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A Gift for Your Wife on Mother’s Day
Mother’s Day is special. On this day, mothers are celebrated with flowers, dinners, and special handwritten notes from their children. I love gifts, but I’m also aware that my greatest need above all else is sustaining grace. This grace is available to me but the only one who can give it is God. My husband can’t give me the gift I need to do the work of motherhood (though a massage is always accepted—hint hint). Joking aside, what my husband can do is pray that God would provide all I need for the task and all of life…
Miscarriage from One Man’s Perspective: An Interview with Thern Newbell
Articles about miscarriage are often focused on the woman, how she dealt with it and how she pursued the Lord. It’s rare that we get to hear from a man on this important topic. In light of a recent article I wrote for Christianity Today, I wanted to take a moment to also share my husband’s thoughts and reflections on our experiences with miscarriage. I’ve asked him to briefly answer a few questions…
Fear and Faith Releases Today!
Failure, rejection, sickness, losing a loved one, being alone—the fears we carry are many and heavy. Fear can be a tyrant, a bully we can’t hide from. It can paralyze our spirit, damage our relationships, and hinder our faith…
Regular Guest on Moody Radio
I’m excited to share some news with you. I have been invited to be a regular guest on Moody Radio’s morning show in Chicago. I’ll be sharing about issues and topics that are important to women. These topics will vary from current events and news to general interest and issues…
Your Online Relationship Could Affect Your Marriage
I have what many would say is a “good” marriage. We are loving toward one another, share openly about struggles, pray together, communicate, honor and generally respect one another. We are best friends—he is my dearest, greatest friend. Our marriage is good, but it is far from perfect. We have a lot of areas where we are consistently and constantly working to grow. But, I generally feel secure and content overall. That is, until I was not and realized I am far from above temptation…
A Conversation about Fear and Faith
Over the past year, I’ve been anticipating the day when I could share more about a project I was working on called, Fear and Faith. This book is written from the perspective of one who struggles with fear and has consistently been comforted by the One who gives peace. In it, I seek to answer how God’s sovereignty, goodness, love, and wisdom affect the way we respond to our temptations to fear…
Are You Lying?
I don’t think of myself as a liar. I would say that I’m a truth-teller, honest, forthright, and even often blunt. I think I can be honest to a fault, actually. And then I read this post and realized I’m not as honest as I think I am. There are ways that I have been tempted to lie and hide, not even realizing that I’m doing it. Dina Kaplan spent two years consciously trying not to lie and realized several ways that she’d either bend the truth or tell what we’d call “little white lies.” Her experiment got me thinking about my own tongue and how God views our “little white lies”. But before I get into the solution, I thought I’d highlight areas where I see or have heard lies…
The Black Man’s Stereotype and a Jim Crow Photo
What I am about to write is more like a note to a friend than it is a fully developed article or post. I wanted to quickly highlight something I saw in a New York Timesarticle about the lady in a Jim Crow photo…
Seeking “Christian” Fame
It seems that each year brings the sad news of an unexpected, accidental death of a celebrity. Each time I am caught off guard and shocked. Each time I grieve with the rest of America. Last year, for example, we saw the shocking loss of the very talented actor, Philip Seymour Hoofman. These movie stars and musicians entertain us, but they are people. They are people with families and friends and most importantly, souls. A quick search for “number of drug-related deaths for stars” renders an enormous list. I am unsure of how it compares with the rest of society but in terms of other jobs, becoming a star seems to be hazardous…
My Ministry Partner and Friend
This is a special week. The man who has walked through death and life with me has been given yet another day to live and another age to turn. He has been a staple in my life since I was 18 years old. He has counselled me with tender gentleness, loved me so well. We’ve been through great trials and sorrows and oh so much rejoicing together. His warmth and gentleness our children (our ultimate ministry) now get to enjoy. I thank God for Thern Newbell, my husband. But, today I thought I’d highlight something else quite special about Thern. He is my ministry partner and friend…
Works without Faith is Dead
I’m working on an article on personal relationships. In that article I’m going to move beyond the “why” to the “how”. How do we put our faith into action? How do we love our communities through service? I share a few ways to do this in my book United, but I realize not everyone will read the book and so I’m excited to share these thoughts in an article. But I find myself hesitant. I’m hesitant because I don’t think we’ve fully embraced or been captured by the “why”. As James said, “faith apart from works is dead” (James 2: 26). Playing on these words, I think Scripture also proves that work without faith is dead…
An Interview with Melissa Kruger
Over the past few years, I have had the joy of meeting and interacting with several women writers from around the globe. They are all so unique and gifted and yet have one thing in common-– a love for God and His word. I had initially thought I’d name the series “New Voices” but as I thought about all the women I’d love to feature, “new” didn’t necessarily fit their description. Rather than keeping it narrow, I’m excited to begin a series of interviews that will feature women who write…
A Look at This Week and Beyond
It’s 2015. Can you believe it? I’ve been told that as you age time seems to speed up. Last year flew by (as we say every year around this time. ;)). And though it’s always good to reflect on the days gone by, I’m eager to move forward. So, today I’d like to share a little blog news with you and what’s in the plans for this week and this year.
A Bible Reading Plan for the Reader
It’s that time of year again when we break out our New Year’s resolutions and make our impossible surely-I-can-do-it this year lists. Even though we know they are tough to finish, and even harder to start, we keep coming back for more. For many of us exercise will be on top of the list, but for the Christian we often flock to Bible reading plans. I’ve been there, done that and I’d love to share with you a few reasons why, even though I’ve failed, I’m doing it again…
Weakness During the Holidays
“Merry Christmas” to some is like nails running down a chalk board. The phrase makes your skin crawl and you squirm at the sound. You want to have a merry Christmas, but it’s hard. You want to be strong, but you are weak. I’m thinking of you this holiday season. I am you this holiday season. It is truly good to be jars of clay. I am praying for a genuine joy that transcends understanding for each of us. This joy can only be found in Christ…
Why I think the Christian ought to care about race ‘issues’
This is straight from my heart to my keyboard to my site—right now. This won’t be carefully crafted, mulled-over for days words. I’ve been praying and so here is what I’ve been wondering. Why is the topic of racial injustice, discrimination, prejudice, hate, etc. still so polarizing in our country, especially among Christians?
Thank You!
Warning—I’m overjoyed and overwhelmed so please excuse my stream of consciousness as I also attempt to say a hearty THANK YOU!
Our Interracial Marriage and the Gospel
Earlier this week, the ERLC featured this video of my husband, Thern, and me discussing our marriage and the Lord’s faithfulness to us. We were honored to have the opportunity to document what the Lord has done and hope you’ll take a minute to watch. What God has brought together let no man separate…
Articles from Around the Web
In the summer, I was asked to compile a list of places and articles I’ve written over the year. I do a horrible job at updating my site with articles and even this list isn’t quite up-to-date. But, for those of you who enjoy reading here, I thought it would nice to share some links to articles I’ve written elsewhere. Many of these articles address the topics related to United:Captured by God’s Vision for Diversity as I’ve focused much of my writing on the topic over the year.
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