What Girls Get Wrong

I love the week between Christmas and New Year's. I mean, absolutely, positively, LOVE it. It's a week I usually spend cleaning (yeah, I love cleaning, it's weird, you can say it), getting a last few things done, and of course spending time with my family and friends. It's a time of dreaming, planning new goals for the year ahead, and just taking time to realize how far I've come over the past twelve months. Basically, I love the new start. All the times I failed over the past year are about to be shoved behind me as a brand new year breaks forth. A new year to go places, meet new people, to set new goals and reach them, a chance to try again on the goals I missed the year before. A new year to grow in my relationship with Jesus Christ. To become more like Him. To know Him better, to learn to trust Him more as He works in my life to bring me to where He wants me to be. You may have heard about a book in the Bible called Lamentations. It's not preached from...

I totally get where Martha's coming from. Most of us probably do. Most of us have a little more in common with her than we do with Mary. If you remember, back in Bible days when Jesus walked on earth, he and his disciples used to go to the house of three siblings a lot. These three, Martha, Mary, and Lazarus, always seemed to have a lot of people over when Jesus came. And Martha, being the awesome, ninja-skills hostess she was, liked to make sure everything was perfect. A little too perfect. I can imagine it now: a servant waiting with fresh water of just the right temperature right by the door for washing feet, and soft towels for wiping them off before the guests entered the main part of the house. As your feet are being washed, you can hear the soft strains of harp music wafting through the hall. The spicy scent of kebabs and the warmth of baked bread drifts past you, as the taste of cumin and clove fills your mouth. You cross the scrubbed-shiny floor, and are greeted by ano...

I don't know about you, but I go through highs and lows oftener than I'd like. Sometimes I'm so pumped about what I'm doing, what I see God doing, what's going on in my life, that I'm on Cloud Nine. I'm invincible. Nothing can get me down. Stubbed my toe against the coffee table? I'll be whistling once I'm done trying not to scream. Slipped and fell on the antarctic sidewalk outside? I'll get up and brush myself off and be on my way in no time. Gained two pounds because of that birthday party? I'll just eat better and it'll quickly come off. But then come the lows. Which, unfortunately, in our sinful world, are to be expected. Highs and lows are a part of our life here on earth. Hills and valleys. But unlike the gentle hills and shallow valleys of a little kid's picture*: To me they feel a lot more like this: Lows stink. They're what makes it hard to get things done, to get out of bed. They make it hard to remember ...