peace, hope and life

Today’s post is short, but it concludes our discussion last night at small group, because we love our children’s Kids Bridge teachers and needed to relieve them! We read Chapter 6 for this week’s small group, entitled Why Pray? and we were discussing what we thought this passage means: “Although Jesus knew the redemptive pattern in advance—he had revealed it to his disciples—how remote it must have seemed to him in the garden. How remote it seems to all of us in the midst of our trials.” (86) Let’s look at a key word here in this passage: redemptive. What does redemptive mean? Let’s read about what happened in the Garden of Gethsemane to have some context. Luke 22:39-46 Jesus went out as usual to the Mount of Olives, and his disciples followed him. 40 On reaching the place, he said to them, “Pray that you will not fall into temptation.” 41 He withdrew about a stone’s throw beyond them, knelt down and prayed, 42 “Father, if you are willing, take this ...

Have you ever questioned yourself? Have you ever felt like you aren't enough or have completely screwed up? There are moments when we, as women, all feel this way. We try to handle all the things, but then something unexpected happens and everything comes crashing down. Have you ever asked yourself these questions? Am I doing it right? ...praying  ...being a Christian Praying In the book, Prayer by Phillip Yancey, he discusses how when it comes to prayer "God wants your authentic self." (p.40) He goes on to describe the divided self of man, comprised of the parts of ourselves that we share with others and the part that we keep hidden. He writes, "Perhaps we need three words (to describe this phenomena): one for the image of ourselves that we project to colleagues at work, clerks at the supermarkey, and other casual aquaintances; one for the more vulnerable parts we make visible to select family members and best friends; and a third for the secret places we neve...

I read an article recently about friends being comfortable with people just dropping by to visit. The article challenged readers to tear down the walls of expecting perfection in the appearance of our homes that prevent us from having spontaneous connections with others. Many women think that their homes and children are a reflection of who they are. A friend reflected on this article and said that it caused her to really think about why she felt this way. She realized that her home is not a reflection of her but a reflection of the life that her family lives on a daily basis. It reflects children learning how to help keep it clean, the busyness of everyday living including the lunch boxes, dirty dishes, tiny shoes and underpants on the bathroom floor. It’s a reflection of the people she loves and the way they are connected to one another. The struggle is real though. The struggle to do everything that we think we need to do. The struggle to be the best mom, throw the best birthday par...