Life for church planters is difficult. It’s lonely, selfless, and just plain hard. Home offers a place of security and rest. But what happens when suffering enters your home too? How do you find beauty out of brokenness? How do you wrestle through the pain with Christ?

On October 18, 2022, I was reading Psalm 119:65 to 68, and the beginning of verse 68 jumped off the page at me: “You are good and do only good…” Psalm 119:68 (NLT) My first reaction was “Yes, I agree you are good, God. Goodness is your nature and who you are.” The second phrase “and do only good” is what I questioned in my heart and mind. From my way of thinking, many of the things that happen to people are not good and I don’t see good necessarily coming from them. So how can the writer say God does only good?

I think today’s post, written by my truly beautiful friend, Kaila, will resonate with a lot of you! She is vulnerable and courageous with this post, and shares something I think a lot of us struggle with. Have you felt this way before: “I have had a tumultuous relationship with my body for as long as I can remember. For most of my life I have felt uncomfortable in my skin, in my body. ” If so, keep reading!

Some of you have already begun humming the tunes while others are avoiding any sight of snow or holiday cheer for another month or more. I’m typically a December 1st Christmas enthusiast, whereas my husband Michael has already been implanting the famous carols in my mind. I find myself singing them only to realize he was humming the song a few minutes earlier. Either way, the Christmas train is fast upon us. Though you certainly don’t need to rush this beautiful fall away, our guest writer, Jennifer Hare, shares a few excellent tips to get you prepared so you can enjoy this Christmas without emptying your wallet to do so.

I had been looking forward to my day off for a while. With all the morning chores completed, I decided it was time for a little – me time. I said goodbye to the kids and ventured off rollerblading. I changed my route to avoid any challenging spots and just took it easy, enjoying the sunshine and the chance to relax and do whatever came next. That was until I fell.

Last year my husband and I bought his family homestead in the country in northern Ontario, and now we’re enjoying the often hilarious adventure of learning to manage the farmhouse and ten acres we now call home.

Over the years the meaning of the word home has really intrigued me. Is home a place, a building,  the people, or something else? My years as an immigrant in Switzerland have taught me that the feeling of home isn’t the place, although places hold memories. Home is where the people we love are. Where we can be ourselves, totally relax, and be comfortable – a place of belonging. 

Car doors, barn doors, cupboard doors, front doors. Do you know what all these things have in common? They would all be boring speech topics but do you know what is an interesting topic? Sliding doors! Hi, my name is Molly Parker. I’d like to talk to you today about the sliding doors of history.

During my Bible School years, I was reading through Hebrews as a course assignment, and when I came to this verse in context, it blew me away! “….be content with such things as you have, for He has said, “I will never leave you….’ “. I was going through a difficult year. I had broken up with my boyfriend, my family was going through a time of brokeness and even my close friends seemed to be “leaving” me. I felt alone and abandoned. But that night as I sat at my desk eating candy corn, the words practically jumped off the page at me! I could be content, simply because God was with me and would never leave me! So simple yet so profound! I clung to that verse after that!

“The fact that I am a woman does not make me a different kind of Christian, but the fact that I am a Christian makes me a different kind of woman.” – Elizabeth Elliot Think about that for a moment. Jesus makes us a different kind of woman.