Life with Sally

God whispered, "Be gentle to yourself today. Don't make this day the one where you get everything done, figure life out, take care of everyone else in the world. Just be still, just rest, just breathe in peace." Truly, it was the message that came to my heart.

There is this auspicious week where the voting takes place and at this moment, I have no idea what will happen. Yet, when I come into God's presence, when I am still and "know that He is God," somehow He takes me beyond the illusion the this world and what we "think" is happening is of utmost importance, when from His point of view, there are always bigger issues at stake. I want to live in awaren...

Today, we share all sorts of fun with you. How to initiate and respond in friendship, all about taking time in nature and so much more. I hope many of you will ponder reaching out to someone, or maybe you will hit the ball back to someone who has initiated to you. Or maybe you can serve a ball yourself. :)

I was so thankful to be able to have a conversation with my online friend, Pierce Taylor Hibbs, about anxiety. In this episode, today I talk about some of these issues with him, author of  Struck Down but Not Destroyed: Living Faithfully with Anxiety, about ways to move through these issues. We share stories of God's faithfulness and presence, our own growth in compassion, and our responses to God...

I invite you to join us in our podcast today and it is my prayer that our message will give you encouragement but also a pause to think about how to live well into this moment that you have.

If you want to equip your children to stand strong for truth, for Christ and for family values that includes a high picture of morality, marriage, sex, the foundations of scripture, world view, then you must gently engage over the years, little by little, day by day.  It is best for children to hear about controversial subjects from their parents than on the internet.

Gentleness grows stronger with practice. It comes with humility. It grows as wisdom and takes root in the heart that values the ones she loves. May God grant us to become gentle in our love, that others may see Him through us.

God longs for the most personal, intimate relationship with us. While He created us with this in mind, sometimes in the midst of a particularly challenging time, we allow ourselves to drift away from Him. And yet, it is in drawing closer to Him than ever before, in committing ourselves to daily time alone with Him, that we are able to claim our roles as His child. When we let Him meet us where we...

There have been crucial dark moments in my life when I would have floundered or fallen apart if I had not had friends to carry me, to comfort me, to guide me when I couldn't see where I was going. We were created with a yearning for connection, community, and a sense of belonging, a people to call home. Much of our joy is sustained through relationships with people who have chosen to love us, to h...

The secret to cultivating a lifegiving home is not a perfectly balanced life, luxurious home, or a fancy table of food. Instead, it is an open mind, inspired heart, and a deep longing to create stability, no matter the circumstances.

The starting point of your influence is the state of your own heart, mind and soul. If there is purity, wisdom, strength, faith, love and righteousness there, then when you pour out your life, those around you will be blessed indeed.

In all of our ideals, righteousness is progressive. In other words, we make mistakes, we fail, sometimes we do foolish things because they are so accepted in culture. Sometimes, wickedness jumps after us like Potifer's wife chasing Joseph. And our children learned the concept of fleeing--just drop what will burn you and flee--run immediately away from the temptation.

These days, it seems we're constantly faced with another example of an influential man using his power for evil, living without morals or care for others, or maybe even one who chooses to look the other way when confronted with another man's bad behavior. Now more than ever, we need good men in this world, men who live a life dedicated to goodness, heroism, protecting those in need, and love.

We all long for kindred spirits — those with whom we could spend hours dreaming, laughing, and sharing our heart's troubles. But many people I know struggle to find those kindred spirits. Living our busy lives, we hope that lifelong friendships will fall into our lap, or come knocking at our front door. But over many years of struggling with loneliness myself, I've found that the best way to culti...

At this time in history, where very little is considered sacred or holy, we must seek diligently to create not just knowledge of what the word holy means, but to place tangible practices in our lives where we and our children come to learn that some things are sacred and set apart and deserve our reverence and worship.

Anyone who is seasoned in their faith has become used to trials, difficulties and hard times. Yet, it is how they responded to their stress and challenges that makes them worthy to follow.

We are all human beings—fragile—and limited. We need to take time to refresh, relax and restore. From time to time, when my four were much younger, and I had pushed them to their limits during the day without a nap, too much activity, beyond their bedtime, too much sugar, and sometimes with lots of over-stimulation, bedtime would be impossible.

Today, on my podcast, I will read a portion of Awaking Wonder, that gets to the heart of this message. This world is hostile to the gospel love and message of Jesus, in general. But each person you see was made to know God. As we get to know Him, our hearts will change. He will fill us with His love, His generosity, a willingness to lay down our lives, our pride and to humbly reach out to others.

Awaking Wonder, for us, was often simply opening our eyes to the beauty around us, then diving into whatever that beauty caused us to wonder about!

Feeling like a misfit is also something I have dealt with for many years. I am an idealist and passionate about living life purposefully in a world that is violent, relentless, filled with conflict and argumentative. This drains me to my toenails. And yet, from feeling this way before, I know that I am in good company—Job despaired of his life while being one of the godliest men on earth, same wit...

As we evaluate how to love our children and students well, we must ask ourselves, 'Do they believe and feel I have their best interests in mind, or do they think I have my own agenda for them?' 'Do they understand that even though they struggle, I am here to help them succeed?' 'Is their heart open to my instruction, or is there a wedge of resistance that I need to figure out and address?'"

As we evaluate how to love our children and students well, we must ask ourselves, 'Do they believe and feel I have their best interests in mind, or do they think I have my own agenda for them?' 'Do they understand that even though they struggle, I am here to help them succeed?' 'Is their heart open to my instruction, or is there a wedge of resistance that I need to figure out and address?'"