Change… some of us thrive in it and others would rather die than endure it. But no matter what side we’re on, God more than likely has a few plot twists in the story He’s writing for us, so it’s important to not fear change — and it’s imperative we teach our kids the same.  To show them that a deeply rooted faith will be the answer to peace in the midst of trial and change will be one of the greatest lessons you can share and will also encourage the development of surrendered Christ-followers instead of nominal Christians.  I’m sharing a few practical ways our family has walked through change in the last decade, and for us that change came in the form of big moves during extremely formative ages for our kids. But I don’t think your plot twist has to be the same as ours for these practical tips to help!  We’ve done several big moves with kids, but our last two were at what most would describe as very inopportune times in their adolescence. One was back in 2012 when I had a 4th grader and a 6th grader, and then the most recent with [...]

Kent and I [Somer] are going on 20 years of marriage and we’re constantly learning, but not just from our own marriage. It’s been interesting to be the more “seasoned” couple in a lot of our friendships. (Yeah, that’s a nice way of admitting we’re the old couple now.) Recently, we had a pretty good chat about our marriage and the marriages we’ve had the privilege to be trusted to counsel and I walked away with three big weapons that we wives MUST eliminate from our arsenal for disputes and communication in general. If we do, I think it will help us to see a pretty huge difference in our relationships. Punishing Quit punishing your husband. That’s not an appropriate response for anything ever. Whether you’re mad because he hurt your feelings, you had a rough day with the kids, or you don’t like his side of the family, punishing can’t be an option. Be mad, talk it out, get over it. You can punish your kids, but you can’t punish your husband. Also, just an FYI, it’s probably sending mixed signals (to him AND the kids) when you beg your husband to be a better, stronger leader in [...]

Money might be one of the most misunderstood issues among Christians. After all, by just eliminating a word or two from a verse or cherry-picking which verses about money to learn vs. seeking a comprehensive knowledge of what Scripture says as a whole, misunderstanding is easy to do. So we’re doing our best to answer the money questions we’re asked the most often from a Biblical perspective. (But heads up – we’re not claiming to be the Holy Spirit either. See the last question for more on that.) Here you go: IS TITHING JUST FOR THOSE WHO CAN AFFORD IT? Proverbs 3:9-10 says: “Honor the LORD with your wealth and with the firstfruits of all your produce; then your barns will be filled with plenty, and your vats will be bursting with wine.”This proverb, stemming from the instruction from Deuteronomy 26:9-11, commands us to give of the first and best of the harvest. God doesn’t ask us for our leftovers because everything belongs to Him anyway. Rather than questioning why He requests us to give our first tenth of what we have, we really should live in awe and gratitude that God allows us to keep 90% of what [...]