All in Faith

10 Favorite Christmas Books for Children

Kara Chupp
Discipling Children, Faith, Following God, Fun For Kids, Homeschooling, Parenting

Every year as we pull out the decorations and recipes and ornaments, we also rediscover our favorite Christmas books! Most of these books are missing their dust jackets, the edges are worn, hot chocolate drops can be found on certain pages and some of them are even from my own childhood. But reading books together at Christmas is one of my very favorite traditions! Here are a few of our favorites...

If You're That Mom Who is Dreading the Holidays {How to Find Joy}

Lisa Jacobson
Faith, Family Management, Following God, Hope, The BetterMom Updates

How to Keep the Joy in Your Christmas This Year

Stick to your priorities. Jettison everything else. I love this one because it makes everything so much easier. Once I know what is important to us - to our family - then everything else gets a polite, "No thank you." You are not obligated to attend every craft bazaar, cookie exchange, or Christmas play. You are only committed to what is best for your family.

Reject all commercialism. It has no place in your home. Block advertisements, mute the television,  and throw out the garbage coming at you. Pay zero attention to the world's attempt at redefining Christmas. They've got it all wrong. Stick to the Real Story of Christ.

Six Words My Husband Needs To Hear

Ruth Simons
Faith, Following God, Marriage/Relationships

They say that the longer two people are married, the more they begin to look like one another. They complete each other’s sentences and can order for their spouse at a restaurant. They know when the thermostat is set too high or too low for the other, and they can tell who the other is speaking to, simply by how he answers the phone.

And yet with all that is comfortable, assumed, predictable, and known between a husband and a wife, we often overlook six simple words we so easily offer to others:

How can I pray for you?

Though I can’t relate to my husband and I growing in likeness, I do realize how much 16 years has knit our hearts to one another and melded our goals and desires. Yet, have you ever heard your spouse share a prayer request to others in a way that surprised you? I have.

National Adoption Day-- Ways That You Can Support Adoption

Kara Chupp
Faith, Following God, Ministries and Missions, Parenting

“Father of the fatherless…is God in His holy habitation. God settles the lonely in a home.” ~Psalm 68: 5 & 6

God has a particular love for the child in need of a family. And He has a special love for adoption because He chooses to describe our own relationship with Him as one of-- adoption.

“Adoption in God’s mind was not Plan B. He predestined us for adoption before the creation of the world. Plan A was not lots of children who never sin and never need to be redeemed. Plan A was creation, fall, redemption, and adoption so that the full range of God’s glory and mercy and grace could be known by His adopted children. Adoption was not second best. It was planned from the beginning.” ~John Piper

Today, the Sunday before Thanksgiving, is National Adoption Day .

And I Pray...

Shannon McKee
Faith, Following God, Hope, Prayer, The BetterMom Updates

Tucked away in my journal is a little list that I find myself returning to often lately. At some point I went through the New Testament of my Bible and jotted down all the times that someone says “and I pray that…” You see, my prayer life isn’t always very rich or powerful or consistent. More often than I care to admit, much of my prayer life is me throwing up quick requests for God to bless my plans as I go about life. So I wanted to comb through the Bible and see what sorts of things Jesus’ earliest followers prayed about.

Two of my favorites are in the book of Ephesians. Ephesians is a powerful letter from the apostle Paul to the newish Christians who lived in Ephesus during the first century. He had poured his heart and soul into the early formation of the church at Ephesus and obviously had some important things he wanted to share with them.

When We Are Given More Than We Can Handle

Summer Saldana
Cancer, Faith, Following God, Hope, Marriage/Relationships, Miscarriage, Parenting, Prayer, Special Needs

"I'm tired of being afraid. I'm wondering how I got this way. I'm trying to remember what life was like before. Panic moved in without even knocking on the door. Have mercy on me. I'm not who I used to be. Have mercy on me. Jesus, please..." Have Mercy on Me lyrics, -JJ Heller

I remember so clearly, as though it was only yesterday and not nearly three years in my past, those overwhelming feelings of panic that would run through my veins every minute of every day and night for what seemed to be months on end.

I can close my eyes and instantly recall the constant unrest that would swirl around within my mind, and the tears...the most sincere and heartfelt tears I think I may have ever cried in my whole life, that would fall day after day after day. Night after night after night.

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