Romans 12:8 "If God has given you leadership ability, take the responsibility seriously." What do secure leaders do? 1. Secure leaders raise up other leaders. Ephesians 4:11-13 "He is the one who gave these gifts to the church: the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, and the pastors and teachers. Their responsibility is to equip God's people to do his work and build up the church, the body of Christ, until we come to such unity in our faith and knowledge of God's Son that we will be mature and full grown in the Lord, measuring up the full stature of Christ." Jesus didn't carry out his ministry and mission alone, hoarding all of his knowledge and talents to himself.  He was secure in his leadership abilities; not fearing that if others shined, he would shine less. He raised up the 12 disciples around him and poured into all of them so that they would be leaders as well. Jehoshaphat was a perfect example of a leader that raised up leaders ar

Just days after writing a post about resisting sin and not conforming to the world's standards, I almost had to laugh at the irony of God's testing of myself and my faith. Here is that post.  Last night, I discovered that with the upgrade of our cable package I now get a few of my favorite networks that I haven't had since moving to Canada. Included in our package are Food Network, Turner Classic Movies (TCM), TV Tropolis, and several others I used to enjoy. Among the first shows I flipped through, I was almost too excited to see "Keeping Up With the Kardashians" and the "Real Housewives" series.  I shamefully admit that I used to love watching reality shows like those mentioned, but never saw anything wrong with it because I wasn't copying any of their behaviors in my own life. What I didn't realize though, was the affect those shows can have on your mind and your heart. Proverbs 4:23 says, "Above all else, guard your heart, for it affect

I read a fantastic article on the phenomenon of "50 Shades of Gray" and "Magic Mike". I share the same disbelief that women everywhere that claim to follow Christ would indulge in these types of entertainment. There seems to be this sort of movement of women saying, "if men are allowed, so are we!", instead of standing against the very things that breaks the heart of God. Sure, men all over the world have become ensnared in the tangled web of pornography. Do I think that's any more wrong than women being involved in the same thing? No, of course not. I do know though, that because of the incredibly high demand for pornography, young women and even girls are being enslaved to supply that very demand. If we choose to begin a new revolution of sex-for-sale with women in mind, are we going to be OK when the same number of boys end up trapped across the earth as there are girls because of our sinful means of entertainment? That's the reality of this sit

I read these two posts by Justin & Trisha Davis yesterday and had to share. What every husband needs.   (Read the whole post here.) 1. Loyalty 2. Encouragement 3. Sex 4. Common interests 5. Prayer What every wife needs.   (Read the whole post here.) 1. Pursuit 2. Prayer 3. Engagement 4. Leadership I thought they were pretty spot on with these posts. A tweet by The Marriage Bed @themarriagebed "If you decided to start treating your spouse how God wants you to treat them, how much would you have to change?" Pretty good thought! I'm blessed to have a husband who pursues me, prays for me, engages with me, and leads me and our children!

Last night I was thinking about our wedding anniversary (3 years today!) and ways I could encourage my husband more than usual on this special day. I began to think about all the things that make our marriage so fun and special, and realized that more than anything, it's the little things that matter most. Don't get me wrong, I love the special, out of the ordinary things Scott does for me too, but I started thinking about the little things he does that he probably doesn't even realize mean a lot to me. Partly, I'm sure, because I forget to vocalize my appreciation for those things. So then I thought, what a great opportunity to make a little list of sorts of all the little things I appreciate about him. We just got back from our summer holiday in British Columbia, and I was thinking about all the little things he did along the way that were everyday, normal things, but meant a lot to me. He took our SUV in to be serviced and have new tires put on. THAT is definitely

The Sunday before we left for Vancouver I watched a live video stream of a church I'm pretty fond of. The bonus was that Chris Caine, founder of The A21 Campaign which I've written lots on, was in town speaking this weekend. I could not have started my Sunday any better than hearing her pour her heart out on that stage. I'm still reeling from her message! God is SO at work in my right now, and I just had to share some of her message for y'all! She was talking about Moses, Joshua, and the Israelites when God led them into the promised land. If you know the story about the Israelites, you know that God promised their ancestors land for their descendants. He led them out of Egypt and out from under the rule of Pharaoh, and sent them on the journey into this new life set aside for them. What was supposed to take just 11 days, took over 40 years. Here's where her message picked up.  Deuteronomy 7:1 says, "When the LORD your God brings you into the land you are a

We just got home from almost 2 weeks in BC. So blessed to visit places like Vancouver, Nanaimo, Vancouver Island, and Sun Peaks Resort. It was probably one of the more relaxing trips my family has ever done. Instead of trying to fill every spare second with events, theme parks, beaches, shopping, and eating out, we took a much more laid back approach to this holiday. It was so peaceful to spend time with God in reading, prayer, and listening to podcasts being surrounded by some of the most beautiful scenery I've ever seen! Hopefully, I'll get back on board with blogging here so I can share some of what God has been speaking to me about. Until then, here are a few of my favorite photos from our trip! Enjoy!  The kids and Mimi & Papa on Granville Island  My handsome hubby and I on Granville Island in Vancouver  Nanaimo  The girls-me, my Mom, Olivia, and my sister at dinner in Nanaimo  Going on a walk through the park in Nanaimo  My cute boys on board t