Biblical encouragement for Christian women in seasons of struggle
The Hallway Initiative Blog offers Biblical encouragement to Christian women in seasons of struggle. Here you'll find hope for financial hardship, job loss, and illness, as well as practical action steps to take during hardship.
When things started heating up in Afghanistan, my friend Arabah Joy asked if I would put together a post on how to pray for this precious nation. Although things in other lands often feel hopeless from this far away, there are several specific ways we can be in prayer for the precious people in foreign nations.
Read MoreI had the privilege of guest posting for my friend Arabah Joy and got to share my heart about prayer. So often, we feel frustrated or hurt when it feels like God has either said no to our requests or hasn’t heard our pleas, but I’m slowly learning that it’s when God says no that He often teaches me the most impactful truths.
Read MoreWith all the turmoil that the current coronavirus outbreak is causing, my friend A reached out to me and asked if I would consider sharing my family’s experience with it. While I never would have thought to do so on my own, I felt that her suggestion was excellent. As A pointed out, nearly all of what we’re hearing on the news and in the media is story after story of grave illness and high death tolls, but my family’s situation is an amazing story of God’s healing and provision. My hope in sharing is that it will help to answer the burning question, “How should Christians respond to the coronavirus?”
Read MoreCall me weird, but I love the Old Testament, particularly the “difficult” books like Numbers. Yes, they can be a bit dry reading at times, but I’ve discovered that they also often offer the greatest pearls of truth that jump out at me off the page. I have wonder if that’s because these are the types of books I least expect it from.
This past week, I was reading Numbers chapter 11, when the words seemed to leap off the page at me:
Read MoreIn January of this year, we got one of those calls that nobody ever wants to receive. Our beloved pastor’s wife had just suffered a massive stroke, and the outcome didn’t look good. A few minutes later, another phone call confirmed that she was now face-to-face with the Savior.
We were shocked and devastated. Aside from a semi-recent broken arm, Mrs. S had seemed in perfect health. There was no indication that she didn’t have much time left here on Earth. Her fingerprints were on everything; from teaching Children’s Church to singing with our mini choir to selflessly serving in a dozen capacities, she left behind a huge hole, as most beloved people do.
As I thought about the million and one little ways I would miss her, I began thinking of all the lessons she had effortlessly taught me during our years together.
Read MoreI’ve had a lot of anxiety this week. While the reasons for it are numerous - stress, the return to our school routine after 2 weeks off, and some big looming life decisions - I knew I needed to do something to get back on top of the nervous, panicky feeling that I dislike so much.
Now, I don’t at all pretend to be an authority in overcoming anxiety. It’s something I’ve struggled with all my life, and it is almost always lurking in the back corner of my mind, ready to overwhelm me if given the opportunity.
But this week, I found 3 of the best Biblical antidotes for anxiety, and they helped me so greatly that I knew I needed to share them with you. These aren’t profound. They aren’t jaw-droppingly new. But they are straight from God’s Word, and sometimes, we just need a gentle reminder to tap into the tools that the Lord has already equipped us with.
Read MoreIt might have been because we had just had our third miscarrage that the post I read on Facebook caused me so much discomfort.
My friend had just had a baby, and it was cause for much celebration on Facebook. I would never begrudge anyone a new baby post, and I too have celebrated my kids births with joyous Facebook posts. But the words my friend wrote were something like this: “Things were a little touch and go after the birth, and the baby struggled a bit, but God was good and he is doing well now!”
You see, my heart was anchored on to the truth that God is in fact good, but we lost our unborn baby.
Read MoreYears ago, a close friend of mine abandoned her faith, her family, and her friends…including me. It hurt deeply that she could so easily cast aside all that she once held dear. I missed her terribly - or, at least, I missed the person she once had been. I prayed daily for for a very long time afterward, hoping that the Lord would draw her back to Himself.
But I have to admit that, over time, I got more lax with how frequently I prayed for her. I don’t know if I finally lost all hope or just got busy, but I found myself only praying for her only occasionally instead of multiple times each day.
Last week, however, I ran across online photos of her current life, and all the frustration and anguish came rushing back. I was heartbroken all over again at her lifestyle choices. I had to wonder if she really was as happy as those photos seemed to indicate. Having an online presence myself, I know how incomplete a handful of social media images is when depicting someone’s life.
I sighed and was about to close my computer tab when I felt the Holy Spirit gently whisper to my aching heart.
“Her story isn’t finished yet,” He reminded me.
Read More“How do I motivate myself to fall in love with God’s Word? And how to I inspire other believers to do the same?”
These are the questions that have been swirling around in my brain lately. Because I’m realizing a few things:
I don’t wake up with a passion for studying Scripture. Sure, I dutifully sit down most mornings for Bible study, and by the time I’m done, I’ve learned so much and am very grateful that I jumped in even though I didn’t wake up hungering for God’s Word. But how do I motivate myself to desire Bible study before I begin? And how do I encourage others to experience the same?
When I was talking with a friend about this very issue, she gently reminded me, “We need to spur on one another to love and good works.” (Don’t you just love how Scripture answers all of our questions like that? I do!)
So, how do we go about spurring on one another to those good works? After studying for a bit, I’ve found at least 4 ways to do just that.
Read MoreIt comes out of the blue. We’ll be merrily floating along, school in a good rhythm, excitement on the horizon, and…BAM. Diabetes rears its ugly head. Most days, it’s barely a blip on the radar (a true testament to God’s goodness, because in those early days just after diagnosis, I wasn’t at all sure things would ever feel “normal” again). Most days, diabetes is just a few blood sugar checks, possibly hunting for a misplaced blood sugar meter, and counting carbs for meals.
But then a virus will hit and send my diabetic spark plug into a tailspin, or his insulin pump will stop working, or things will get wildly out of control for no apparent reason.
And in those hard moments, I’m reminded all over again that God has chosen not to heal. That He’s found more glory in leaving Turbo as he is instead of healing him. That living with diabetes instead of being healed from it is what’s currently best for all of us.
At times, it even feels like God is breaking my heart.
Read MoreWhile there’s nothing wrong with dreaming by itself, inevitably, I get carried away with my wishful thinking, and I begin to covet that which I don’t have. When I start to develop discontentment with my current situation, that’s when sin sets in.
Truthfully, there are moments when I’d rather wallow in my pity instead of chasing discontentment to the curb. It almost feels nice to fuss about my lack of space! And that’s exactly why I need to root out the seeds of dissatisfaction immediately: so that they don’t take deeper root and grow into resentment or bitterness.
I’ve found the absolute FASTEST way to uproot discontentment:
Read MoreWelcome back to the Wash His Feet challenge! Yesterday’s post was all about being thankful for your husband. Today’s is similar: pray for him faithfully!
While we’re developing the habit of thanking God for our husbands, we also need to cultivate the custom of praying for them every day. The Lord has laid a tremendous task on our husbands’ shoulders. They are to love their wives as Christ loves His bride (if you’ve ever been tempted to think that husbands have it easy compared to wives’ command to submit, I encourage you to re-evaluate your thinking!); provide for their families; and raise their children in the admonition of the Lord without exasperating them. Those are some very tall orders, and they need prayer to accomplish them!
Read MoreTruth time: how often do you thank the Lord for your husband? For some of us, thanking God for our spouses comes easily. We’re married to a great guy, who, for the most part, is lovable and easy to get along with. For others, being thankful is a bit more of a challenge. Sadly, it’s often easier to focus on what we don’t appreciate in our spouses than to dwell on the things that we do. But my hope is that this Wash His Feet challenge will help all of us learn to appreciate more the men that God has given us.
Read More“How are things going?” I asked a friend who was walking through a very dark hallway.
“I’m surviving because I’m preaching truth to myself during this valley,” she replied.
Her response both encouraged and challenged me. I was thrilled to hear that she was taking measures to find her hope in the Lord, but I was also convicted about the way I handle my own struggles. When I’m hurting, how often do I forget to remind myself of the truths in God’s Word? Do I even know how to preach truth to myself?
Maybe you’ve wondered the same things. You know you should be dwelling on God’s faithfulness and preaching truth to yourself, but how do you go about doing it?
Read MoreEverywhere I look these days, I see people promoting this thing called self care. And I don't disagree that taking care of our bodies - which comprise the temple of the Holy Spirit, after all! - is a bad thing.
But we're also commanded to be selfless, to put others first, and to be giving. So, while I think that self care (or temple maintenance, as I prefer to view it) can be a good thing if not overdone, there are going to be times when we have nothing left of ourselves to give, and yet giving of ourselves is exactly what we need to do.
Read MoreLast week, a friend shared with me about a very difficult situation she was facing, so I asked, "how would you like me to pray?"
"I'm not exactly sure," she responded. "It's hard to know what would be best."
After my friend left, I thought about her situation and others like it. Sometimes, it's not clear how we should be praying. We know we need to pray, but what do we do when we don't know what we should pray for?
It's in those times that I have to go back to God's Word to learn what to do. The Bible offers at least 10 ways to pray when we don't know what to pray for.
Read MoreIf you're like me, you welcome the opportunity to pray for people. But perhaps, also like me, you need a few built-in reminders to keep others' prayer requests at the front of your mind.
Whenever someone asks me to pray, I try to lift him or her up in prayer before I let them know that I'll be praying. That way, I know I've prayed for them at least once. But my heart really is to pray for them multiple times. And I've found three fairly easy ways to remember to pray for them over and over.
Read MoreThe first time I heard the "rocks in a jar" analogy, I was intrigued. The idea of prioritizing my goals and obligations made complete sense. It was certainly true that unless I put my "big rocks" in my life's jar first, I would never be able to fit in the pebbles, sand, and water as well. And so, for a long time, I was quite content with the standard "rocks in a jar" analogy.
As I've grown older and my spiritual walk has deepened, however, I've begun to wonder if we as believers are looking at our rocks in the wrong light.
Read MoreToward December, I was almost dreading the start of another year. It wasn't that the closing year had been bad; in fact, it had been a really good one. But I was worried about goal-setting, or, more accurately, goal-failing.
It happened every year: I would heroically set goals in January - new habits I wanted to develop, besetting sins I hoped to conquer - only to have reality set in around the end of February when I hadn't made any progress. Ultimately, with feelings of frustration and failure, I'd throw up my hands and give up on accomplishing any of my goals for that particular year.
Read More"When Your Mama Heart Hurts" was one of the most-loved posts on the blog last year. And you know what? It was one of my favorites to write, too, because it's something that's often on my heart.
From physical infirmity to spiritual struggle, there's no shortage of heartache that we as parents go through as we watch our children suffer. That's simply life in our broken, fallen state.
But for the believing parent, there is always hope. And I've come to realize that there are three very specific ways we can pray when our mama hearts hurt.
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The Hallway Initiative is a blog geared toward helping Christian women in a "hallway," that time between God's closing doors and opening windows.
Hi, I'm Julie, and I'm so glad you're here! I'm wife to Jon and mommy to our 6 spark plugs. We're a homeschooling family dealing with illness and tight finances. Much of my life seems to be spent waiting in the hallway - those times between God's closing doors and opening windows. Yours, too? I don't like hallways - literal or figurative - but I'm choosing to praise Him in the waiting. Will you join me?
