Below you'll find a list of all posts that have been categorized as “Blog”
by Debbie Taylor Williams I will never forget when I was a child and my Sunday School teacher challenged my class to memorize the Christmas story found in Luke 2:1-14. What seemed a daunting task became manageable as my mother helped me memorize one small section at a time. “And it came to pass” “in those days” “there went …
Shout joyfully to the LORD, all the earth. Serve the LORD with gladness; Come before Him with joyful singing. Know that the LORD Himself is God; It is He who has made us, and not we ourselves; We are His people and the sheep of His pasture. Enter His gates with thanksgiving And His courts with praise. Give thanks to Him, bless His name. For the LORD is good; His loving-kindness is everlasting And His faithfulness to all generations. -Psalm 100 Today I pray that you and your family will, “serve the LORD with gladness, and come before …
In Luke 9:23, Jesus says, “If anyone would come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me.” Notice Jesus says we must take up our cross daily. Suffering and hardship He guaranteed. In fact, He said in John 16:33, “In this world you will have trouble.” Each day will provide its own burdens, and each day we must choose how to handle them. Jesus tells us if we desire to follow Him, we must surrender to His plan, difficulties and all. Our burdens bear a purpose, and we must bear them with full …
Has your heart ever “hurt”? Perhaps it hurt for someone who was going through a difficult time. Or, your heart may have ached to the point you thought you were going to die because of what someone did to you; or you unintentionally did to someone. Have you ever noticed that no one can heal your hurting heart? As a matter of fact, sometimes it’s even a puzzle to you why your heart hurts. Things can seem to be in place. Things can appear okay, but deep down, you know they aren’t. As hard as you try to put …
Standing beside mama, I watched with wide eyes as she took a kitchen knife and cut a circle in the top of a bright orange pumpkin. Carefully, she lifted the top off and told me to look inside. Standing on tip toes, I peered into the pumpkin. “It’s yucky,” I announced. …
One day, your child asks for a new toy, next its pierced ears. Then as she gets older, she wants streaks of color in her precious hair. Before you know it, she is asking about a tattoo. Pierced ears seem like a walk in the park compared to the “thou shalt not mar thy body” conversation. I remember sitting in church as a little girl, looking at a beautifully and intricately detailed unicorn on the woman’s shoulder in front of me. When I asked my mom, she replied, “Ladies don’t get tattoos. If you get a tattoo, you can’t go to heaven.” Strangely enough I believed …
Today’s Great Giveaways! Unshakeable Faith By: Kathy Howard Jesus called this ordinary man for an extraordinary purpose. Simon the fisherman would become Peter the Rock. This outspoken Galilean would lead Christ’s church, stand strong in the face of persecution, and even refuse to waver when faced with death. Unshakable Faith is an eight-session Bible study that explores the life and teachings of the Apostle Peter. Participants will be eye witnesses to Peter’s spiritual growth as God strengthens and matures his fragile faith. They will discover eight key “faith traits” God developed in Peter as he followed Christ and learned from …
Awhile back Facebook, in its infinite wisdom, recommended I reconnect with a friend I hadn’t heard from in quite some time. It turned out my friend’s family had experienced some tough times. When she thanked me for my prayers, her comment caught me off guard. She said, “It’s not often we’re missed.” My heart broke for my friend, not just because of her difficult circumstances, but because she seemed alone in her struggles. I was reminded of Philippians 2:4, “Each of you should look not only to your own interests but also to the interests of others.” How important that …
The theme song to a popular kids’ television show sings, “There’s a hundred and four days of summer vacation and school comes along just to end it.” That may or may not hold true for us homeschoolers. Since we have freedom to work with a much more flexible schedule than those in traditional school systems, we have a choice: to homeschool or not to homeschool during the summer months. I have been homeschooling since 2000. Over the years, we have worked our calendar a variety of ways. In the beginning, I worked an office job, so our dedicated school days …
When I am asked, “How many children do you have?” I don’t know how to respond. “Three,” I answer, while I finish the sentence in my head, “…here with me and one in Heaven.” I will never forget my daughter, Rachel Faith, even if the only life she experienced was in the womb. She is always with me. As beautiful as she was at birth and at death, those images are not what flutter through my mind. I imagine her dancing with her sister. I twirl her dark curls. I embrace her, though she’s not physically here. Rachel died at …
