I’ve been consuming a lot of blogs and podcasts lately on natural birth, hungry to get my hands on whatever information I can get that might prepare me for the great unknown of labor and birth. Along the way, I’ve noticed a theme: empowerment. The message of today’s birth consultants and doulas disguises entitlement under…

There are days I just wish I could go back to the way I used to be. I used to be able to get up early, have cleaned the whole house and made a dinner plan by 8 am, completed all my marketing work, ran three miles, and be finished by 1 pm. One friend…

Setting aside time alone with God isn’t just about you coming away renewed and refreshed; it’s about offering to God spiritual worship by setting our hearts on Him. Scheduling in specific time — whether it’s an hour or a half day — leaves us the mental space to truly spend undistracted time with him the…

“Coming from my denominational background, I’ve always seen Christianity as more of a duty,” one young woman recently shared with me. She attended church, read her Bible occasionally, but only out of a sense of duty. She knew intellectually that the only way for her to be fulfilled was in Christ, but confessed, “I know…

Navigating her way through the crowded streets, Mary pushed through groups of chattering women, baskets of fresh olives and dates at their sides or perched atop their flowing headdresses. Children darted through, narrowly missing upsetting a cart of eggs. Mary shook her head, her eyes intently scanning the colorful array of booths, carts, and storefronts….

Sleeves rolled up and sponge in hand, I was scrubbing the bathroom floor when I heard my 7-year-old nanny boy timidly call, “Julianna?” I turned around to face him, knowing he’d just been let out of his room from a talking back incident we’d had earlier. “Will you forgive me?” He said it softly, with…

“Why am I reacting like this?” The previous few weeks had been a rollercoaster of crazy emotions—despair, anger, uncontrollable tears… Yes, life was changing faster than I could process with my family moving out of state. Yes, one of my jobs fell through. Yes, I was facing uncertainty, but none of this seemed to explain…

“Precious” necessarily excludes most things. Something is precious because it is rare, set-apart, solitary, or uniquely valuable. Precious metals are not so-called because a particular culture thinks they are more valuable than dust or sand or iron. No, they are universally precious to all cultures and times because of some intrinsic rarity or value. Our…

One of the perks of being a history major in college was finding treasures buried deep within otherwise long, laborious reading assignments! I found one such gem while working through a two-volume, nearly 1,900 page account of 19th century revivals in Wales. I was reading about one of the lesser-known traveling preachers of the period,…