What then are we to do about our problems? We must learn to live with them until such time as God delivers us from them…we must pray for grace to endure them without murmuring. Problems patiently endured will work for our spiritual perfecting. They harm us only when we resist them or endure them unwillingly. – A.W. Tozer Did… Read more »
10 pm and the house was finally quiet. I ran through the checklist in my overwhelmed mind. I grasped at anything that would make me feel accomplished that day … What could I check off that would say all the busy was “worth it”? Could I find my value that day in how many things I had gotten done? The… Read more »
“Well that didn’t go well” my oldest girl proclaimed. She was right. Sadly it was mostly Mom and Dad’s attitude that was at fault. After nearly 20 years of marriage, that night we still managed to create what we now call the “s’more fiasco”. A time that was supposed to be about enjoying our family, was instead spent snapping at… Read more »
“Mom, I really am OK!” I heard my daughter respond once again to my questioning of how she was doing. It had been a rough spring. In Florida during what should have been a fun-filled Spring Break, we discovered she had broken her right foot. Her left had been broken last fall. New X-Rays revealed a genetic abnormality. An extra bone that made her more… Read more »
In four months my daughter will get married. Her journey through adolescence was similar to other girls. Somedays she had to endure ridicule and name calling for not giving in. And others days she was praised and applauded for saying no. When I told her I was writing this post for moms trying to raise godly girls she shared a… Read more »
Recently, a friend told me I have six more summers with my daughter. Six. Six summers until we are outfitting my girl’s dorm room. Six summers until the world calls her an adult. Six summers until my girl no longer bounces around our house chomping on sour cream and chive potato chips. Six. Really, how can this be? I just… Read more »
This may be the most cliche thing I can say as a Mom, but I’m going to say it anyway. I wouldn’t trade one day of raising my teen girls for anything. I’ll take each mood swing, each time they talk back, each sweet conversation we have while driving from place to place. Each of these moments is a… Read more »
Part of a Father’s story while Raising Godly Girls… The horse named Raven is spectacular. A rather large girl, well over 1200 lbs. and covered in a shaggy long black winter coat of hair, tapering to huge hooves. She is a Percheron, complete with an elegant thundering gait and graceful black flowing mane. Her gentle eyes hide the most remarkable… Read more »
Raising Godly Girls: Why Social Media Is Not The Real Problem It’s was nearly 11:30 pm. I’m normally asleep by then, but as I waited for the reassuring beep of the back door to alert me that my daughter was home safe I laid in bed scrolling through Instagram. She had been with twenty girls at a party so I… Read more »
As a couples counselor, I regularly work with Christian women who are trying to serve God but are struggling in their marriages. Of course, there are many reasons that people come to see me and every situation is unique. It is quite common though, even among religious couples, for them to tell me that one of the biggest obstacles in… Read more »
As a teacher, I spent a lot of time mentoring girls. In class, out of class, on the athletics field. I met and counseled hundreds of parents who were looking for ways to guide their daughters in today’s world. Moms and dads and me. We’d sit down together and they would explain a struggle they were facing (“she heads straight… Read more »
Is it hard to be a girl in today’s culture? Perhaps. With being a teen or tween, secular expectations on what to look like, what to wear, what to value and the rush to grow up is overwhelming. As a girl, tween or teen, living in a secular society, trying to find a healthy balance in finding out who… Read more »
For the past few years, God has placed a burden on my heart for teens who are hurting. But it wasn’t until now that I’ve really wanted to do something about it and reach out to others. Through social media and online research, I’ve learned that there are more teens struggling with terrible life situations than I knew. And it… Read more »
As you strive to continue raising godly girls, I encourage you to teach them the difference between courting and dating. Though I believe the Lord had a plan for my life, I also believe that if I had truly understood the clear difference between the two when I was a teenager, I would have spared myself an awful lot of… Read more »
Is it okay to be nurturing? It used to be a given that girls were the sweet and caring ones. A hundred years ago, nobody discouraged girls from mothering their little baby dolls and dreaming of marriage. But today, our girls are growing up in a world where stay-at-home moms are looked down on and women are told that they… Read more »
Question: What’s the most important thing (ever) you could teach your daughter? Not to talk to strangers? To be kind and considerate to others? To value and protect her purity? How to cook? All important for raising Godly girls. (The cooking one’s a bonus!) BUT not what I’m talking about! So … what’s the most important thing to teach your… Read more »
How many times has your Tween Girl moaned “My life is over” as she storms out of the room? Ahem… how many times today!?!?!?!?! 12 times today and it’s only 10 AM. We are in the transition from little to Tween. She needs a different parenting style from me in this more mature stage. I have to Move from… Read more »
PURE IN HEART To be pure is to be clean, wholesome, and abstain from evil or wrongdoing. In church culture or society, purity typically used in reference to a person’s sexual behavior. It is very common in church culture to have teens take a purity oath, swear to be abstinent, and wear a ring as a pledge. This is a… Read more »
Pornography. Not a topic that is comfortable. We don’t like to talk about it. It’s kept on the ‘down-low’. We don’t know how to talk about it! If we don’t talk about it, then it doesn’t exist. Then it’s not a threat. Until it is. If I could turn the hands of time back, I would’ve done things differently. I… Read more »
Where I Got Hung Up When My Girls Were Growing Up Raise a godly girl? Raising a girl is hard enough! What does raising a godly girl even mean? Does it mean raising a girl who is loving, joyful, peaceful? Yes, these are all characteristics we hope to see developed in our girls; exactly what we teach our girls… Read more »