You know the name George Washington Carver, right? You know he invented a crazy number of products from the lowly peanut. But do you know that he talked to God constantly as he worked in his laboratory? His conversations went something like this: “Lord God, you made the peanut. You know every molecule. You know all […]

At age 28 I experienced my first significant encounter with a side of God that was as unknown to me as the dark side of the moon. Up until that day my life had proceeded “normally” in the light … until one fateful June morning. One bright summer morning in early June, enthusiasm for a […]

Opening an old journal I found on the shelf, I found these words in my handwriting: “I really wanted to go to the meetings this morning, but here I am being a mother. Mothering doesn’t stop. Their needs don’t stop. Sick kids can’t be delegated. So once again I’m isolated and he, my husband, is not.” I […]

Each of you woke this morning in your version of home: a two-story townhome, a one-level ranch, a fixer-upper, an urban high-rise, a studio apartment. Whatever it might look like to you, it’s a place called home for everyone living there. Here are 20 reasons that the work you do within those walls—morning after morning, […]

Do you wish your home were more peaceful? I sure did when all six of my kids lived at home. Even when only two were left, it still wasn’t peaceful the way I wanted it to be. You see I wanted everyone to get along and like each other. All. The. Time. I wanted an […]

  Do you know there are children who have lived all their lives in gutters, in sewer pipes, or other unimaginable places? Children who sleep on cardboard, who sniff glue to numb their pain, who never cry, who fear anyone who tries to help because they have learned to trust no one? A doctor who has worked […]

You’re getting your child’s classroom syllabus for all the benchmarks he’ll be required to know over the next months for science, math, art, and history. Wouldn’t it be nice to know what you needed to teach him for knowing God better? Dennis and I made a list of qualities we hoped to teach our children before they […]

Most of us marry with stars in our eyes and expectations that scrape the Milky Way. But there’s not a spouse on earth who hasn’t experienced harsh unexpected disappointments. Have you entertained the thought of quitting your marriage at some level? Like piles of heavy wet snow on power lines and branches, accumulated hurts and […]

One of our highest goals for our children was for them to experience Christianity in at least one other culture, preferably a third-world country. Because it was a priority, we made it happen. Three of our girls–then ages 12, 13, and 15–traveled with me to Russia in January of 1999. For three weeks we visited orphanages […]

I grew up in a family that was secure and stable, and I knew I was loved. I never feared my parents would divorce or leave us. They cared for us, provided for us, and taught us many valuable lessons about life. But what my head knew was true I did not always feel. My parents both […]

Recently I was talking with some parents who said they had just had a rough evening with their teenage children. Their kids were not afraid to push back against Mom and Dad, to question every single decision, to compare them with what they perceived their friends’ parents were doing, and to express how they feel […]

Note from Barbara: Being a mother has been my greatest privilege as a follower of Christ. It was also my greatest challenge! Teaching and helping and modeling and training children to grow into responsible adults with their own faith is not a small assignment in any generation. Now that they are all on their own, […]