This is the Day Rejoice

The meticulous craftsmanship that went into your makeup routine on Sunday, is nothing compared to the care, precision, and power that went into creating your life. Even when we jab our foreheads with poison, layer on concealer, and squeeze into spanks, our outward appearance does nothing for our souls. Psalm 139:13-16 reveals a breathtaking picture of God intimately knitting us together. Join Eliz...

Photoshopping: A sin? A blessing? Christian liberty? Why does it even matter? Our outward appearance has never been more on display than in this age of social media. One minute you're erasing a zit, and the next you're nearly unrecognizable perfection, ready to bask in the worship of online "likes" and praise. For professing Christians, all things must be filtered through a Biblical lens, and that...

Once upon a time … and the fairytale ended there . But God wrote a story that was better than any fable, because every trial, heartache, and lament, pointed Elizabeth to Christ and his glory, teaching her endurance, producing in her a spiritual strength, the kind that knocks you on your knees in prayer.  As His ways are not our ways, nor His thoughts our thoughts (Isaiah 55:8-9), God's sovereign d...

Bad reviews, spiritual gifts, and serving the body in love. We're talking about worshiping God through serving in your local church! Spiritual gifts matter, but perhaps not like you think they do. Spoiler: you have to be a member of a local church so you can serve in it, in order to obey this commans. ________________________ When this is the day   you realize that you only serve the church throug...

Fools hate God. Calling one a fool is truly a cutting insult. They do not love him, know him, or seek to understand. Yet, even faithful believers can act foolishly. What's the antidote to being a fool? Getting wisdom.  Wisdom is biblical knowledge in action. It's not enough to know about the Lord, if we don't put that knowledge into action. TODAY. Now. This is our era, our moment, to put into prac...

It doesn't matter if you're one to cry your eyes out or you appear impassive and cool - we are called to lament our pains to the Lord. Expressing fears, struggles, anxieties, and trials in righteous lament, using scripture as a guide or as our entire lament, provides us with the words to articulate profound sorrow when we find ourselves at a loss for expression. If we don't lament, we're bound to...

Tornados, cannibalism, human trafficking: big trials demand a big response. Sometimes our response is to glorify God. Often our response is anger, blame, and penance.  With trials like these, we sometimes stray to questioning the goodness of God. Is God good? Is God faithful? Is God powerful?   Is there sin that needs to be murdered? Sin that needs to be mortified? Sin that needs to be murd-ified?...

The extreme feminist and the extreme homemaker. Both styles are trending on social media. One makes men subjective to women, erasing as many roles of men as possible. The other - the extreme homemaker, also called a "trad wife" - centers around creating an impossibly perfect, unrealistic aesthetic, marking women who are unable to achieve this farce, as failures.    The Bible gives us an intense "W...

Women empowerment is a trending theme in the world right now, and as women ourselves, we have a few thoughts on the matter. We filtered the idea of "Female Empowerment" through a biblical lens, and... surprise, surprise! Even if a woman wears a pantsuit, empowerment via our gender is never something we're told to strive for. But Eve just wanted to be like God, sooooo badly… Good thing us women nev...

The hip new word for gossip is "tea" (as in "spill the tea!") and Proverbs says gossip goes down like choice morsels. Coincidence? I think not! The fact is, gossip and slander go deep into our being, defiling our hearts and minds.  Paul's greatest desire was for believers to grow in Christlikeness and in the unity of the church. Gossip and slander derail both of those things, and need to be repent...

The tongue . Life or death is in the power of the tongue. It dishoners or builds up and greatly affects those around us. Our hearts are known by what comes out of our mouths. When anger or anxiety are are present in our heart, our tongues will make it know. When unrepentant sin has taken told, our tongues will make it known. Criticicizing, belittling, and snapping at others, our tongues can destro...

Monika gets personal and shares how the Lord's steadfast love abiding in her, brought her through the greatest trials of her life (thus far), and continues to sustain her every single day.  And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to His purpose. (Romans 8:28) ________________________ When this is the day you are questioning why...

The character of God is trustworthy, no matter how discouraging this day is. Rehearsing the character of God in your life is a great way to deal with a difficult day. When we respond in faith, knowing the character of God, it brings him great glory and lifts up our souls. It is good to trust in the Lord.  ________________________ When this is the day  that everything is going wrong , it feels like...

Romance shmomance. It's the month of love, or so declared the marketing gurus of way back whenever. So we're looking at romance through the Biblical lens of Psalm 118:1-4. God's hesed love is merciful, given freely, even when we are in the most pathetic state. Way better than a box of chocolates - it never runs out and you ALWAYS know what you're going to get: steadfast love. _____________________...

Are you already wishing for a New Year's Resolutions do-over? Hopefully not the case if your resolutions had to do with reading God's Word! The Bible says that all scripture is breathed out by God and it's profitable for teaching, reproof, correction, and training in righteousness, that the man of God may be complete, equipped for every good work (2 Timothy 3:16-17).  If we want to be complete and...

Having a Sunday spot is not enough to make us feel like we belong. In our culture, we look to sameness in activities, hobbies, sports, etc but we get disappointed when it doesn't bring about the sense of connection we really crave. That's because belonging starts and ends with the gospel. God made us belong to him, when he drew us to himself, giving new hearts to wretched sinners, and making us Hi...

Dying to self: a godly habit that we have to practice and be sanctified in until we literally die, because it's really really hard. But dying to self is what it takes to make friends and to keep friends - if you want those friendships to be built on the awesome love of Christ, that is. And you do.  John 15:13 Greater love has no one than this, that one lay down his life for his friends. __________...

Is friendship really any easier nowadays than it was back when we were in kindergarten?  Nope.  It's harder because now we overthink it all, plus we've become reeeeeeally skilled at sinning.  So what's a girl to do? Forgo friendships? Settle with besties who only reside on social media? How does one go about making friends anyway? How does one choose who makes the cut and who doesn't get invited?...