writing about faith & family
Welcome to Advent. This Advent devotional is written for you, for me. It is a personal devotional for the season of Advent. Advent includes the four Sundays leading up to Christmas. Once Christmas arrives, we’re on to the 12 Days of Christmas—like the song. While I usually write family devotions, this one is intended to …
Continue reading "Untriumphantly: Embracing the Ordinariness of the Season"
The last few months, I have been using this Family Devotional Bible from Crossway. I wanted to use it for a little while before I gave my review of it. So, I've been pulling it out during family devotion time. I have the hardcover edition, but it is also available in blue or brown imitation …
I have been very into various Bibles lately. There are just so many different study Bibles that capture my attention. Some capture my attention in a negative way. "Why would anyone make that study Bible?!" But most capture my attention in a positive way. So, I've been picking up a few here and there to …
If you're looking for my annual Lent family devotions, they are in book form this year! I was coming up with a way to make the family devotional more user-friendly. Scrolling through an entire week of blog posts is a bit messy. It is free, but it is messy. Then, I had this idea to …
I might be a little bit of a Bible fanatic. I am always looking at the new Bibles coming out soon and admiring them. When I saw that Crossway was releasing the ESV Illuminated Journaling Bible, I was immediately obsessed. All the pictures just looked so beautiful! I couldn't wait to get my hands on …
I'm scrolling through Instagram when I wake up this morning and come across a hashtag that gets my mind rolling. #wordbeforeworld . Now, this isn't the first time I had seen the hashtag. I have seen @wellwateredwomen posting it for several days now. But it was the first time I stopped and took note. What …
This week you will need: Day Nineteen: Art supplies Day Twenty: Foot washing supplies OR bubble bath supplies Day Twenty-one: clear bottle or jar with lid, vegetable oil, food coloring, glitter(optional) Day Twenty-two: pink square paper (for origami) Day Twenty-three: fish & bread for dinner, construction paper, glue, and glitter Day Twenty-four: blue Jello cups …
My brother and I used to do these goofy plays. Don't think Shakespeare in the living room. This was more like SNL. Anyway, the big ending to one of our plays was, "Somebody must tell them!" said very dramatically to the audience with great pause. (Then my brother would say, "The Meme!" which we thought …
So, what is this common courtesy business? Well, I consider it a spiritual discipline. In fact, this spiritual discipline is more difficult for me than prayer, fasting, Scripture reading, hospitality- anything else. When God first started working on my heart about common grace, you could feel my soul yelling, "Anything but this!" Seriously. Some people …
Common courtesy. Small talk. A smile. Giving a little of your time to make the day of a stranger a little better. On the one hand, we gravitate toward stories of the small "random acts of kindness". We post them on social media. They might bring a tear to our eye. But when it is …
Notes From the Parsonage 