I am an architect, but I'm not.I am a missionary, but I'm not.Sound confusing? Maybe the confusion subsides when we embrace a view of vocation as separate from that of career -- as something that far surpasses nine to five work hours, salaries and benefits, something that begins to describe ... read more
The Circle of Homemaking
“What do you want to be when you grow up?”It’s a question most children hear at some point during their growing-up years. My plan wasn’t much, by some standards. I just wanted to be a wife, a stay-at-home mother, and by extension, a full-time homemaker.Making a home isn’t just the “career” I ... read more
The Life of a Dabbler
There is an old saying, “A jack of all trades is a master of none,” oft quoted to describe someone who can do many things but none too well.Welcome to my life.I’ve always been a dabbler. I dabble in this, I dabble in that. Yet, no skill has ever gone very deep.I sing, but not too well. I ... read more
How to Find Your Vocation
Your vocation: what is it?It isn’t exactly the same as your career or job, says Jeff Goins, though it may include them. Its scope is life-long: it is the theme you will return to again and again, however many times your specific job description might change. The fact that I've gone from teaching ... read more
Diversity in Children’s Books: A Personal Passion
I'm not a mom and I don't know if I ever will be, but I cannot remember a time before I stepped (or toddled) into my role of big sister. My younger siblings are two, three, six, ten, eleven and twelve years younger than I, and came into our family from all over the world. We have skin tones at our ... read more
The Night A Dream Came True
The night the dream-come-true news slipped into my life, I was oblivious.Looking back, I wonder at how Jesus must have chuckled, because I was on the recumbent bike watching television at the time the email arrived. I had no idea my life was about to change forever. The Wait It had been ... read more
Are You Shaped To Be a Faith Builder?
When my first child was born someone gave me a baby gift that stayed in the drawer for a long time.Because I didn’t know how it was meant to be used.It was two hour-glass-shaped pieces of flannel sewn together, with filling in the middle like a quilt, but it wasn’t large enough to be a ... read more
How to Spot Your Children’s Spiritual Gifts
by Rebecca Miller Over a decade ago, I worked with a spiritual gifts ministry in my church. Under the supervision of our pastor, we worked to help identify spiritual gifts in the members of our congregation and to help them find places to plug into service in the Body of Christ. Instead of ... read more
“Sorry, I Can’t. That’s Not My Spiritual Gift.”
by Teri Lynne Underwood It seems every few years Christendom goes abuzz with spiritual gift inventories and tests we can take to determine where we fit into the Body. I’m not opposed to knowing your spiritual gifts. In fact, I think it can be incredibly helpful to understand where your giftedness ... read more
Concerning Spiritual Gifts…
“Now concerning spiritual gifts, brethren, I do not want you to be ignorant…” (1st Corinthians 12:1)Spiritual Gifts: Unity and Diversity In The Same Body. “There are diversities of gifts, but the same Spirit. There are differences of ministries, but the same Lord. And there are diversities of ... read more
