Category Archives: recommended reading

Safer Than a Known Way

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It’s amazing how difficult it is to believe the Word of God sometimes. Even after years of walking with the Lord and seeing His faithfulness proved again and again and again, I still find myself struggling to believe words I know to be true. Can anyone relate to me here?


“Trust in the Lord with all of your heart, and lean not on your own understanding. Acknowledge Him in all your ways, and He will make your path straight.” Proverbs 3:5-6 “He who did not spare his own Son, but gave him up for us all–how will he not also, along with him, graciously give us all things?” Romans 8:32 Some of my favorite promises of Scripture are also the ones that I struggle to believe on a daily basis.


I know that ultimately God has a much higher and comprehensive view of my situation than I do and therefore knows what is best for me. This is why I am commanded to trust Him and not my own understanding of my situation. I also know if He was going to withhold anything from me, it would be the thing most precious to Him: His own beloved Son: Jesus. But He hasn’t done that; instead He gave Jesus up for my sake to be punished for my sin so that I might be justified and have eternal life. So what reason does God have to withhold anything else from me unless it is ultimately for my benefit? I know these things to be true.


I know this because I have seen these truths tested throughout the years of my life. I lost 3 babies before the end of the first trimester in pregnancy and yet found out that ultimately this was God’s grace to me. It allowed me to discover an easily treatable problem in my body that would allow me to have healthy babies and possibly save my life (read about this in my post Faith in Difficult Times). I married a man whose calling has brought me into a lifestyle of traveling, a lack of routine, and time at home alone that I never thought I wanted yet has proven to be one of the sweetest channels of intimacy with God (see post A Day in the Life). I have over and over again seen God prove His faithfulness to me through circumstances that seemed undesirable. So what reason do I have to distrust Him? None.

Yet here I find myself past my due date with our second baby, Sophia, wondering why God hasn’t brought her here yet in the time and manner that I wanted. It may seem very silly to be concerned about something so small, but this is what I have been wrestling with for these past few weeks. One of my brothers leaves the country this Sunday for 4 months, all of my family is only available this coming weekend to see Sophia so I would have someone to watch Lively and Jimmy is off on Sabbatical this month (read about this on his blog here). In my mind, everything was PERFECT for her to come last week! Yet here I am, still pregnant and waiting to go into labor, telling God that clearly He doesn’t know what He’s doing in delaying Sophia’s entrance into this world.

Again, this might seem like something small and menial, and maybe it is, but waiting for her to be born has created a daily battle in my mind to trust and believe God knows what is best for my family and me. I continually remind myself that He knows my situation: He knows that my brother leaves on Sunday, that my sister has to go back to college on Monday, that Jimmy’s precious time at home gets shorter with each day. Not only that, He knows things about my situation and future to which I am totally oblivious. So it should be easy to trust His timing, right? Unfortunately that has not been the case.

Sometimes it is easy to trust God. Other times it is a daily and continual battle of the mind where my arms grow tired from a constant use of the sword of His Word (Eph 6:17). But whether hard or easy, my call as a child of God is still the same: Choose to believe my Father’s words over my own feelings.

Part of this process has included a surrendering of my rights. Maybe it’s because I live in America, one of the most entitled societies in existence, but I often feel like I have a right to have things go my way. So when God’s plan doesn’t line up with mine, I feel justified in my anger and frustration. But according to the Bible, the only thing I am entitled to is an eternity separated from God in hell because of my sins (for the wages of sin is death… Romans 3:23). Everything other than this is purely a gift from God in my life. So any other “rights” I may feel entitled to I have no license to actually claim. This includes my right to Sophia being born within my timetable.

I recently finished a book called “Safer Than a Known Way” by Pamela Rosewell Moore. Her story centered around a continual surrendering of her rights which allowed God to work freely in her life in great ways, often in ways she never thought she’d want. But of course, in surrendering her will to choose what God would have, she found His way is always the most joyful and most satisfying. Her story ends with this quote: “Only the Lord sees the end of my story. It is not in my control. But I do know this: when I surrender to Him, I am safer than if I had chosen a known way.”

What an encouragement this book has been to me as I am in this season of waiting. I see a “known way”: what I want to happen. But the promise is that God’s way, even though it is unknown, is much better than what I can see. But it is the unknown that terrifies me, which is what keeps me from trusting God. I am unsure of what He will do if I trust Him, so instead I choose my own way. But I have no logical reason not to trust Him, because His ways have NEVER ONCE been anything less than the absolute best thing for me.

So today, I am in a battle to trust God and lean not on my own understanding as I await the birth of our sweet baby Sophia. I have no idea in what way or what time He will bring her into this world, but I must choose to believe that His ways and His timing are far better than I could even dream.

How are you struggling to believe God today? Are you afraid of the unknownness of His ways? Can you believe that His ways are safer than a known way? If you are up to the challenge, join me today in believing His Word and trusting that His ways are far better than our own.

Blog Update: Bible Studies Added

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Hello friends and followers!

If you haven’t heard, I recently added a new page to my blog called “Bible Studies.” Over the past few years I have had the opportunity to write a few Bible studies and devotionals for high schoolers and adults. I am beginning to post some of these on this page for you to download and print off. Feel free to share these with others or use them to lead others if you already teach a Bible study. I hope these can be helpful to you.

I wanted to point out one in particular to you called “Intimacy with God.” I have often been asked about what it takes to cultivate true intimacy with God beyond just daily religious activities. I created a 3 day devotional in response to this common inquiry because I feel it is so vital to have a living, moving, active relationship with God that is tangible and felt. This devotional goes through 3 basic approaches that I operate in on a daily basis that bring me into real intimacy with God.

Here is a preview of this devotional. You can download the entire thing on the Bible Studies page.

Say that I decided to sit with you at lunch every day because I wanted to get to know you more. I immediately start giving you an in depth account of my day so far. I talk through the entire lunchtime and as soon as the bell rings, I jump up and say, “Great talking to you! See you tomorrow!” and leave. I begin to do the same thing every day. Do you think I will really get to know who you are? Of course not! I need to hear from you to get to know you.

In the same way, we need to practice listening to God through our day, and not just talking to Him all the time. But how do you actually do that? Let me share a story with you that I think will help:

There was a guy named Tim who went to high school with me. We weren’t friends or even acquaintances. I simply knew what he looked like. I never really saw him at school; once in a while I’d see him in line in the cafeteria or in the hallway. Then one year, I had a class with him and got to know him a little better. Within a few months, I had developed a full-blown crush on him. I thought about him all the time, and looked for him everywhere I went. All of the sudden, I saw him all the time! In the hallways, after school in the parking lot, and at lunch. I soon learned where his locker was, who his friends were and knew which halls he took to get to third period.

I’m sure many of you have experienced this same phenomenon before. It wasn’t that Tim wasn’t around before. He was always there. I was just too caught up in my own conversations to notice him. He was really still a stranger to me so when he passed by, I didn’t notice. But once I had a crush on him, I began to look for him. I always had my eye out for him. Through every conversation with friends, my eyes would be darting around the hallway just to catch a glimpse of him.

In the same way, God is all around us, trying to speak to us. But so often, we rarely hear because we are too caught up in our day-to-day activities. We aren’t looking for Him and listening to Him. But when we begin looking for Him and keeping our eye out for Him, He shows up all over the place! We need to be excited and expect Him to show up and speak to us, just like I was always expecting Tim to come around the corner.

Review: “A Place of Quiet Rest”

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For some time now I have been meaning to blog about recent books I have read and would recommend. I am always glad to hear of book recommendations from friends, and in the same way, I hope that some of you may find these posts helpful. Maybe you will be inspired and pick up some new books to read.


If you have read my blog regularly, you might recognize the name “Nancy Leigh DeMoss.” I listen to her podcast, Revive Our Hearts, almost daily and believe whole-heartedly in her ministry. Nancy and Revive Our Hearts, in my opinion, are unequaled in their Biblical perspective of womanhood. Today, I just finished her book, A Place of Quiet Rest. In this book, Nancy tackles the topic of having a daily quiet time, or daily devotional time with God. She presents an overarching and in-depth view of this important spiritual discipline. Beginning of the book, she reminds us that time alone with God was a part of Jesus’ daily life, and thus should also be a part of our day to day. From there she moves to a discussion of the multiple purposes of a daily devotional life, which is a refreshing reminder to prevent us from getting stuck in a purposeless routine.


One of my favorite chapters deals solely with the reasons we find it hard to cultivate a consistent time with God. After surveying a couple hundred women, Nancy deals with their most common reasons for not having a quiet time, most of which I identified with myself. It’s always refreshing to see that there are others who share the same struggles you have, and yet be challenged on how to push through and gain victory in that area.


But by far, my favorite section of the book is one that focuses on the Word of God. From simply delighting in the great joy the Word of God is, to describing step-by-step how to study it, I greatly enjoyed this multi-faceted assessment of the Bible and the great importance that it has in our lives as follower of Christ. I believe that learning and studying the Bible is key to our growth, and so to see such focus on it in this book is so encouraging!


The purpose of the book is not to be a step-by-step how-to guide to a quiet time, but rather a “gentle nudge on every page, a pointing-in-the-right-direction in every chapter,” as Joni Eareckson Tada wrote in the forward. It is a discussion on cultivating intimacy with God and an encouragement to make this a priority. Yet, at the same time, Nancy gives many great practical suggestions and guidelines that you can grab onto and implement immediately.


Most of all, I am grateful that this book left me without any excuse not to meet with God every day, even with a 1 month old. It was a refreshing reminder of the incredible privilege I have to fellowship with my Creator and the truth that everything else really can wait. If getting alone with God on a regular basis is a challenge for you, I hope you will pick up a copy of this book!


Next book on the horizon for me… ” The Feminist Mistake” by Mary Kassian.

Dignity and Sanctity of the Home

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First things first.


This is the attitude I have had for the last few weeks that has lead to an absence of blog posts. It all started with the True Woman conference in Ft. Worth a couple weekends ago. This incredible women’s conference put on by Revive Our Hearts, a ministry run by Nancy Leigh DeMoss, challenged, encouraged, and inspired me in so many ways. While I walked away with many things, the biggest was a strong conviction about the importance of cultivating our home.


Unfortunately, I had not realized the way that our home and family had slowly become second place to other ministry goals and priorities outside our home. I guess I had justified this because we don’t have kids yet and it’s just Jimmy and me. Maybe it was also because Jimmy travels so much it seems I am the only one at home a good portion of the time. Whatever my reasoning, God has called me to be a cultivator of our home, I had been abstaining from my role in this area.


Although my first reaction was to come home and blog about the conference, I knew that I first needed to get my priorities straight through a few practical things. The first order of business was to clean our home. Unfortunately, it had been several months since I had intentionally cleaned our house. I had created a habit of simply cleaning an area when it got out of hand. Secondly, I began de-clutter and decorate our house in some small ways I had been putting off. Thirdly, I set our kitchen table and begin looking for recipes to cook that week. Again, justifying my actions because it is just Jimmy and me and I have a full time job, I had not been cooking meals at all. Cereal, hot dogs, and frozen pizzas had become our regular dinner meals.


These things may seem like small, menial changes, but I think they make a huge difference in the atmosphere of our home. When I think about my house growing up, I see how these little things made my house a place of life and peace. My mom always kept the house relatively clean and cooked on a regular basis and overall cultivated the atmosphere of our home. Although I might not have noticed those things every day, it created an overall environment of welcoming warmth that was attractive and wonderful to come home to. It made our house a sanctuary I looked forward to walking in to after a long day filled with peer pressure and hard classes. I truly believe that her small efforts in the care of our home made a big difference in my well-being as I was growing up.


Just because we don’t have kids yet, doesn’t mean that my husband is not important enough to also deserve this kind of home to come back to. He has never complained once about the lack of meals or general uncleanliness, but he is noticeably more excited about coming home when those things are in place. God has designated women as the primary influencers in our homes, and that is a role that I had slowly begun to abdicate.


Thanksfully, I am now beginning to understand and take seriously the dignity and the sanctity of the home. Devi Titus explains the dignity and sanctity of the home well in her book, “The Home Experience” (a great book I purchased at the conference):


“The dignity of the home is seeing and experiencing its worth by those who are touched by it. Webster says dignity means “worthy of recognition due to a change in character and appearance.” Combining worth with character and appearance defines dignity. A home that has dignity sets standards in order and creativity with the godly characteristics of love, honesty, and loyalty. The sanctity of the home is its purity in heart and purpose – its wholeness and holiness in tone and mood. home is a duet of devotion and worth – devotion to God while valuing one another. Home is the sanctuary for the human soul to be recharged, renewed, refreshed, and restored. Home should be our most treasured asset. however, more and more women are devoting much of their energy to pursuits outside the home. Unfortunately, the ambitions of “earning a higher education” and “pursuing a career” have undermined home values, priorities, and interests.”


Though I would have liked to have blogged more in these past two weeks, I am glad to have put first things first: namely our home. What good is it to be an excellent and frequent blogger, or an excellent minister to the high schoolers I work with, if I have forsaken investing in the very thing that is the basis for human development and the home base for our family? Gratefully, my priorities are back in line, as they should be: God first, family second, everything else following.

New article on the Butterfly Blog

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Hello readers!


I hope you are all having a beautiful day and enjoying walking in the grace and peace of our God.


I recently wrote an article for a website called the Butterfly Blog. This site is run by my good friend, Donna Stuart, and is specifically for college women. I would love it if you wanted to check it out! My article is called “Walking in Truth” and you can get to it by clicking the link below:


The Butterfly Blog


While you’re at it, check out some of the other posts by great women such as Lauren Chandler (married to Matt Chandler of the Village Church) and Kelly Matte (married to Gregg Matte of First Baptist Church Houston). There are tons of other resources on this websites, so I encourage you to look around. Also, please check out Donna’s music on iTunes! She is a great songwriter and her music has ministered to my soul many times.


Enjoy!!