By: Sheila Hupp Preparing for Battle  Each morning, I ask my three young daughters to brush their teeth, brush their hair, and make up their beds. These all sound simple; however, my daughters fight me on this every day.  With the chorus of moaning and groaning you would think that I have demanded that they power wash […]

By: Emily Miller “The Bible is people’s words about God, not God’s Word…”  “The Bible contradicts itself.”  “The Bible means whatever the reader wants it to mean.”  “The Bible suppresses women, oppresses gays, promotes genocide…”  “The God of the Old Testament is different than the God of the New Testament.”   If these objections to the Bible are brand new (and […]

By: Kelly Arena “Snap, crackle, pop!” I exclaimed as I closed the car door and placed my hand on the burning hot steering wheel. (Yes, being an avid cereal snacker, I have succumbed to uttering cereal slogans as part of my vocabulary.)  It’s June in Florida. I parked my car outside and forgot to put up my windshield shade, which tends to […]

By: Christi Grimm The voices of life never cease. They are forever beckoning me to their every story, request, encouragement, or accusation. So many voices; eight of them in my home alone.  With 6 children, a husband, myself, a dog, and a cat, voices of some form are always in use – sometimes harmonious, sometimes clamorous. […]

By: Kate Velasquez I find myself in a new stage of life. New city, new house, new last name, and no routine…  Yes, that’s right, with all this change, I have yet to really figure out what my new regular routine is going to look like. Which also means my current quiet time is all over […]

By: Julianna Weiss “I prefer for people to love me when I’m worthy of it, like when I do something nice for them or they feel loved by me so they love me in return. I’d rather have that than someone love me when I’m nasty, that feels so unworthy.” These are the words I typed […]

By: Carley Fischer Have you ever spent time with a friend fresh from a worship conference? Have you ever left church on a particular Sunday feeling especially convicted and called to action? Have you seen, felt, or heard the buzz from yourself or others that comes when one is excited about their faith? It is a […]

By: Amy Hornbuckle There is a lot of fear about becoming legalistic with our quiet time. We warn against elevating knowledge and pursuing the facts about God, instead of pursuing Him. But at what point does that fear become disobedience?  Jen Wilkin recently said, “We should be concerned that we’re more fearful of arrogance than we […]

By: Emily Miller One of the first practices I added into my quiet time was writing out prayers as I read. I keep a list of names, groups, and other specific things: gratitude (something I’m thankful for), praise (something great about God), my day, my quiet time, my future, etc. Every morning I write out prayers […]

By: Rachel Frazier Let me paint you a quick picture. You’re browsing TJMaxx and you come across the cutest notebook. The cover is not only cute and subtle, but it has that perfect medium-to-thin margin between lines for all your thoughts. You buy it and just know you’re going to fill it within the year. Fast-forward a couple weeks […]