Purposeful Womanhood

 By Jessica Edwards “ Eww, what's that smell?”, asked a young girl as she passed me in the spice aisle. My daughter and I had stopped to shop at Ollie's Bargain Outlet, and I was perusing the spice aisle where I had picked up a large container of garlic salt, another of garlic powder, and finally a small container of celery seed (it's great in slaw!). I thought nothing of the young girl's comment because we were on the stinky spice aisle, but the longer I shopped, the more pronounced the smell of garlic became.  I looked at the tops of my garlic salt and garlic powder containers and even unscrewed the lids to make sure they were sealed. Yep, they looked good. At some point while browsing the candy aisle, my daughter joined me and said, “Mom, I smell garlic”. I told her I had already checked the lids on my containers, and they were fine. We proceeded to mosey about the store before finally deciding to pay for our purchases and head home.    So What About Grace? ...

 By Carrie Moyer “In your book were written, every one of them, the days that were formed for me, when as yet there was none of them.” -- Psalm 139:16  .............................. ....... The following is personal in the sense that I share a detail of my life, a sentence from my book which you might consider of little or no consequences to yourself.   If I were to merely share the incident, I may effect some scrap of sympathy from you, the reader, and then you would shrug the matter aside and concentrate on situations more relevant to your own circumstances. But, my life is not actually about me or the choices I've made or that others have made affecting me, nor is my story merely a chronicle of events and happenings. My life was planned before the beginning by the Creator of life. My story is about Him, the Author, who oversees every cause and effect and makes everything happen as He has written it so that all may know that He is God over all. He wrote Hi...

 By Allison Flowers While working for a horse trainer, one day I was tasked  with helping train a young colt. For this particular day of training, the method was to have the horse harnessed up like it was about to pull a carriage. But, instead of an actual carriage I was to act as the carriage and walk behind the horse holding the reins.  The spirit of Satan (kidding!) got into that young colt, and it took off at a full gallop around the corral. I was jerked forward, tripped, and was being dragged by the horse! I knew all I had to do was let go of the reins, but I determined I would win against this horse.Obviously, that didn't happen, and I ended up finally letting go of the reins.  There I lay in the dirt, dust flying everywhere, and my hands blistered from the reins. My boss walked up to me after he finished laughing and asked me, "Why didn't you let go of the reins?" I wondered the same thing myself. Did I really believe, in that scenario I could've reclaimed ...

 By Julie Mangrum Merriam Webster defines rejection as: refusing to accept, consider, hear or receive, to cast off.    Have you ever felt this way? No doubt you have, living in this world. I have been reflecting a lot on the idea of rejection and how it has impacted my own life. I have felt the sting of rejection all of my life -- from those whom I love dearly, from family, from friends, fellow brothers and sisters in Christ, co-workers, and acquaintances.    Being rejected creates (among many things) feelings of worthlessness, uselessness, poor self confidence and self esteem. It can leave scars and wounds that seem to permeate into nearly every corner of our lives. Yes, all humans have experienced it, but by way of sympathy alone, it does not deal with the resultant blows to our emotional and spiritual state. So what are we to do with this rejection?   Consider Jesus   Hebrews 12:3 NASB — "For consider Him who has endured such hostility by sin...

 By Julie Mangrum If you are familiar with the account of the children of Israel's wandering through the wilderness at all, and are like me, you can relate to their story. I find much of myself in their inconsistencies: praising God for saving them one minute (Ex. 15:1-21) then seemingly, immediately complaining/grumbling about their circumstances (Ex. 15:22-27, among MANY other accounts). It's clear, if we really look at why God had them in the wilderness after their deliverance from Egypt, it was to grow them and teach them. God also explains in Deut. 8:1-6; 14-16 all of their wilderness experience was for their good.  So we too are in our own "wilderness" in this Christian life. Their story is meant to parallel ours. We wander through this life in all its strange patterns that seem like we are just walking in circles going nowhere, experiencing all these ups and downs -- these trials. But let us not forget what His Word says about our trials:   James 1:2-4 NASB ...

 By Jessica Edwards The course of my life changed forever on December 7, 2002. At that time, I was a stay-at-home mom of two little boys with my days full of ministry in my home. Through an emotional breakdown, the Lord began to show me all of the pride, the worry, the fear, the lies I was believing, and He began to transform and renew my mind as I clung to Him for His grace and healing. He called me to come with Him to a desolate place. We spent many months together in that desolate place, and my life has not been the same. There's an interesting account in Mark 6 where the disciples had been doing some amazing work for the Lord. They had been preaching, casting out devils, healing the sick (vs. 13), and Jesus told them to “ 'Come away by yourselves to a desolate place and rest a while.' For many were coming and going, and they had no leisure even to eat. And they went away in the boat to a desolate place by themselves” (vs. 31-32 ESV) . Notice Jesus didn't say ...

 By Carrie Moyer ENOUGH?   I've been married more than long enough to conclude that my husband is incapable of meeting my most intimate needs and expectations. And, on the flip side, I humbly confess that I am entirely incapable of meeting his. That's the plain, simple truth. HUSBAND, LOVE . . . God commands a husband to love his wife (Ephesians 5:25, 28, 33). Not to learn her love language, but simply, to love her. That is, he is to be patient and kind, not envious or boasting, not arrogant or rude. He should not insist on having his own way; should avoid being irritable or resentful. He should not rejoice at wrongdoing, but rejoice with the truth. He should bear all things, believe all things, hope all things, endure all things.  And he should behave this way toward his wife always in all circumstances, even when she fails to conform to God's expectations for a wife. (1 Corinthians 13:4‭-‬8) WIFE, SUBMIT . . . God commands a wife to submit to her husband i...