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Looking to stay on the same page spiritually and emotionally as a married couple? There is no shortcut other than preaching the gospel to each other daily. Join host Karen Hodge and her husband Chris as they [...]
KIM BARNES | CONTRIBUTOR Soon after I graduated from college and moved to a new town, I started attending the PCA church that I eventually joined. One of my early visits was especially memorable. At the conclusion of the service, three couples were invited up front: the senior pastor and his wife, the associate pastor and his wife, and an elder and his wife. All three couples were celebrating 30 years of marriage. I was in awe. As a young single woman hoping to be married, I thought this was exactly the kind of church I wanted to join—one that celebrated longevity in marriage and included examples of faithful partnerships. When I look back at that day and consider how impressed I was by those couples and how wise I thought they were, it's a little strange to now be in the position of being married longer than 30 years myself. I don't feel as wise as I imagined those couples were, but I do have things to share that would surprise a younger me. Sometimes You Should Go to Bed Angry Many quote Ephesians 4:26, "Be angry and do not sin; do not let the sun go down on your anger" as a biblical mandate to resolve all conflict before calling it a night. I think that misunderstands Paul's imperative. There are times in marriage when you should probably go to bed angry. Sometimes what you need is a good night's rest, instead of hashing things out while you're both angry and tired. God's mercies are new every morning. Sometimes sleep provides the clarity that midnight conversations cannot. Acknowledge that you love each other despite the anger, promise you're committed to working things out, and trust that morning may bring new perspective....
JORDAN PAINTER|GUEST In February 2024, I arranged my neat little set of watercolor paints at our annual church Galentine’s event. My plan was to paint a picture, have some tasteful hors d'oeuvres, and chat with my friends. God's plan for me was to challenge much of what I had previously written off in my own pride. I simply couldn't have predicted how that one light-hearted night would thrust me toward the chaos in which I now sit a year later. Before the activities began, a woman in our church was asked to speak on her experience with foster care. Although it was probably a wonderful message, I remember nothing she said after this statement: "If every church just had one family willing to foster or adopt, there would be no child left waiting in the system." Just one. I looked around the room and I realized that we all probably assumed someone else would be the "one.” At that moment, a seed was planted that I absolutely did not want to nurture. I had seen foster care from a distance and knew it was not for me. To welcome a child, invest in them, love them, and then return them, was not something I felt I could do. I knew foster kids have messy pasts, difficult behaviors, and deep trauma. With two toddlers at home and a husband who travels for work, I was not equipped to handle that. God Establishes Our Steps Proverbs 16:9 says, "The heart of a man plans his way, but the Lord establishes his steps.” I had planned my way. It was a very average-American-middle-class way, and it sounded fantastic: I would have two to three well-behaved children, and our days filled with play dates and various groups. My husband agreed with my plan and frankly, we loved it. But the Lord established our steps. As I type this, I have two foster sons asleep in their beds. One will wake up in about thirty minutes and then continue to wake every hour or so through the night. The other will sleep well and wake with plenty of energy to scream at me when his favorite shirt is dirty. This was not my plan. The Lord established our steps...
BARBARANNE KELLY | CONTRIBUTOR “[Pray] also for me” —Ephesians 6:19 How do you pray for your pastor? Some of the most beautiful, personal, and instructive prayers in the New Testament are written by the Apostle Paul, expressing his own prayers for his beloved readers. But when he sprinkles prayer requests for himself into his letters, these too are instructive. Paul’s prayers are notable not only for what he requests, but also for what he doesn’t. When writing from prison, Paul doesn’t ask that his prayer warriors seek God for his release, personal comfort, or vengeance against his captors. These would have been merely temporary goals after all, and Paul’s eyes were fixed on a farther horizon. In one instance he does ask for a warm cloak and his books (2 Tim. 4:13), but as he closes his letter to the Ephesian churches, he asks for words and boldness to preach the gospel. Paul’s priorities for prayer are centered upon his calling as a minister of the Word. Taking our cue from Paul, what does your pastor need most? Words If anyone had words at his disposal, it was the Apostle Paul. Prior to his arrest and imprisonment, his ministry focused on the verbal proclamation—oftentimes spontaneously—of the gospel of Jesus Christ. He spoke before Jews and Gentiles, servants, philosophers, and kings. The words he wrote in letters to churches and his friends and proteges fill the New Testament, revealing the mystery of the gospel and the transcendent God of heaven. And yet he knew he needed Holy Spirit-inspired words with which to deliver his life-giving and Christ-centered message. He didn’t want his own words; he wanted God’s words. The reason Paul had words to communicate the message of salvation at all was because he had the help of the Spirit of Jesus Christ and a growing army of prayer warriors pleading for the gospel to flourish under his ministry (Phil. 1:19). Pray that your pastor would have Spirit-empowered words to preach the gospel in season and out....
God’s WORD tells us we are MADE FOR MORE… MORE Purpose • MORE Value • MORE Mission MORE Hope • MORE Belonging …than the WORLD could ever offer! Click for Follow-Up Resources from Made for More! We explored how God MADE [...]
ELLEN DYKAS|CONTRIBUTOR Are you a journaler? I’ve been one since age thirteen and now, ninety-two journals later, my story is there with all its dreams, foolishness, heartbreak, life-in-Christ surprises, and…HOPES! As a teen, I dreamed of writing books and traveling the world to help people. Little did I know how God’s amazing plans for me would unfold! For starters, the first two books I wrote both had some form of the word “sex” in the title…I mean, I seriously did NOT see that coming when I was thirteen years old! When my first discipleship workbook, Sexual Sanity for Women: Healing from Sexual and Relational Brokenness, was published in January 2013, I was thankful and expectant. Thankful because producing this resource had been a long, somewhat challenging process and finally, after more than three years of book “pregnancy,” the workbook was born. I waited expectantly to see the response and impact on women’s lives. One message came in on publishing day from a woman: “You do know, right, that 99% of women in the church will never engage [with] this? Most churches won’t even consider this!” Initially, I felt frustrated and angry. I didn’t want balloons and accolades—but perhaps a little encouragement and thankfulness! But GOD...
Last fall, my sister and I had the great opportunity to travel up the beautiful Rhine River valley. Armed with a shared love of history, we ventured down side streets, through museums, and into countless churches in search of as many Reformation era sites as we could find. In Strasburg, we made a point to visit the church where John Calvin served as pastor from 1538-1541. While standing in the lovely church courtyard, my mind started wandering. We had visited a number of sites which gave account for men who had served and suffered for the Lord's church, but what about our church mothers? What history has been recorded of the women who have helped shape our church history—the women upon whose shoulders we now stand...
“God, I come to you very weak and broken. Grieved over the sin of my husband that I just discovered. Shocked—feeling betrayed—angry—distrustful—sad at sin’s corrupting power—very aware of my own desperate need for grace as I must confront him.” I wrote these words in a journal entry when I discovered evidence on my computer’s history that my husband had been visiting pornographic sites. Although I knew of his struggle prior to our marriage, I naively assumed that he was done battling pornography and that our marital bliss would provide the antidote he needed against temptation. My dreams of a happy, secure marriage in which I felt compellingly beautiful to my husband were instantly shattered that afternoon—barely more than a year into our marriage. It was made worse by the fact that just the day before I had asked him if he had been struggling lately with pornography, and he said, 'No.'” I remember getting the call from this woman. She was devastated, confused, and angry. Pornography usage is an unfaithful behavior that breaks the sacred promise: I am devoted and faithful to you alone. We might even call it treason of the marriage covenant, though some may think this too dramatic or stern. But aren’t husbands called to faithful oneness to their wife, to lay down their lives for her? She, of course, is called to the same, but why is it that church leaders can minimize the traumatic impact of porn, as well as the grave sin of sexual infidelity—which porn viewing is?...
enCourage Podcast Master List Episode Date Guest Title #1 1/16/18 Courtney Doctor Why One? #2 1/23/18 Laura Wifler The Hope of the Gospel to the Hearts of Moms #3 1/30/18 Sharon Betters Faithfulness in the Afternoon of [...]
For weekly videos, handouts, and podcast links, scroll down and click on "Weekly Content." We invite you to use the Hinged Bible Study on the book of Ephesians, produced by CDM and written by women in the [...]