Category: Personal Testimonies

Recently in a few of my friendships, in my marriage, and with my children, I have seen the benefits of intentionally speaking words of affirmation. What I mean is instead of waiting for a "special day" such as Mother's or Father's Day, Thanksgiving, Christmas or a birthday to express how much I care for and appreciate someone, I do it when life is ordinary, when people least expect it.In my marriage, I have found that with the stress and work it entails to raise four young children, I need to be particularly intentional. Before I started homeschooling, I had the habit of writing sweet personal notes to my husband and sticking them in his lunchbox on random days. A few times the kids and I have blown up balloons, put…

My husband is from Ecuador, his city in the mountains. There, as in other places around the world, you can visit your friends' houses without calling beforehand! Yes, you can simply go, and as long as someone is home you will immediately be invited in for coffee or tea and bread, which lends itself to conversation and wonderful fellowship.As a whole, Ecuadorians practice hospitality. They don't hesitate to let others in for an unexpected visit, taking time out of their day to listen to and bless another. While in Ecuador, my husband and I made "surprise" visits to many families from our church in the evenings, and we were never turned away. How would we react to an unplanned visit? If you live in the United States as I do, the…

Yesterday we celebrated Memorial Day and it was a sunny, gorgeous, and patriotic time. Attending a parade, cheering for service men and women, and celebrating with a cook-out and family time made our day joyful and meaningful.Memorial means "remembrance," and just as we remember those who served and are serving our country, I was remembering how I came to faith in Jesus as my personal Savior. I would like to share my story with you.My first remembrance of beginning my journey to belief in God was when I was probably only four or five years old. My family and I attended a Christian church, and in my Sunday school class one morning the teacher shared that Jesus loves me, died for my sins, and wants to come into my heart…

I have not been posting as regularly as I would like, and sometimes it can be hard to think of what to share and write. Today I had my idea early on, inspiration that came from a complete stranger.It was about noon and my crew of four children and I were headed home from a park, a fifteen minute walk back to our house. We were only a few minutes into our journey when we passed a house, and outside a guy with a long beard was putting what looked like some sports gear into the back of his trunk. It's strange that I don't remember exactly what he said, but rather how he said it; he was intentionally trying to be friendly and show God's heart and love as…

😩It was one of the days where I personally lacked peace to even begin. A few outside factors contributed to an internal state of feeling incompetent and overwhelmed. Oh, but God had other plans. Now don't get me wrong: my littlest one still refused to wear a diaper most of the day, and the stomach virus is still present and spreading in our home, but God was about to uplift me. My mom came over and we took the kids to the park around the corner from our house. A classmate and old childhood friend was there with her kids, although I didn't recognize her at first. When I did, it hit me: She is the one, the one I had heard about from a friend, and was praying for and…