KIM BARNES|GUEST When my husband was in seminary, he did a summer internship at a church in Bradenton, Florida. The young pastor and his wife were very encouraging to us and gave us some great marriage advice: “Remember that marriage is never 50/50. It’s always 90/10. Sometimes you’re the 90. Sometimes you’re the 10.” It… Read More
CHRISTINA FOX|EDITOR My newest book, Closer Than a Sister, is about community and friendship. But not just any community or friendship. It’s about the relationship between women in the church. I don’t know about you, but I need community. I need people I can turn to when life is hard, when I don’t know… Read More
JENILYN SWETT|GUEST My friend Bethany and I were sitting in the play area at Chick-Fil-A while her 2-year-old played. There were a handful of kids playing with and around her, and the kids outnumbered the grown-ups. In the course of their playing and climbing, Bethany’s little girl got scared by some of the older kids.… Read More
LEAH FARISH|GUEST Columnist Rod Dreher has written The Benedict Option to stimulate Christians to consider how evangelism and community can be lived out in 21st-century America. He assumes the dominant culture is hostile to Christianity and pernicious to it, especially to children, and is going to become more so. Thus he harks back to the… Read More
KARON WILLIAMSON|GUEST It was the typical Sunday morning. You know, getting the kids dressed, hair done, teeth brushed, some semblance of breakfast, get in the car, tell the kids to not touch each other or talk to each other, and answer as I do every Sunday morning, “No, son, I do not know what we… Read More
STEPHANIE HUBACH|CONTRIBUTOR For nine years, I served our denomination as MNA Special Needs Ministries Director. In that capacity, I probably made close to 100 trips—many of them by plane. Since transitioning from my role as Director, I’ve had some time to think about the parallels between air travel and ministering to and alongside families touched… Read More
KRISTEN HATTON|CONTRIBUTOR I was a big city girl (Houston and Dallas, the only places I had ever called home). Naturally, all I knew was the on-the-go lifestyle I lived— filled with fun social events, great restaurants, shopping and, yes, traffic, but honestly I wasn’t too bothered by it because I didn’t know any different. Even… Read More
KRISTEN HATTON|CONTRIBUTOR Recently I spoke to the women at our church on the topic of gospel friendship, a term Susan Shepherd used at the Women’s Ministry Leadership Training in Atlanta. Before I could show our ladies what a gospel friendship should be, I had to uncover what keeps us from it. In the image of… Read More
“Its time to shed this masquerade. You cannot love in moderation. Dancing with a dead man’s bones. Lay your soul on the threshing floor.” –Gungor, “Land of the Living” I am grateful to be a part of a church that encourages me, as the band Gungor sings, “to shed this masquerade” and to “lay (my)… Read More
Every women’s retreat at which I serve invariably brings two specific feedback responses: 1. Tara! You are a total wreck—just like me! I wish you lived here and we could be friends because you really GET IT. I struggle with (fill in the blank here)—resenting my husband; secret spending and credit card debt; overindulging in food, alcohol, prescription… Read More