Christina Fox, Author at Women.pcacdm.org

The Church Can Do Better

LEAH FARISH|GUEST On Sanctity of Human Life Sunday, many churches call us to contemplate the issue of unwanted pregnancy. As Christians, we must be conscious of the importance of tiny creations who are weak, dependent, still developing, yet loved by God and full of potential. But more than just babies in the womb, I am also describing their mothers and fathers, social workers, judges, politicians, abortionists, and pastors—all mere humans who may grapple with what some may view as “problem” pregnancies. It’s doubtful that sin is the only problem with our ineffectiveness; our limitations also hamper us. It may seem there aren’t enough hours in the day to minister to everyone. We can lack imagination to believe that someone in our midst may be agonizing over an unplanned pregnancy. Or we may not know how to empathize in that situation. Perhaps some are immobilized by the fact that they themselves chose abortion in the past, or secretly cling to that option for the future. Maybe we aren’t equipped with a biblical basis to engage with someone on the issue. It is with our own limitations that we all encounter the anguish of abortion, and now that the subject is legally in the hands of the 50 states, it is helpful to acknowledge that the decision-makers, doctors, and families involved are also frail and incomplete images of God. Covenant College professor Kelly Kapic makes this point in You’re Only Human—my favorite Christian book in 2022. He taught me that limitations are something different from sin and that if we try to handle problems without allowing for limitation, the solutions we find won’t be durable. With the empowering of the Holy Spirit, the church can do better for women who are deciding about abortion. God’s Word is the sure foundation for addressing all problems. Let’s look at some statistics on the needs, and a passage from Psalm 103 addressing each one...

The Church Can Do BetterChristina Fox2023-03-24T17:23:10+00:00

Caregiving as a Calling and Ministry

MARISSA BONDURANT|GUEST If Jesus visited your church this week, which ministry team would he sign up for? This is a hypothetical scenario, but I think Jesus would sign up for the ministry of caregiving. When you hear the word “caregiver” you might think of a trained professional like a home health worker or a nurse. However, the dictionary definition is much broader. A caregiver is described as anyone who regularly looks after or cares for a child, an elderly, or a disabled person. National surveys estimate that 40% of adults in the United States are caring for an adult and/or a child with unique health needs1,2. For this article, I skimmed the book of Mark and counted thirteen stories of Jesus healing individuals, and three separate accounts of Jesus healing entire crowds. If we know God has a heart for caregiving, and we know that 40% of our church members are caregivers, the question to ask is: are we treating caregiving as a ministry? As caregivers, do we see ourselves as having been called into this role? And as churches, are we training, equipping, and supporting one another in this mission field? In this caregiving series, Elizabeth Turnage and I want to help start some of these conversations. We will do that by shining a light on some of the lesser discussed aspects of caregiving. Things like anticipatory grief, giving dignity to a sick or dying loved one, and the difference between whining and biblically complaining...

Caregiving as a Calling and MinistryChristina Fox2023-03-24T17:44:33+00:00

Moms: Seize the Opportunities God Provides

HEATHER MILITO|GUEST As a homeschooling mother of three, it is hard for me to find much time for anything, including showers and moments of solitude. This season sometimes seems grueling and repetitive with the day-to-day tasks of child rearing, teaching, cleaning, and feeding. Where is there time in this madness to sit and reflect on the Lord’s goodness? An Unexpected Opportunity During the early stages of motherhood, I was overwhelmed by all my motherly duties. I did not know how to fit in my time with the Lord and find this so-called “peace” that He gives. As far as I could see, the peace that was given was tucked away at night when the kids were finally asleep and I, too, was drifting off with a closing-day prayer. I felt overwhelmed as I started the daily cycle again when my children woke up sometimes as early as 4:30! The steady rhythm of my children waking up early for a feeding, or a snuggle, trained my biological clock so that this time in the morning could instead be time with the Lord. At first, I was frustrated that my body would wake up at 4:30 and stay awake, but now I see it as an opportunity to find the quiet time my soul yearned for early in my mothering years. The time that I have in the morning before starting the day is precious. I sit with a cup of coffee in my hand and my Bible in my lap and enjoy time with my Heavenly Father. It has become an essential part of my day. As I grow in my knowledge of Christ, it urges me to want to know him all the more. My mind often drifts to Micah 6:8, “He has told you, O man, what is good; and what does the LORD require of you but to do justice, and to love kindness, and to walk humbly with your God?” “And to walk humbly with your God.” What a high calling God has for each of His adopted children. As His children, we are called to yearn and seek after Him. I cannot know what goodness is, what justice is, what kindness is, and who God is unless I intentionally give my time, my activities, and my best to Him...

Moms: Seize the Opportunities God ProvidesChristina Fox2023-03-24T17:44:38+00:00

Supporting Your Pastor’s Wife

LEAH JONES|GUEST I watched as a green inchworm crawled up the arm of the preacher’s suit during the middle of his sermon. I could hear the whispers in the pews around me as people speculated as to how the situation might end. But before the worm could make its way inside his suit and wreak even more havoc, I calmly walked up to the pulpit, brushed the small disruptive insect off the pastor’s sleeve, and returned to my seat. Anyone could have done what I did. We all knew he wouldn’t mind a momentary disruption to avoid disaster. But not everyone felt it was their job to help. I knew the job was mine alone. I was the pastor’s wife. A Unique Role A pastor’s wife faces tricky situations, most of which don’t involve inchworms. She has unspoken expectations placed upon her and few people with whom she can have transparent conversation. The women who serve in this vital role don’t have the typical avenues of care or companionship other women may take for granted, not because they don’t have friends or parishioners who love them; rather, because the calling to the role of “pastor’s wife” is layered with relational complexity...

Supporting Your Pastor’s WifeChristina Fox2023-03-24T17:44:45+00:00

Eight Benefits of a Bible Reading Plan

SARAH IVILL|CONTRIBUTOR There is no other time of year that Bible reading plans are more recommended than the month of January. With the new year, we are encouraged to begin new routines that will bring new growth, especially spiritual growth. But oftentimes the focus is on the logistics of the plan. For example, you can choose a chronological plan, a New Testament plan, the Robert Murray M’Cheyne Bible plan, the 52 week Bible reading plan, or the 5 day Bible reading program, among several others. Plans are good because they ensure we read the whole counsel of God, not just a few parts here and there, which inevitably leads to skewed doctrine. But instead of focusing on the different kinds of plans, I want to focus on the overall benefits of a Bible reading plan. In other words, why bother to choose a plan at all? Let me suggest eight reasons. First, God’s Word “is perfect, reviving the soul” (Ps. 19:7a). We don’t have to look any further for refreshment as we walk in the wilderness of this world. Scripture is our sole sustenance. If we don’t daily revive our soul in Scripture, we will begin to wilt spiritually...

Eight Benefits of a Bible Reading PlanChristina Fox2023-03-24T17:45:01+00:00

New Year, New Habits

KIM BARNES|GUEST Years ago, I followed bloggers who encouraged their readers to join “The 5 O’clock club.” The aspirations of the club were to rise early (5am) to start your day. They offered a lot of advice about how to establish this habit. I don’t remember much of the advice, but one thing has stayed with me. One blogger wrote about rising at 5am: “Expect to feel bad for about 15 minutes.” That was a revolutionary idea to me. Previously, I would try to wake up early and usually felt so awful that I would decide that my body just isn’t ready to be awake and I would go back to bed. But what if it was NORMAL to feel bad? If my expectation is to feel bad, then I can soldier on. And you know what I discovered? When I wake up early and feel awful, the feeling almost always passes in about 15 minutes. Changing my expectation of what waking up should be like enabled me to establish a new routine and encouraged me to persevere. Expect the Hard As we start a new year, many of us are looking at establishing new routines and habits. One of the greatest obstacles to new habits is wrong expectations. We expect to feel a certain way. We want to gain certain results. But when reality is incongruous with those expectations, we get discouraged. We give up. We imagine that since the habits and routines that we aspire to are good, it will feel good to do them. Maybe they won’t feel good right away, because change is hard, but we expect that eventually the new habit will get easy...

New Year, New HabitsChristina Fox2023-03-24T17:45:09+00:00

New Beginnings: On God’s Mercy and Grace

SHARON ROCKWELL|CONTRIBUTOR The beginning of a new school year was always one of my favorite times. There was something exciting about seeing unopened textbooks and knowing that by the end of the year, I would have a thorough understanding of that new subject, or at least evidence that I gave it my best effort. It was a time of new beginnings, regardless of last year’s results. I feel the same way about New Year’s resolutions. The idea of starting over toward a new goal encourages me to persist in improving some skill, tackle some sin which has been plaguing me with temptation, or sharpen my commitment to daily Bible reading, even if I don’t make it all the way through the year. The idea that I can still have a fresh start again next January is comforting. Thankfully, God meets us on a much more abbreviated timeline. Sometimes I can hardly make it through the day in keeping the promises I committed to in my morning prayers. But God’s mercies are new each morning. It does not matter if it is a repeat sin, a failed attempt to do better in my walk with Christ, or simply that the “the flesh is weak.” The Lord extends mercy to us daily when we fall. He also abundantly pardons us. Isaiah 55:7 says, “Let the wicked forsake his way, and the unrighteous man his thoughts; let him return to the Lord, that he may have compassion on him, and to our God, for he will abundantly pardon.”...

New Beginnings: On God’s Mercy and GraceChristina Fox2023-03-24T17:45:17+00:00

The Quest for Appearances

JESSICA ROAN|GUEST It is a yearly battle come school picture day. My kids have the cheesiest smiles. Since they were young, we have tried to explain that they can’t smile with their mouths closed or they will end up looking like the Joker. And while less than perfect school pictures drive me crazy, I told my mom a few years ago that I wouldn’t get picture retakes any ore. “We get what we get,” I told her, “It is just a snapshot of their childhood.” Nevertheless, after a fairly successful picture endeavor last year, I thought the battle was finally over. Not so fast. This year, we definitely needed a photo retake for my youngest. But we didn’t do it. And really, why do they have to be perfect? These efforts I’ve put into my children’s school pictures remind me of other areas of my life in which I care about appearances. About how things look to others. I want people to approve of my yard, compliment my clothes, and be somewhat impressed with the cleanliness of my house. And these examples just touch the surface. In a world driven by social media personas, my parenting, spiritual life, and level of involvement in the church always seem sub-par compared to those women I see who can “do it all” so well. As much as I hate to admit it, I care what others think...

The Quest for AppearancesChristina Fox2023-03-24T17:45:30+00:00

On a Silent Night

KATHY CHAPELL|GUEST Silent Night is my very favorite Christmas hymn. It speaks to believers AND non-believers around the world. Those who know just who that infant in the manger was hear in this simple song the provision of a Redeemer by a loving Father. And those who don’t know Him as Savior still love this tender song that is steeped in tradition and sentiment. On Radiant Beams Growing up in a tiny church in southern Illinois, I had two different impressions of the carol. The first, I must admit, was based purely on the sentiment and sweetness of watching the adults in that church sing it. The church was founded in 1881 by German immigrants, and when I was young, most of the 25 members of Woodburn Presbyterian Church were either first-or second-generation German Americans. So, when we sang this song, there were many who sang it in their heart language: “Stille Nacht, heilige Nacht, Alles schlaft; einsam wacht….” As they sang, with all the memories of family and heritage, these dear saints would sometimes close their eyes and weep as they sang. Even as a little child, I knew that this song meant something important to them—and therefore to me...

On a Silent NightChristina Fox2023-03-24T17:45:35+00:00

A Journey Worth Taking

BETHANY BELUE|GUEST When I was a child, our family would take long road trips in our brown-paneled Dodge Caravan. My sister and I each got our own row, and we would nestle down in our matching Care Bear sleeping bags, with all the snacks and activities a kid would want. My dad’s road trip tunes of choice, Barry Manilow, became the background music for our journey. It was the ideal family road trip setup. But no matter how many activities we played, how many snacks we ate, or how beautiful the scenery outside, I would always ask that question that sends a shiver up every parent’s spine, “Are we there yet?” Every trip is too long, and the destination is always better than the journey. The Journeys of Life As an adult, I still don’t like road trips, but I understand that to get to any destination there must be a journey. I thought about this as I recently celebrated my 40th birthday. I reflected on the past 20 years of my life and where the Lord has brought me. As a 20-year-old, I had big dreams for my life. I had a plan for marriage, children, career, and even where I would travel and when. I had no idea I wouldn’t meet my husband for 13 more years, or that I’d walk a road of infertility before becoming a mom 17 years later. I didn’t know my career would go in a completely different direction, that friends would pass away, that desires would go unmet, or that I’d receive gifts unimaginable...

A Journey Worth TakingChristina Fox2023-03-24T17:45:44+00:00

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