I highly recommend reading the interview. Gayle’s example is both inspiring and humbling. The Haggards’ story challenges us to consider what it means to be God’s church and it raises some important questions, such as the nature of church discipline when dealing with a repentant sinner.

But for the intents of this blog I want to focus on one particular issue that that this story raises: How should the church respond to the wife of a man who strays?

It is difficult to imagine what it was like for Gayle to not only suffer the betrayal of her husband, but the abandonment of her church as well. Though her husband was the transgressor, her injury was two-fold.

What is even more tragically ironic is that she was essentially punished for doing the right thing. Rather than divorce her husband, she chose to fight for her marriage. Had she decided to leave her husband and stay at the church, she might have had a support system to lift her up. But because she made the decision to stay with him, she inherited his outcast status. This cannot be right, can it?

Even more troubling (or should I say disgusting) was the fact that many Christians blamed her for her husband’s infidelity. While marriage is indeed a two-way street that requires the hard work and dedication of both husband and wife, there is NEVER an excuse for a man to have an affair. Nor are we in any position to conjecture.

Which is why it disturbs me greatly that, in the midst of such a dark time in her life, a time when her husband and her local church betrayed her, that the larger evangelical community denounced her as well.

Their story is a wake-up call for the Christian community. It compels us to reconsider the nature of Christian love. Scripture tells us that we are to be known by our love for one another (John 13:35); the way we love one another should look different from the world. We do not stop loving when we are betrayed. We seek to restore when someone is broken. Our love should defy the reason of this world, and it should require us to sacrifice. It means loving when it is distasteful to us, when it gets our hands dirty. When it is hard.

That is the kind of love we must show if we are to be “known” by our love. Too often we respond to the sin of others in the same way that the world does. What we call “church discipline” is sometimes just old-fashioned judgment. We are washing our hands of the things and people we don’t want to deal with. So rather than restore, we crush.

Remember this story. Your friends and leaders in the church will disappoint you in monumental ways. So be prepared for it, not as a cynic but as one who is ready to love them through it. Reach out to them and lift them up so that the watching community around them will see your good works and glorify their Father in Heaven. And don’t forget to care for their spouse, who is going through their own private hell. Rather than be an additional source of brokenness, be a source of healing and grace. That is what it means to be the church, and I am thankful that the Haggards’ humility enabled that message to arise out of their ashes.

This weekend I heard a sermon that sparked my imagination and challenged me to pursue the answer to that question. I know this seems like a really random blog post but stick with me! I think you’ll be amazed by what Scripture has to teach us about this seemingly insignificant thorn.

First, rewind thousands and thousands of years before Paul ever comes on the scene. We begin in the Garden of Eden. Adam and Eve have just sinned and the world is now under a curse. Women will now suffer through child-bearing and men will have an unhealthy relationship to work. But notice what else the curse entails: “Cursed is the ground because of you; through painful toil you will eat of it all the days of your life. It will produce thorns and thistles for you, and you will eat the plants of the field.” (Gen. 3:17-18)

In the very first scene of Scripture, thorns appear as a symbol of the curse, and this symbol will continue to crop up (no pun intended!) throughout the rest of Scripture.

Now fast forward to the life of Moses. At this point in history God’s people are in bondage to Egypt. They have suffered for hundreds of years and they desperately need a savior. So what does God do? He speaks to Moses through a burning bush, and instructs Moses to deliver His people.

Now watch this–the word for “bush” in Exodus 3:2 actually refers to a thorny bush. In fact, this particular type of bush still exists today, and it’s known for its perilous thorns. With that in mind, notice that God is speaking from out of this symbol of the curse, telling Moses, “I have heard my people’s cry. I will deliver them.” What a foreshadow of God’s redemption to come!

But it gets better. Fast forward a little more to Moses’ encounter with God on Mt. Sinai. The word “sinai” literally means “thorny” in Hebrew. And on top of this “thorny” mountain is where God imparts His Law to Moses, a Law that makes it even more clear how desperately cursed and in need of salvation we are. Like the burning bush, Mt. Sinai is a picture of God’s intervention amidst our cursed and thorny state. Again, He reminds us, “I am here! I have a plan! Just hold on!”

This thorn bush appears only one more time in Scripture. This time, it’s in the Gospels. Jesus is about to be crucified, he is beaten beyond recognition, and soldiers are gambling for his clothes. In a final act of humiliation, they twist together a crown of thorns and place it on his head. Then he is crucified, and dies.

I can’t help but wonder if Paul had all this in mind in 2 Corinthians. Paul was a man well-versed in Hebrew Scripture. He would have known the history of the thorn bush and how it always appeared at strategic points in Israelite history, reminding God’s people of the curse, as well as His plan to overturn it. He also knew the story of Jesus’ death and resurrection. He must have seen the significance of that crown of thorns atop a crucified Savior.

Which leads me to conclude that Paul’s word choice was intentional in 2 Corinthians 12. He wasn’t simply being poetic. He wasn’t merely creating a helpful word picture. He was making a theological statement. That thorn in his side was a sign of the curse. Until Christ returns we will feel the effects of the curse on all our lives. But like Paul, we can endure that thorn with hope in our hearts, knowing that the thorn was literally crucified with Christ. God has redemptive plans for it. In the same way that God spoke to Moses out of a burning, thorny bush, God has a message of hope and redemption that bursts out of our own struggles.

What is the thorn in your side right now? What have you pleaded with God to take away, and for reasons beyond your understanding He has not removed? I encourage you to cling to the above visual as you battle your own thorns of the flesh. Remember that the very reason Christ had to die was because of that thorn in your side. It rested upon his head as he gasped his final breath.

So view your thorn through the lens of that story, and how that story ended. God hears your cries and He is at work, so rather than let the thorn in your flesh determine how you live, move and breathe, instead rest upon Christ’s victory over it. Then, like Paul, you can proudly boast, “I delight in weaknesses, in insults, in hardships, in persecutions, in difficulties. For when I am weak, then I am strong.”

And just so you know, I love my friends who are Carolina fans. We just can’t watch the game together!

Yesterday I went to the Duke-Miami football game. It was brutal.

But not because my team lost.

Yes, it was a heart-breaking defeat, but given the fact that we led almost the entire first half, I consider it a moral victory. With a current record of 3-3, the Duke Football program is actually making a startling resurgence after years of losing seasons. I’m actually pretty proud of them!

The REAL reason the game was so brutal was the opposing team’s fans. I went to the game with some Miami supporters so I sat in the Miami section. That was my first mistake. But even this might not have been so bad, except that the guy sitting directly behind me was actually a Carolina grad who was rooting for Miami on principle.

Now in case you don’t live in North Carolina and don’t understand what that means, let me put it this way:

Carolina fans are to Duke fans as gnats to a horse. You swat and you swat and you swat, but they just keep coming back, buzzing in your face, like a slow and unending form of torture.

So this guy sits behind me and it’s like he immediately knew I was a Duke fan. I didn’t even have on a Duke shirt! He had some evil form of Duke radar, and he immediately started harrassing me. He would yell at me to get off the phone when I took a call, he flicked my pony tail if Duke made a bad play, and grabbed my arms to make me cheer for the other team when Miami scored. Oh, and there was also lots of screaming…in my ear.

I seriously almost decked the guy.

Now all of this was somewhat bearable while Duke was winning, but once we started losing I almost lost it myself. I mean, who does that? Really??

But as I sat there, my arms being grabbed, my ears being screamed in, and my pony tail getting flicked, I was strengthened by one steadying thought:

“Just wait until basketball season.”

You see, Duke football and Duke basketball are two very different things. Duke football has a history of losing, but when it comes to basketball, we are strong and we are intimidating. Even our biggest rivals fear us, and with good cause. We have an awesome team.

That one little thought, that one hope that things will most certainly change–that was enough to hold me back from saying some very un-Jesus like things to the man sitting behind me. I didn’t have to stand up for my school, because over time, my school would stand up for itself.

So why am I telling you this sweet little tale from the ACC? Because something struck me as I quietly endured football persecution, all the while savoring the knowledge, “Basketball season is coming.”

That is exactly the kind of comfort we are meant to draw from Christ.

It’s crazy to me that my present outlook is shaped more by Duke’s future basketball victories than the knowledge of Christ’s eternal victory. But in the same way that I drew peace and strength from my certain redemption in the basketball season, our eternal security and sure victory in Christ should have real implications for how we live today.

Life is hard. Plain and simple. But it won’t always be this way. As Tony Campolo says, “Friday is here, but Sunday is coming!” And the fact that Sunday is coming should make a difference on how we live today.

So while life may be hard, and standing for the Gospel might result in persecution, you don’t need to worry about standing up for yourself. One day the Redeemer will return and he will stand up for you.

So as you go out into the world and endure your own proverbial pony tail flicks, take heart! Continue fighting for the Gospel and persevering for Christ no matter what happens to you today. Why? Because redemption IS coming. The question is, do you live like it?

It has, however, also led us to a new phase of our relationship. The last month or so has drawn us deeper into what I call the “sanctification phase” of marriage (though I’m not sure this phase ever officially ends).

We’re getting to the point where we’re both a bit on edge, and our little annoyances and quirks are grating on one another’s nerves. Take, for instance, the fact that Ike has had the song “Nothing But the Blood of Jesus” in his head for the last 4 days. I know this because he whistles it ALL THE TIME. A better women would recognize this as an opportunity to sing along and worship God while I work in my apartment.

You know when you think about it, marriage is kind of like a dog fight: You take two animals that, by nature, are predisposed to hurt one another and then you throw them into a confined space together where they inevitably duke it out.

Actually, before I single-handedly destroy all things romantic about marriage, let me rephrase that in a less appalling way: Marriage is kind of like a chemical reaction. You combine two combustible substances, they react (some more dramatically than others) and the result is an entirely new substance.

Hopefully you get the picture. Marriage can be tough at times. By definition, two sinners will never mix very well, but by the grace of God He transforms them into something new and beautiful in the process.

That said, as I work through my own sanctification and learn how to love my husband as best I can, I keep telling myself the following two things:

1. Sharon, get over yourself.

2. Jesus died on the cross for Ike’s sins, so stop trying to re-crucify them.

I think the first one is pretty straightforward, but let me elaborate on the second. On the rare occasions when Ike is the transgressor instead of me, it’s easy to feel self-righteous and bitter. It’s easy, not because Ike sins against me so frequently, but because I am so forgetful of God’s grace.

It’s funny how willingly I accept God’s forgiveness for my own sins, and how reluctantly I do the same for Ike. I act as if Christ didn’t already die for his sins, and I must somehow restore justice to the universe by giving him the silent treatment. Sometimes I treat him as if Christ’s atoning sacrifice does not apply.

But bestowing justice is not my job. Nor do I want the same unquenchable standard of justice applied to my own life.

The truth of the matter is that God knew both Ike and I would sin against each other many, many times. And that’s why he had to die. So rather than re-crucify each sin that is newly committed, why not rest in the justice and mercy that has already been accomplished for us?

Jesus died on the cross so that your husband wouldn’t have to. Bearing this truth in mind, I pray that my own actions will be that of a wife who reflects back to her husband the redemption accomplished on the cross. I also pray that I will not be the kind of woman who lives as though Christ’s sacrifice was not enough for my husband, or myself.

**And for the record, Sanctification Phase or not, my husband is incredible. I couldn’t be a more fortunate women!!

Wendy recently posted a blog entitled “Equipping Women for Gospel-Centered Lives” in which she examines the noticeably different messages imparted to women at various stages in their lives. While our teaching of women’s discipleship often focuses on the struggles of particular life stages, Wendy highlights a pitfall in this method. By subdividing women’s ministry by life circumstances (ie. books and conferences for singles, marrieds, women struggling with infertility, homeschooling moms, etc.) one runs the risk of emphasizing our differences rather than our unity in Christ. This is why, for instance, many single women feel so greatly divided from their married counter-parts.

It’s not that books for women on marriage and parenting are bad things. They’re not. But these resources represent the majority of books available to women. What is missing are solid books focusing on the most basic foundation of of the female identity–Christ–and the ultimate source of women’s struggles–sin. That is the big picture. The smaller picture, the details of how that theology plays out, can be found in books on marriage and singleness.

With that in mind, here are Wendy’s own thoughts. As a teacher, I am greatly challenged by them:

“May I speak for a moment to those leading women’s ministries and organizing women’s teaching events? If your message doesn’t resonate as well with the single woman watching her biological clock ticking away without a date in 8 years as the wife and mom who homeschools her children, you have missed the fullness of the message of the gospel. You may have communicated some out of context Scripture on women’s roles in the church and home, but you missed the gospel that equips us to bridge the gap between God’s good plan and the depraved world in which we live. That’s a bold statement, I know, but hear me out.

If by the term conservative you mean someone who believes Scripture means what it says and its instructions can be taken at face value, then I am as conservative as they come. But I am not comfortable with the tone of teaching I have heard the last few years from conservative evangelicals on women’s issues. Day in and day out, I hear from woman after woman who doesn’t fit the mold, perhaps by her choice but more often by circumstances completely out of her control, who feels lost in our evangelical construct of what the godly woman looks like. The problem is that she was not taught clearly that the image in which she was created is God’s and the image to which she is now being conformed is Christ’s. She feels pressure to be like Ruth or the Proverbs 31 woman but not so much to be like Christ. But Scripture doesn’t give us that leeway. She was created in God’s image and is being conformed back to Christ’s. Period.“

As I said, it’s not that teachings on submission, Proverbs 31 or women’s roles are wrong–not in and of themselves. The problem arises when we take those good things and made them into God things. Women’s ministry can be guilty of focusing on these issues in a way that supplants the Gospel. Some teachers and authors have so thoroughly equated Christian womanhood with marriage and motherhood that we not only exclude singles and widows in the process, but misconstrue the very heart of Christian discipleship.

The identity of a Christian woman is not to be found in her role as wife or mother. It is to be found in Christ alone. Any teaching that implies otherwise is a form of idolatry that we must be cautious to avoid. Wendy’s challenge to preach a Gospel that resounds just as powerfully with a woman struggling with infertility as it does with the homeschooling mom of seven is certainly one I hope to live up to.

With that in mind, I want to add a number of things that suffering is NOT. These points are taken from the Driscoll sermon I mentioned in my last post, and I think they provides some helpful boundaries for not only interpreting our own suffering, but comforting others in their suffering as well:

• Suffering does not make you a victim. While it’s important that we not blame ourselves or believe that God is somehow punishing us when tragedy strikes, it is also important that we understand sin has consequences. For instance, choosing to have unsafe sex can result in contracting diseases. Choosing to date someone that you know is wrong can result in massive heartache. In these instances God’s is not punishing you, but there are very real consequence for your bad decisions.
• Suffering is not to be pursued. There is some very faulty theology that exalts the path of suffering and considers it to be more virtuous. This belief is problematic in two ways:

1. In Genesis 1 God declares the world and all that is in it to be good. Then in 1 Timothy 6:17 we are reminded that God gives us richly all things to enjoy. While we should never let material things become our master, they are not evil. To resist the good things of this world and impose suffering on our ourselves is to deny the gifts that God has given us. This thinking also strays into a kind of heretical theology called gnosticism.
2. The pursuit of suffering is rooted in guilt. As I have mentioned before, the suffering that we as Christians endure is not a punishment from God. Jesus received that punishment on the cross. The suffering we endure is a result of living in a thoroughly broken world. God is a redeemer and He can use it, but for us to pursue suffering for its own sake indicates a belief that Jesus’ sacrifice was not enough to restore our relationship with God. Instead, we find ways to add to the meaning and power of his sacrifice. The pursuit of suffering is not the only way we do this–any action that is driven by the belief that we must make ourselves better in order to be accepted is rooted in the same errant belief. Do not imply that Christ’s crucifixion is somehow inadequate by seeking out suffering. Jesus’ dying words, “It is finished,” remind us that his suffering and death was not only enough, but also complete.

• Suffering is not to be excused because God uses it. Driscoll told the story of a father who beat his sons growing up. Reflecting upon their childhood the father concluded, “Well, look how good they turned out! I must have done something right!” The father’s actions were inexcusably wrong, and the fact that God redeemed the situation was no validation of the father’s behavior. God, by His very character, can take a bad situation and make it good, but that does not mean the evil actions of a person are somehow justified. Sin is sin no matter how God uses it.
• Suffering is no excuse to allow evil. I CANNOT emphasize this point enough, especially when talking to women. In fact, I wish I had mentioned it on Wednesday. Do NOT allow people to sin in the name of your own sanctification! If you are in an abusive relationship and you feel God has used it to grow your relationship with Him, then praise God, but the man who is abusing you needs to be sanctified too. Call the police and let God deal with him! You are facilitating evil by allowing Him to abuse you. God HATES the actions of any person who treats you as less than the beautiful, divine image that you are. Never ever excuse your own suffering when it enables the twisted sin of another person in your life.
• Not all suffering has an explanation. In the face of tragedy we desperately seek to understand why. It is this desperation that often leads us to superficial answers. There are some things we will never know this side of eternity, so we must find solace in the knowledge that God DOES love us, even when we don’t feel it.

If you find yourself in a place of despair right now, please know that God has not forgotten you. I don’t know why you are there, but I do know the character of your Father. It is the character of One who could easily distance Himself from our pain, but instead became a man to share in our suffering. It is the character of One who is so intimately tied to His people, so much so that we are called His “body.” When we are wounded, His own body is wounded. So remember His character! He grieves along side of you and aches when your heart aches, but not as one without power or hope. God is also a redeemer. He is loving and He is good. In those darkest of moments, place your hope in Him.

In particular, Paul’s experience reminds us that suffering can either be purposeful, or purposeless. You can either run from your suffering and shield yourself from it, learning nothing and gaining nothing in the mean time. Or, you can make your suffering purposeful, making it your servant and using it for the glory of God and benefit of others.

However the choice is yours.

For more on what it means to endure your suffering in a purposeful way, you can listen to my lesson below:

Finally, there are two resources that I didn’t have time to use in my lesson, so I thought I would post them here. First, if you have not already checked out Matt Chandler’s blog, do so. Matt, a pastor in Texas, is currently battling brain cancer. His approach and his attitude about this trial are a modern day example of Paul’s words lived out. Though his burden is heavy, Matt openly rejoices that God has counted him worthy to suffer for His name. I promise you will be challenged and inspired by his testimony.

You can view Matt’s video updates at Matt’s blog.

The second resource I would like to recommend to you is a video produced by Mars Hill Church in Seattle. Last year Pastor Mark Driscoll preached on this topic (a sermon I would also highly recommend) and he concluded his sermon with the following video about the life of Charlotte Elliott, the women who penned the now famous song “Just As I Am.”

However, I’ve noticed an equally startling as well as puzzling trend among married couples my age. At this stage in life, I already have a number of friends whose marriages have ended in divorce, but not because of the men. Within my own circle of acquaintances, every single instance has been a result of the wife’s decision to exit the marriage. Whether she was unfaithful or simply felt trapped, I have been shocked by the number of women who have chosen divorce relatively early in their marriages.

What has been even more startling is that their husbands were good men. This isn’t always the case, of course, but many of these women left husbands who were godly, faithful men. Any woman would consider herself lucky to have a husband like them. So what’s the deal? Whereas men seem more prone to have affairs in conjunction with a mid-life crisis, why are so many women leaving their husbands at such an early age?

I did a little research on this topic to find out if my experience is unique, but it’s not. Psychology Today estimates that while 50-70% of men have affairs, 30-60% of women do as well. A separate study published in the New York Times reported that this number is particularly on the rise amidst young women: In new marriages, about 20 percent of men and 15 percent of women under 35 have admitted to cheating. So while infidelity is stereotypically attributed to men, statistics indicate otherwise. What is unclear is the reason behind these rising numbers.

The New York Times article offered several possibilities. Due to past cultural pressures, it’s possible that women have always been as equally unfaithful as men but were more likely to lie about it until now. Others speculate that as the number of women in the workforce increases, the late nights in the office provide opportunities for temptation that women never before had. Even women who do stay at home have the added temptation of internet, e-mail and text messaging.

While researchers have yet to establish a conclusive consensus about these “early exits,” I have my own theory. Based on my own experience in marriage thus far, I suspect it’s a result of several cultural influences. To begin, women grow up absorbing unrealistic stories about fairy tale romance from movies, t.v. shows and books. However, these romantic fantasies never provide us with a glimpse of the “happily ever after.” We see the pursuit and the climax, but then the movie ends.

As a result, we enter marriage subconsciously expecting that the same hot pursuit will define the rest of our lives…only to quickly realize that it doesn’t. Even six months into my own marriage I find myself sighing as I watch movies like the Notebook. There’s a part of me that’s sad I’ll no longer experience the newness of love and the hot passion of that initial stage. My husband is incredible and he pursues me every day, but it’s different now. There’s a small part of me that misses that.

Compound that disappointment with the very real challenges of marriage and every day life, along with a culture in which divorce is pretty normal. The result? Young women suspect they got married too quickly. “This isn’t how it’s supposed to be!” they think. “I must have married the wrong guy!” Either that, or they suddenly feel they’re missing out on the passion and romance of their single friends. No more exciting first dates. No more thrill-of-the-chase.

And so they feel trapped. That word, “trapped,” has been the common denominator among the young women I’ve known to leave their husbands. She thought she knew what she was signing up for, but then she got married and felt she’d been duped. She felt stuck and she needed a way out. Then a handsome co-worker or family friend caught her eye…

Perhaps I’m totally wrong, but this “theory” is based off of my own battle with the culture’s influence on my expectations. I never realized how powerfully my understanding of romance had been shaped by media until I actually got married.

While psychologists and sociologists are still unclear about the cause for this growing trend, there are two ways in which we can go ahead and be on the defensive when it comes to fighting for our marriages:

1. Be discerning about the messages the culture is feeding you. Romantic movies may seem innocent enough, but be wise to the ways in which they are shaping your expectations of marriage. If you’ve read my blog for any amount of time, you know that I think about this stuff ALL the time and it has STILL affected me. It’s hard to resist getting swept up in fanciful dreams about what your life should be, all the while sabotaging the life you actually have. Marriage is a blessing and a gift, but we ruin it by imposing unnatural expectations upon it.

2. Don’t forget your Heavenly Lover. Even in the best marriages, it’s not all romance and steam. Some days you feel ordinary and plain, and your husband may not pursue you the way he did when you were courting. So on those days when you feel trapped, or at the very least forgotten about, remember that you have a Father in Heaven who never stops being enthralled by you. His extravagant loves puts the Notebook to shame. No one knows you as intimately, loves you as unconditionally, and will ever sacrifice more for you than Him. No man will ever pursue you as consistently or perfectly as God, so let Him be your satisfaction on the days when you might be tempted to look elsewhere.

Regardless of whether you are single or married, it’s time that we start talking about the fact that more and more women are sabotaging their marriages through infidelity. Women are just as likely to be tempted as men, so we must be on our guard against it. None of us is any safer than the woman next to us. Let’s be realistic about that fact, and pray for grace and wisdom all the while.

And in case you forgot, I just started cooking when I got married 6 months ago. Fortunately there haven’t been any more chili debacles since the one I mentioned a few months ago, but there’s definitely a learning curve. Hospitality is a learned discipline for me.

With this in mind, I’ve been encouraged in my study of Philippians to learn of a different kind of hospitality. As I mentioned in my last post, the Philippian church was unique in that it began with the conversion of women. As one scholar put it, “Women were an important part of the church in Philippi, helping to provide for the missionaries’ needs, as well as working alongside of them.”

In particular, Lydia, a God-fearing woman from Asia, was the first convert in Philippi and became a major resource to the church. Acts 16:15 tells us that following her conversion she “invited us to her home.” saying “‘If you consider me a believer in the Lord, come and stay at my house.’ And she persuaded us.” This verse may not seem like much, but for me it was revolutionary.

Before meeting Paul, Lydia was already an entrepreneur. She was a dealer in purple, one of the most costly substances in the ancient world. She was a successful businesswoman, and she used this pioneering spirit to make the most of her resources for God. Specifically, she used the resource of her home.

While we traditionally think of hospitality as the baking of casseroles and the hosting of dinners, Lydia had a different idea. She was gifted at hospitality in a way that actually grew the Kingdom of God. For Lydia, hospitality meant turning her home into an outpost for God’s mission field.

I find this to be a tremendously challenging and inspiring example. Especially for women who find themselves at a season in life when they are somewhat bound by their homes. Some women are so busy raising kids and taking care of the house that the idea of anything beyond that is overwhelming.

In the face of this seeming obstacle to ministry, Lydia challenges us with a different approach to hospitality. While place settings and casseroles aren’t bad things, the real question is how are you using your home to further the Kingdom of God in your community? Creating a nice ambience for dinner parties can certainly be one way to do this, but it’s not the only way.

Lydia challenges us to think outside the box when it comes to hospitality. It takes the focus off Martha Stewart and places it back on Christ. How is your home an outpost for the mission field? What are you doing with the resource that you’ve been given through your home? As women, we compose half of God’s church and one of the primary resource we’ve been given to use is our homes. How are you being a good steward of it? How could the Kingdom of God be furthered were we to all follow in Lydia’s steps? Let me know if you have ideas, or if you’ve been using your home in a creative way. Let’s brainstorm this possibility together!

I’ve really loved studying Philippians because the church at Philippi in particular is a testimony to the amazing things that God can do through the service of women. It’s really incredible, but also very challenging!

I’ll be writing some posts based on ideas from my talks, but to hear more about the birth of the Philippi church and the role of women in the spread of the Gospel, you can listen to my first talk below:

For the second talk by my co-teacher, Cas Monaco, you can listen to the audio below.Whereas my talk was a basic introduction to Philippians, Cas dives into Philippians 1:1-11.

I’ve already learned so much and been so encouraged by the book of Philippians. In this book we find a perfect balance of comfort amidst suffering, mixed with vision for the Kingdom of God. Philippians has a great word for women today, so I hope you will join me as I dig deeper into this challenging letter!