Author Don Everts knows what it’s like to feel disconnected in your own neighborhood. But he also knows why community is critically important ..read more

Some of the most searing phrases—even intended to comfort—simply minimize a person’s pain on a path filled with loss, relational conflict, disappointment, and alienation. Here are some ideas of what not to say to a friend who miscarried.  “How many kids do you guys have?” Or, “When will you start a family?” Consider allowing kids to naturally arise as a subject of conversation, rather than assuming kids are the norm, implying not having kids is weird, or that not having kids makes a couple not a family. “Be grateful you don’t have kids. Parenting is so hard.” For a person who wants kids ..read more

One of my biggest desires is to be a mother. I want to grow my family, raise little ones, teach them right from wrong, and help them be who God created them to be. The only problem is that God never promised me children. When my husband and I started the journey to grow our family, we were fairly confident it would happen quickly. After all, how hard could it be? That was over three years ago, and we have yet to have a single positive pregnancy test. With every new pregnancy announcement from a friend or acquaintance, I had to work through thoughts that that person’s life should be mine. I fe ..read more

These days, “biblical womanhood” is a buzzword, usually weighed down with less-than-positive connotations. It’s come to be associated with the subjugation of women and the lack of women leadership in faith communities. It’s something I’ve been pondering since Women’s History Month came to a close this year. In the summer of 2017, I had a blog post go viral: “Wonder Woman Might Be the Most Accurate On-Screen Portrayal of Biblical Womanhood, and Here’s Why.” The article was a review of one of the biggest films that year, Patty Jenkins’ Wonder Woman starring Gal Gadot. I often wonder if I could ..read more

In attempting to find a mentor couple, maybe you can picture two extremes for your pre-marriage mentoring.  Scene 1: The four of you perch stiffly on a hard sofa across from a couple who loves to preach in the form of conversation. You and your fiance return to the car just glad to have checked something else off the pre-wedding list.  Scene 2: Your hands curl around steaming mugs, your animated conversation punctuated by laughter. Years down the road, you phone your mentors after your first big newlywed argument, and again when your baby is teething.  We’ve all had relationshi ..read more

..read more

“Happy Mother’s Day!” I remember hearing at a church I attended a while back, far before I was a mother. Walking into the service with my husband, the greeters passed out a flower to every woman and wished her a happy Mother’s Day. Little did they know, I was struggling with infertility, and it was a moment full of complex emotions. I strongly desired to have a child, but at that time I couldn’t.  Even when I finally got pregnant after a six-year journey with infertility—that Mother’s Day with my son still in my womb—I remember asking myself, Am I a mother yet? Is this my first Mother’s ..read more

..read more

For some, it’s social media or checking your fantasy football team; for others, it’s being in the pit of binge watching your favorite show or online shopping. Do you want to learn how to minimize digital distractions in your marriage?  I’ll be the first to admit, I sleep with my phone next to me every night, and there are mornings where I wake up and immediately look at texts, Instagram, and my email. In today’s digital age, there are endless opportunities for screens to distract us. How can you identify if screens are distracting you from growing in your marriage? Do you struggle with d ..read more

How Can I Ask Thoughtful Questions About Someone's Story? The post How Can I Ask Thoughtful Questions About Someone’s Story? appeared first on FamilyLife ..read more