Just for Women

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The vast needs that spread wide before us? They are already in His hands.

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I lay back on to the concrete and stretched my arms wide out the side.

Houston's night air became shockingly fickle at times, and the darkness lent an edge to the air. Cicadas' throaty songs of the day had lulled into an abrupt hush with the arrival of darkness. My fingers spread wide against the sand-papery driveway, drinking in...

 

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Parenting teens is one of the best, hardest, most growing things I've ever done.

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"Marriage will show you your true selfishness," they said. So I braced myself, but the blow never came. Marriage quickly became a haven I had never dreamed possible.

"Parenting," then, because they said, "it's harder than you know." But babies flowed as naturally as marriage had, although nights were chopped up and now there...

 

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He grasps those little moments so well. Pulls the kids close, chooses to go play frisbee or a game of Uno, just because.

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Be careful then how you live, not as unwise people but as wise, 16 making the most of the time, because the days are evil. So do not be foolish, but understand what the will of the Lord is (Ephesians 5:15-16 NRSV).

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"It's in the little moments," Daniel...

 

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And there I began hunting out places of worship through tears of joy in pain.

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Rejoice always, pray continually, give thanks in all circumstances; for this is God's will for you in Christ Jesus (1 Thessalonians 5:16-18).

Should we be thankful just because God wants us to?

Maybe we should let Him transform the way we view His wishes and learn to view them as an invitation to experience...

 

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God is inviting us to grow, to let Him cultivate deep and unseen yet intimate connection through those 'barren

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I pray that from his glorious, unlimited resources he will empower you with inner strength through his Spirit. Then Christ will make his home in your hearts as you trust in him. Your roots will grow down into God’s love and keep you strong (Ephesians 3:16-17 NLT).

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There are a million little moments that really matter, and you DO have what it takes to give.

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A child snapped this picture last night after he pulled me into the field and held me tight.

Yes, he pried a child off my leg and the purse off my shoulder, then sent them inside so we could have this embrace...

Just the two of us!


There are plenty of moments we share with the kids. But this was ours.

He's...

 

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It is the glory of God to unveil His mysterious ways to us, one day, one garden at a time.

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I grew up a city kid, always a short commute from a major trauma center when my dad could quickly get to the operating room if his beeper went off. That telltale beeping always filled me with conflicting emotions — dread that he was leaving again and thrill at imagining the repairs his fingers would perform.

But...

 

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But here in the place where lines blur, between land and sky, that small fold between day and night, the very place where great danger lies, it is here where we experience God's presence like never before.

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If I go up to heaven, you are there;
if I go down to the grave,* you are there.

If I ride the wings of the morning,
if I dwell by the farthest oceans,
even there your hand will...

 

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I dreamed of traveling the world, getting married, and sailing off into the horizon. And I am, only it's a whole lot nittier and grittier than I imagined.

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I've always been a dreamer.

As a rowdy child, gymnastics was where I finally found a place to throw my immeasurable energy into.
I just knew I would be in the next Olympics. I could just feel it. I dreamed wildly, lavishly.

Beautiful moments, even...

 

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Do you know peace in your life?

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[Jesus taught:] G"od blesses those who work for peace" (Matthew 5:9 NLT).

All summer, we watched tiny, exquisite, awe-inspiring hummingbirds feed from the tasty sugar water that my husband had so generously supplied to them. They would circle the feeder, suspend themselves in mid-air for a few seconds, and then dive straight to the tiny feeding troughs on...