We checked our analytics and rounded up our 10 most-read articles of the year (can you sense a theme?!):
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I always have mixed feelings when I look back over my photo collection from the past decade. Facebook always seems to be able to pick out and share some good times that are memorable moments to remember. I love to reminisce over all the wonderful changes that have taken place in my life and I feel blessed to see how far I have come. On the other hand, I have to admit, I also feel a twinge of sadness.
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The holidays are a time of joy, family, celebrating, Hallmark movies, and Christmas magic. But it can also be a time that tries my patience like no other. Holiday traffic, crowded shopping malls, long lines at the post office, trying to find a parking spot at the grocery store, crazy family drama - the list goes on and on. Pretty soon, I’m exhausted and cranky, snapping at the checkout girl or stressing about a gift I still need to get. I can turn into quite the Scrooge if I’m not careful.
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He sat at a family-sized table alone, pouring all of his attention into the study Bible opened before him. I imagined that the baked potato sitting at his side grew colder by the second and wondered if it felt neglected by his lack of interest in it. I sat enjoying my own meal and as I watched his fixed attention on the wrinkled pages before him, my curiosity only grew. The questions became a pile in my head and before I knew it my two legs were bee-lining me to the lonely man. It was only as I stood before him that I realized I had no plan.
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I hadn’t expected to be able to sit down with her and talk. But the longer we sat there at the table, the more of her life story she poured out. I realized I’d judged her too harshly and not asked the right questions. I fiercely wished that I had checked up on her in the past to make sure she was okay after seeing signs of depression.
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“Comparison is the thief of joy” - I tell myself this often, and while there is truth to that statement, there’s also value in looking back to other, harder times in our lives and comparing the past to today’s victories. When I compare my life to where I was 5 years ago, I rejoice at what God has done for me.
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If you see me at work in the month of December, you will find me wearing a Christmas sweater and listening to Christmas music in my office. But let's be honest, I have been listening to Christmas music since October. Yes, I am one of those people. I love the way Christmas, and everything that goes with it, makes me feel better.
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I have so many friends who are hurting right now. I also know of many more — thanks to social media — people who I feel like I know in real life. It’s hard to know what to do or say when people I love go through hard things, and I never want to be insensitive to what they’re going through. Here are a few ways you can support someone who is hurting this holiday season:
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Get out of your own head! It’s time to stop giving these thoughts so much credit. Start thinking God’s thoughts and you will be free from the bondage of negative thoughts. Look to His word - the unwavering, unchanging truth - before you listen to anyone or anything else. Write it on your heart and recite it to yourself often. Most of all, ask the Lord to renew your mind.
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So often, we can’t see past the space right around us. We can get caught up in trying to see past the fog and figure out a way out of it. But maybe God just wants us to be in the fog for a little bit. Because it’s in that space that faith becomes a real thing...not just something we talk about.
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This time of year always grips me with stress and fear. Not necessarily due to the busyness of the holiday season (although that is certainly there) but because of all the unknowns looming in the year ahead. As disciples of Jesus, however, we are called to allow tomorrow to inform the decisions of today, but return to the urgent business of the living present, in the moment. In other words, we are wise about the future but we do not live there.
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My name is Alycia Marie. You may remember me. Once upon a time I was associate editor of Tirzah Magazine. One day, God told me to start a home for teenage mothers. Mind you, I was 26 years old and perfectly content on my career path to be an executive director of a pregnancy center one day. Then, I met a girl. She was young, African American, pregnant, running around the streets of Milwaukee with no one to care for her. There was nowhere stable for her. I had moved to Wisconsin from Kentucky, where I had worked for a home for teenage mothers. In the midst of this young girl’s crisis, I discovered a need. One God had given me a solution for. That was the moment I found one of the callings God placed on my life.
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I’m a nanny. It’s a job which has provided me more than a few life lessons. Today, especially. I brought the four-year-old home from preschool, and reminded her of the chores she had to complete before eating lunch. I made lunch and returned to her. She failed to complete her tasks and instead chose to sit and fiddle with a toy. Usually, I don’t have any profound thoughts or nanny-wisdom. But as I watched her, I knew what I needed to say to her. I walked over and sat in front of her.
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Propriety is not a word most of us know or use today. It means “characterized by appropriateness and stability.” As children of a holy God, this means behaving in a way that is appropriate for Christians and that doesn’t bring shame to the Gospel. But what does that look like practically in the modern world?
PLUS: Will Tirzah be around in 2020? Read this month’s letter from the editor to learn more about Tirzah’s future.
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Years ago, when my boys were young and impressionable, one of the grandparents had a talk on modesty with them. They’d been upstairs, had all taken their bath before bedtime, and were probably running around naked (I’m rolling my eyes though - they were probably ages 5, 4, and 2). My husband’s dad taught them at that early age that it was good to keep private, what should be kept private. I don’t know why that stuck with all of us so much over the years, but I’m thankful for his lessons on this topic, because it’s something I think about often as a mom of four sons and my perspective comes more from this angle.
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There are times though that I’m so focused on His good gifts that before I know it, my soul is out of alignment. Instead of praising Him in the present, I find myself feeling like a frustrated child. I didn’t say it was pretty, but it’s honest. And when this happens, God brings me back to a story He laid on my heart several years ago. A story of a little girl who is promised a special gift from her Good Giver.
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As Christians, we are continually trying to live by the way of the Lord and striving to share God’s love with others around us. Cultural anthropology is an important element to the Christian faith because it relates to people -- being able to better understand the diverse world around us means we are then better able to serve.
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While working out one day, the thought came to me: is this something I am willing to fight for? Is this something I am willing to push myself in? Am I willing to fight for this even when I don’t feel like working out? Am I worth it? What am I willing to fight for?
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I don’t know about you, but I’ve found that talking about Jesus with people who aren’t Christians can be a little awkward sometimes. Maybe you’ve sworn off the topic of religion at family gatherings or you avoid inviting your roommate to church because you’re afraid of how she might react. If you’ve been following Jesus for a while or if you’re a new Christian, it can feel uncomfortable trying to bring up the subject of faith with those who are not used to it or who may even oppose it.
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Our experiences in life shape how we move forward in the future and how vulnerable we are with others. Habits that we fed as we grew up have affected the daily choices that we make now. We are humans who live out patterns, and we can see that in our own lives because of the choices—or lack thereof—that we make.
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