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Five and a half years ago, I landed in Israel for a 10-day trip full of mission and work and touring the Holy Land. I was super excited about those ten days, but I was also tired…and not just because I had been on an airplane for 14 hours. I was emotionally tired. I was mentally tired. And I was spiritually tired. I felt drained. And I was in desperate need for my cup to be refilled.
Read MoreI’ll never forget a statement one of my friends made during a conversation a few years back. We were talking about the things about our lives we wish were different, things we could change if we had the chance. At one point in the conversation, my friend looked at me and asked, “Kristen, why is it so easy for me to point out what I don’t like about my life, but then it’s difficult for me to list the things I do like about my life?”
Read MoreEvery Sunday night, I lead a life group of nine high school girls. In my years of working with students, whether that’s in the context of youth ministry or coaching basketball, I’ve learned that while you’re there as an adult to teach them and give them wisdom, it’s often the students who end up teaching you. My Sunday night life group is no different.
Read MoreI’m a firm believer that we can learn a lot of life lessons from being in the kitchen. And I’m not just talking about how to keep your eyes from burning when you’re chopping onions or making sure you let brownies cool before you try to cut into them (although I’ve learned both of those lessons the hard way). I think cooking can teach us a lot about how life works.
Read MoreThere were so many things I grew to love about being single. (Notice I said “grew to love” because I started out not loving much of anything about being single.) But as time went on, I really enjoyed many of the aspects of being single. I genuinely loved my life and was thoroughly enjoying it. But on the other hand, there was this ever-present, deeply-rooted desire to be married. As much as I loved my single life, as much as I was enjoying all of the opportunities and blessings that came with that season, I never stopped wanting marriage.
Read MoreNot long after I got engaged, I remember people frequently saying things like, “Your life is about to change,” or “Things will never be the same once you get married,” or even “Marriage is a whole new way of life.” However, I don’t know if those people who talked to me about the changes that came with marriage were 100% correct. While it’s true that my life changed a lot when I got married, not everything about my life changed. There were quite a few things that stayed the same, like the habits I had created in my singleness (for better or worse).
Read MoreIf the most successful companies and organizations see the importance of having a board of directors, what would it look like for us to recognize that same importance in our individual lives? I’ve been thinking a lot about this concept recently, especially as I wrote my new devotional, “For My Single Friend” because it was in my mid-twenties, right in the middle of my singleness journey, that I really started to take “building my board” seriously. I wouldn’t have called it that at the time, but that’s what I began to do. And that process has continued to grow and evolve even now that I’m just starting off my thirties.
Read MoreSocial media has changed quite a bit since then. And I’m pretty confident in saying that all of the different social media platforms have made it exceedingly more difficult for us as believers to figure out who we are and where our identity is rooted. It’s not like I’m scrolling through nothing but pictures and videos reminding me of who I am in Christ. Instead, I’m consistently reminded of how I don’t measure up, how I fall short of society’s standard, or how my house, my body, and my life look nothing like “that girl.”
Read MoreI want you to imagine a gardener sowing seeds in the fertile soil of a garden. Day after day, she tends to her plants with care, watering them, nurturing them, and patiently waiting for signs of growth. Yet, despite her efforts, the surface remains unchanged. Weeks pass, and still, there is no sign of life. Doubt creeps in, and she wonders if her labor has been in vain.
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