by Kimberly | Apr 24, 2017 | Books, life together, Women
Women’s ministries come and women’s ministries go. I mean churches always minister to women, some way, good or bad. But through the years we have seen many fads come and go out of the church.
But, if there is any book, that can be used by all women, young or old, to learn how God wants her to live in relationship with other women in and outside of the church, it is Adorned.
First, its a beautiful book. And its thick – there are 350 pages. And even though its long, all of it is so good. I’ve underlined so much
Second, its written by Nancy Demoss Wolgemuth. She has spent most of her life in ministry with women as a single. Now, she is still ministering to women as a married woman, who also ministers to her husband. She is a wealth of knowledge and wisdom.
She gears her book to women, young and old. Each chapter can be read through eyes of faith, trying to live to spur each other on, to love and good deeds.
So, if you are in women’s ministry, or leading a women’s ministry at your church, I would get this book and devour it, answering the questions, going through it with your ministry team, encourage your pastor to read it for him to get an idea of what women’s ministry should look like.
This doesn’t tell you exactly how you should plan every event or what events you should have, but it gives you biblical guidelines about the personality or reason behind your women’s ministry.
Every women’s ministry should include: Teaching the word in a way that will grip the lives of your women. Time to build meaningful authentic relationships (not all teaching, but good relationship building time too). Multi-generational. And, as a side note to me: some celebrative worship and childcare! But, it is all about living out the Bible in authentic ways to other women, celebrating the Gospel!
Thanks Moody for this wonderful book. All opinions are my own.
by Kimberly | Apr 24, 2017 | Books
As a mom of preschoolers, even ones who like to get out and roam the city every day, we also like to use our home as a place of ministry. But, it can be hard to figure out schedules ways to do ministry.
Hospitality is one way we can be like God to the world and to our family. The Simplest Way to Change the World is a helpful little book that starts with the theology of God being hospitable to us and then gives helpful ways to be hospitable.
My favorite part of the book was their chapter on how hospitality is a part of God’s nature. How he gave extravagantly to those who were his enemies. How he would go to great lengths.
When we are trying to start practicing hospitality, let’s not turn to Southern Living or Instagram to know how to be hospitable, but look to the Word at how God is hospitable to us. Then we can pray that we can live out our relationship with God to our neighbors, families, and friends. That doesn’t mean we have to tell everyone the full Gospel outline every time they walk in the door. But, it does mean we can learn how to use our homes to glorify God, teach our children how to be hospitable, and welcome those unlike us into our home.
The authors share great recommendations on how to do this as well, but you can simply use these as ideas – and start your own ministry in your home to your people.
Thanks Moody for this book and all thoughts are my own.
by Kimberly | Apr 20, 2017 | Books
Do you often feel like your whole life is one entire lesson in patience?
You wait in your mommy’s belly to be born.
You wait to take your first steps, to go potty all by yourself, to have your first day of school, to ride your bike without training wheels.
My big can’t wait to turn 5 because he wants to chew gum.
You wait for the day you get your driver’s license. Till you graduate. Till you turn 21. Until you get married. Until you have kids. Until you buy a house. Until you are an empty-nester.
My life has definitely been a long waiting period. Let’s just speed things up till my 30s. I had gotten my dream admin job. Then I got my dream writing/creative job. Then, shortly into my dream job, I met my husband. I was 34. Most of my friends were married. I still wasn’t. And I’d quit praying those prayers about finding my spouse. I was enjoying being single.
Thankfully, we didn’t need to wait long to get married or to have kids. But, already, I want them to be older so we can travel more, to be potty trained, or to be in school – without losing the swing time at the local park.
We are also in a time of waiting for restoration and news on a job. I’ve learned a lot in waiting. I can’t speed it up. I can’t do anything by worrying about it. Some would say I’ve gotten cynical and jaded, and may be I’ve in some ways about some things. But, I also know that life is out of my hands, and God has bigger, perfect hands.
Ann Swindell, in her book Still Waiting, does a masterful job of sharing with us not only her journey in waiting for healing, but also uses her sanctified imagination to bring the story of the bleeding woman (in the gospels) to life. I will never read that short narrative about her the same again.
When I was telling my husband about her book I was crying by the time I finished telling him of all the inner turmoil that the woman must have known. How her life was eaten up with shame and loneliness.
So, let me encourage you, no matter what stage of waiting you are in, you can learn truths about others and the gospel and yourself in this book. Ann is a skilled writer and storyteller and is authentic and real about boasting in the Gospel.
Thanks Tyndale for the book. All opinions are my own.
by Kimberly | Apr 19, 2017 | Books
People who name the titles of books need to have a marketing degree. There would be several ways you could market this book by Wendy Alsup, but I don’t think any would be as catchy without being condescending as this one.
Is the Bible Good for Women? Well, we would say of course it is. The author uses her upbringing and her theological worldview to answer so many questions that women especially have about the Bible. She wants to help her readers develop a Jesus (gospel) view of Scripture.
In her book she covers everything from Creation, submission, the Fall, how Jesus models “women’s issues” and how Paul advised the new church to work in regards to women, and everything in between. She engages hew audience, which could both be women who grew up in the church and are solid conservative women, or these women who are reading her book could be feminist believers (or unbelievers).
She overs her topics well, and always points to Jesus. So, whether you agree with her completely or not, it is up to you. But, I do think this book would be a good start in the topic of women and the church.
Thanks to Blogging for Books for the book. All opinions are my own. amazon
by Kimberly | Apr 12, 2017 | parenting, Shepherding Children
A few years back a sweet friend started displaying these gorgeous flowers in her social media feeds. I had really never seen them before, or at least didn’t have a category for them. These wild, round, ever going flowers with lettuce leaves just struck me as the perfect spring flower.
Ranunculus are wild. They sprout and twig all over the place. You can try to force it to go in the direction you want it to, but most likely it will just go right back to what it is doing and do its own thing. If you force it to much, it will break right off of its light green stem.
They can stand alone or be fine in a group. I went to a brunch recently for a great ministry and one of the attendees has designed beautiful tablescapes just with ranunculus. They were simple and elegant and fun and stunning.
The past few years I have gotten in the habit of going in to Trader Joes and waiting eagerly for them to arrive in the front of the store. For their little round faces to be smiling at me, begging me to take them home to adorn my table or bathroom counter. And every time I walk in the house I see them, and smile. And think of my friend. And think of my boys.
Now, what in the world do ranunculus have to do with raising children? Something I ask my boys: “Who made ranunculus?” God did they will respond. And you know what, God did make them. He made everything to be its perfectly designed self. He made elephants to have long trunks. He made giraffes to have long necks. He made ants to be small and strong. He made clouds to float along in the sky and carry buckets of rain and snow. He is a perfect Creator.
He made ranunculus to be their sprouty, wild, crazy, perfectly perfect selves.
And that is how he made both of my boys. He made them perfect in his image. He made them to each have a perfect path designed for them that will encounter many different things along the way. They will be different in their perfect unique ways. They will have their own journey and path to God. They will learn differently. They will respond to the world differently. They have different paths but ones that I pray will end at Jesus.
I can’t force them to be who I want them to be. I can tell them to obey and expect obedience, but I can’t choose their path for them. I can train them up in the way of the Lord, but ultimately their life with Jesus has been chosen by Jesus.
As I was designing some ranunculus pictures the other day, I was telling my boys about how God made them so unique and I was glad I get to have them for a little while. They were exploring the different colors, its scent, and even kissing it. I love having different ways of teaching my boys God’s truth and even good morals.
As they learn to explore more, watch shows that have good morals, I love to bring in the natural world and good wholesome shows like the ones I can find on PureFlix . As long as you are intentional about teaching your kids, the natural world, books, movies, television shows can all be great tools to teach your children about who they are and who God is.
