Blog - Page 3 of 7 - LUTHERWOMAN

It Was Today

It was today. I knew it was coming, but had no way of knowing this would be that day.

Backstory: We knew the diagnosis ten years ago when we adopted our son…Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy (DMD). He was 7 weeks old, and due to biology and family history of Duchenne, genetic testing had already been completed. Two years later, we adopted his little brother, knowing the likelihood (50% chance) of him having the same diagnosis. After genetic testing was completed, we received confirmation that he also has Duchenne.

The formal definition of DMD

Brokenness

Have you ever felt broken? It might be a sudden and significant loss that turns your world upside down. It might be more of a continual stress that eventually leaves you broken. I think back to when my son broke his wrist and we had to figure out how to handle the break.

First, we had to recognize the brokenness. If you have an injury that suddenly swells and leaves you unable to walk or raise your arm you know you have a serious injury and need to seek help. If you lose someone you care about suddenly, you feel an instant, gut wrenching pain. But, if you have ever had a stress fracture this occurs as a part of the body is

Living Intentionally With Your Family

Habits. Routines. Oh, how I have a love/hate relationship with those words.

You too?

For the longest time, habits and routines sounded boring and stiff. Yet, the older I’ve gotten the more I understand why habits and routines are so key for the health of my family.

You may be like how I was, and sometimes still am, where I feel like life is happening more to me than I am making life happen. Things pop up on my schedule that I don’t remember putting there or don’t find fulfillment in. A month

Marriage Matters

This is what I’ve learned about marriage in my 13 years as a spouse. It isn’t always easy.

You take two people from entirely different backgrounds and place them into a home together. Each has a different job, social circle, friends, and hobbies before entering each other’s orbit. You have two separate lives coming into one. That is supposed to be picture-perfect and run smoothly. According to the world, yes.

The world tells us it should be easy, and if it’s not…

Well, if it's not perfect you can just try again. The world will tell you it’s okay, give up

The Importance of Community with Other Moms

Motherhood is one of God’s highest callings and greatest gifts. Those of us who have the vocation of mother have the joy, privilege and responsibility of raising little soldiers for the Kingdom: teaching and training our children in the faith, loving them with the love God has for us, and walking alongside our husbands and God Himself as we help raise our children into men and women of God.

This joy and gift is not without its struggles, as any mother well knows. Some days the task of motherhood seems challenging. Other days it feels downright impossible. And there are dozens

From Scared to Trusting to Angry to Thankful

Sometimes, living a life of faith is a rollercoaster of emotions. When I was eight, my grandmother was diagnosed with Stage IV breast cancer. I was scared that I was going to lose the grandparents I was closest to and I prayed every night with my mom that Grandma would get better. But she didn’t. Stage IV cancer doesn’t just go away.

My grandma took a lot of comfort in the story of Hezekiah. In 2 Kings chapter 20, Hezekiah, king of Judah, became deathly ill. The prophet Isaiah literally told him that he was going to die. But when Hezekiah prayed for healing, God gave him fifteen more years to live. My grandma told God she would be content

Seeking Comfort in Prayer Among Chaos

I’m usually up before the chickens during the week and I like to enjoy a cup of coffee with my husband in silence before he leaves for work. After he leaves for work, I accept the challenge of motivating my two teenagers to get up and get ready for school. As I sip my coffee, I think about my to-do list and chores I’d like to accomplish daily as a stay-at-home mom. I don’t know about you, but my days rarely go as planned. God always has a keen way of showing me his plans and not my own very early on each day!

A year ago on a nice inviting spring day, my daily routine started out similarly except I wasn’t thinking about my to-do list. I was thinking

Home is Where Your Heart Is

Lately, home is quite often on my mind. For the past 10 months, my husband and I have traveled to visit churches in order to share about God’s ministry to the Subula of Cameroon. While this time has blessed the both of us meeting so many of Christ’s faithful across the country, life on the road has meant less time at our home in Concordia, MO (and with our beloved pup Fig). These last couple of years, our time in this place building a life as newlyweds has had its ups and downs but it will still always be our first home.

As a former homeschooled kid, home has always meant a great deal to me. For so many years, my life was centered in the home, in a house I shared

Bible Journaling: Prayerfully Practicing the Pause

Do you ever find your mind wandering when you read? How many of you have picked up a book (think light fiction, nothing requiring a ton of brain power), read three pages, and then realized you have no idea what you just read? I do this all the time, and that’s when I’m trying to read for fun! Sometimes I just have too much on my mind to focus on the words on the page.

When I’m reading fiction, it doesn’t really matter how much I retain from each page as long as I get the gist of the plot line. But what about reading for retention or reading that requires some intentionality? What about when I’m trying to devote myself to the Word of God, when I’m

God in the Midst of Motherhood

Almost exactly a year ago my first child was removed from my body. There were no joyful nurses, no cries of new life, just a handful of somber medical staff performing a D&C to remove the 9-week-old baby who had passed away in my womb.

We named our child Eden as a reminder that God would one day restore his creation to perfection and unite us in resurrection.

As I grieved our precious baby, I wrote about this experience to help myself process the loss. I delved into what the scriptures say about unborn life and found comfort in God's mercy.