of the features that they believe to be non-negotiable (open floor plan, granite countertops, a large backyard for the dogs to play...), and confidently smile at their real estate agent when they announce that the amount of money they would like to pay for their new space is not much more than the total of an average grocery receipt.
Read MoreDon’t be afraid? Stand still? Stay calm? I can imagine the looks on the peoples’ faces upon hearing this from Moses. There were probably a few dropped jaws, involuntary guffaws, and shouts of disbelief. The Israelites were ex-slaves and refugees. They left behind everything they owned and knew to follow a man who claimed to have the word of God and currently faced a terrifying unknown future. I’m quite certain that I wouldn’t have been eager to trust Moses’s exhortation at this point.
Read MoreI’m one of those people who loves doing Bible studies. I enjoy completing the homework and always opt for the longer in-depth studies because I love studying the Bible. I actually enjoy diving into the original Hebrew and Greek text and trying to discern the author’s original meaning. But our enemy is always one step ahead, trying to figure out what might trip me up next. You see, an unexpected problem with my love for Bible studies is that there are so many to choose from. Way too many.
Read MoreFor many of us this question might be one we ask after completing a task, like when we graduate, finish a work project, finally move, or maybe when we land our dream job. But how do we answer it? How do we know when or how we take the next step? How do any of us even know what the next step is? I guess the simple answer is, we don’t know. No one, not one of us really knows what the next part of our lives looks like. We don’t even know what tomorrow looks like. And maybe, just maybe, that is a beautiful thing.
Read MoreGodly, socially adept men seem to be extinct, which makes dating hard. Too many disappointments, let-downs, or occasions of being “ghosted” have left their mark on the masses of Christian women and the general response is despair or cries of, “Where have all the good men gone?” I’ve even done this. I’ve been embittered and hopeless after one too many heartaches. I’ve blamed men for being too cowardly, too selfish, or, in some seasons of my life, too elusive.
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