​How often have you heard that phrase, “Today is a new day!” It’s pretty common, but how often do we forfeit what that truly means? Too often a new day comes, and we don’t enjoy it to the fullest potential because we are trying to walk out the blessings of a “new day” while still trying to carry the weights of yesterday.

I know it is easier said than done, but with God it is possible to put away yesterday’s weight.

Don’t allow the enemy of your soul to rob you of your new day! The devil’s objective is to kill, steal, and destroy any way possible. He wants to kill your will to walk it out, he wants to steal your joy, and he certainly wants to destroy any plans you have to succeed in your walk with the Lord.

Your past does not define who you are. Your mistakes are not who you are. Through the strength of God you can stand in the truth of who you are. When we choose to do that, we then can put off every weight that sets out to hinder us and we can march on knowing that we serve a God of second chances. We serve a God of “new beginnings,” and a God who is able to meet us where we are.

"Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles. And let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us, fixing our eyes on Jesus, the pioneer and perfecter of faith. For the joy set before him he endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God" (Hebrews 12:1-2, NIV).

Make a choice to enjoy the blessings of our “new day.” Maybe everything is not going how we planned. Maybe everything is not perfect and this day may not be our best day . . . but God is good even on our worst day.

I like to think on these simple truths:

1. Think about the faithfulness of God. Let’s remind ourselves that God has always come through in the past and He will again!
2. Take off the weight. As a child of God, the victory is ours. The fight has already been fought and the price has been paid for us. If we believe that, then we have confidence and the will to embrace our “new day.” Today, let’s make a choice to put aside bad attitudes, remove lies and replace them with truth, recognize distractions, and remove negativity from our life...
3. Run. Yes, run! There is no time to sit idle. You may trip and sometimes fall, but get up and keep going. Keep running, and as the Scripture says, “. . . fixing our eyes on Jesus, the pioneer and perfecter of faith” (Hebrews 12:2, NIV)! What He starts, He finishes. He never said the road would not be hard at times, but He promised to be faithful to His children.

Dear friend, sometimes we have to say it out loud. Sometimes, we need to declare the truth audibly—out loud, so we can hear it.

“For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the Lord, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future”
​(Jeremiah 29:11, NIV).

God is so faithful. Prayers and blessings to each of you as we run this race together!

Do you have any "if only's" in your thought life? Are they holding you back, keeping you from moving forward? Beth Holmes shares with us the follies of comparison and ways to overcome our tendencies to compare.

​“If only our church had a full-time children’s minister …"

“If only our women’s ministry could find its footing …”
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“If only our people would volunteer more …”

The expression “if only” is a great temptation in ministry. If only everything and everyone would line up, then we could do what another church is doing. If only we could convince our people to do the right steps, then we could be like another church...read more

The phrase, “Don’t let the disappointment in a few keep you from loving the many,” comes from a chapter in my book, 10 Things Every Minister’s Wife Needs to Know. In recent days, I’ve gone through a season of disappointment, and I’ve had to remind myself of my own words. And unfortunately, I am pretty sure I will find myself there again in the future. You may say, well, that’s just ministry life. But it’s not. It’s everyone’s life, regardless of the occupation of your husband.

As minister’s wives, we can be tempted to withdraw or retreat, become bitter, give up or be resentful of hurts. But when we do that, we end up lonely and isolated, and we miss the blessings of the “many” God has called us to serve and serve with. We sometimes determine in our hearts we will never allow ourselves to be put in that position again—we determine not to be vulnerable or transparent ever again. We tell ourselves it’s not worth the effort or the hurt. Unfortunately, that gets us nowhere in the eyes of others, or most importantly, with the Lord.

So how are we to respond when we feel that keen disappointment in others? In my recent season, I deliberately decided to respond exactly opposite of how I felt on the inside. Rather than choosing to withdraw (my natural inclination) and retreat, I chose to take advantage of an opportunity to honor and commend others.
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Rather than focusing on my personal disappointment,..read more

The smell was more nauseating than anything else. Coupled with the constant motion of the water and the seaweed wrapped around him, the man expected nothing but death.

Fish.
Rotten fish.
Stinking fish.
Live fish.
Dying fish.

Man.
Entangled man.
Rotting man.
Live man.
Dying man.

How did he end up in this place? Why didn’t God just let him die in the sea? Why did he have to end up here to die a slow, painful, agonizing death?

The gastric juices kept burning his flesh. Open sores were appearing all over his body. He found no way to be comfortable, no way to rest. Why couldn’t he just die?

He found a piece of wood and rested as much as possible. If he laid across it just right, then maybe he wouldn’t have to tread through so much water and dead fish.

He drifted to sleep.

He heard the voice. Plain, simple. No details yet, but that didn’t matter. He heard God speak!
Once again he felt the excitement! God needed him!

How's your marriage going? If you're like my husband and me, sometimes we get on a crazy cycle, a merry-go-round of good times, bad times, and just blah times...you get the picture, a very living organism. Being pastor and wife is a very unique dynamic in married life. It's almost like adding an extra dimension to being married and extending the atmosphere of that marriage into the church. All the more reason for us to take extra care in working to keep our ministry marriages healthy. For the next few weeks we're going to discuss marriage in ministry with the intent of encouraging you.

We can get ourselves into a terrible shape if we don't watch it. It took a supportive husband, small steps of buying, encouragement from friends, and asking the Lord for help.

Liz Sarno recently wrote a blog post on this subject for Leading It and Loving It. She said, "I’ve gone on quite a few shopping expeditions, where instead of buying anything for myself I’ve spent my money on gifts for my family. I realized that I would pick out some things I liked, then systematically put them all back and replace them with things for my husband and kids. This is not a bad thing in and of itself, but after a few trips where I went home with nothing for myself I realized something. For a few months I had decided that I didn’t need anything and it was more important to be a blessing to my family, so I talked myself out of doing something for me. It is better to give than to receive, this is true, but it’s also ok to take care of ourselves. While being a blessing to my family is actually a good thing, I had to remember that it’s important to treat myself every once in awhile, too...It’s a common trap for women in general to put everyone and everything above ourselves, especially for us mommas, let alone women in ministry who have the added pressure we put on ourselves to take care of everyone in our lives first." 

Let me assure you, there is a way. And the way starts with you, is managed by you and is maintained by you.

The “way” begins with you making the decision to say, “I will no longer run myself to exhaustion. I will learn to block out time on my calendar exclusively for family. I will put a schedule in place each week that enables me to both lead and love it.” But you have to make this choice. I can attest to you that no one will do this for you....read more

Our feelings can affect our physical health, often more than we realize. Here’s how to manage your emotions the way God intended.

We all know health isn’t just a physical thing. God created us as holistic beings with a spirit, body and soul. But how many of us truly connect the dots on a daily basis and realize the direct impact our emotions have on our physical health? When we aren’t feeling well, often our instinct is to relate the problem to a physical illness, what we’ve been eating and drinking, or whether we’ve been exercising and getting enough rest. But sometimes the deeper part of the problem—the root of it all—stems from negative emotions that we permit into our life.

So while you’re reading this article, I’m going to ask you to be honest with yourself about the kinds of thoughts and feelings you permit into your life. God wants you to feel strong and healthy. He also wants you around for the long haul. And for many of us, taking better care of ourselves emotionally needs to be just as important as how we care for our physical needs.

Seeing the Symptoms But Not the Problem...read more