Relationships
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What's Your Story – Jenn
Jenn is my first best friend. Jenn and I met at North Coast Church’s college group and became best friends. It’s funny how God uses certain people to remind us who we are, and who bring out the best. Jenn is that person to me. I felt bad that I couldn’t be there for her when her story started. Jenn became a single mom. She went through much criticism by her family, peers, the church—and worst of all herself. As a result of her choices she had a lot of questions to answer. My first question to Jenn was a heavy one, one that I’ve wrestled with myself. Why do…
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What's Your Story – Ashley
[Guest Post by Ashley] I always had a close relationship with God, and felt I could always lean on Him. In high school, I got a job at a leather store in the mall. I was a trainer on the football team and fell head over heels for popular guy on the team. I had my whole life planned out. I wanted to be a stay at home mom and be an active part of a church. I knew I wanted to save myself for marriage, but I started to drift from God. He wasn’t into going to church or praying. I ended up dating him and we had a…
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What's Your Story – Brittany
I want to introduce to Brittany Erbaugh. She was my first roommate ever! We met in San Antonio, TX because of a nine-month discipleship-training program, “Ambassador For Christ.” She was my roommate and classmate. Because of her influence, she made me watch all three of Lord of the Rings movies. And to get her back, I hooked her on the CBS show, “Survivor (she still watches it). And, one thing we did agree on was Blue Bell Ice Cream, Chick fil A, and ABC’s Lost. But, enough about our relationship! Brittany is all too familiar with her spiritual battle and mine. I left Texas before I had the chance to…
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6 Month Wedding Anniversary
My 6 month wedding anniversary has taught me so much. Because I love celebrating both small and large milestones–here are six lessons learned from the first six months (Oct. 15-Apr. 15)! 1. Insecurities Magnified. When I was saangle (really single) I thought it was my fault. I’m so glad for those years now that God spent teaching me how to replace the lies with truth because now that I’m married, my insecurities are only magnified. 2. Serving/Submitting to Marc is my joy. At first, I was so excited and grateful to serve Marc because God answered my 12-year-10-month-24-day-prayer. I now believe it’s because of prayer, God’s help, and understanding–that my…
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Singleness Is NOT A Disease
[Guest Post] American culture values independence. Somewhere between my twenty-fifth and twenty-seventh birthdays, my status as a single man in the church downgraded from laudable to questionable. People stopped celebrating my singleness as a gift affording me undivided focus on performing God’s will (see I Corinthians 7) and began seeing it as a problem. They also began analyzing why I had failed to solve it. The message was clear: My “malady” of being single was somehow my fault. It wasn’t anything I did. It was what I didn’t do enough of. I didn’t do enough to prove my independence. American men who cannot demonstrate enough independence begin to feel weak…
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Permission For Peace
Sometimes, you need to give yourself permission for peace. I’m letting you know right now this post is going to rock your world. I may get vulgar and you might not like it. But that’s what we do when we transition. Isn’t it? We get rude. In your face. At first we think it’s our right. We were the ones wronged. What happens when that apology we’re waiting for never comes? I can’t tell you how frustrated life’s challenges have been in my life to the point where I refused to stay silent–and I’m the one who got burned. What the? #1. Like that time my former coworker tried to…
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God Said Man Said
God said man said goes something like this: God said: “Speak to that rock.” Man said: “[Struck] the rock twice with his staff.” What’s wrong with this picture? Sounds to me God and Moses were saying two different things. I was reading Numbers 20 in my One-Year Bible this week, and couldn’t help but see a familiar picture. God says one thing; we do another. Or he (or she) says one thing, and we say (or do) another. It Starts With A Problem (Doesn’t it always?) “Now there was no water for the community, and the people gathered in opposition to Moses and Aaron” (Numbers 20:2, NIV). No matter how…
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Friendship Quotes
Today my amazing husband Marc turns 29. If you recall, he wrote me a book on the 29 reasons why he loves Renee for my birthday in June. Since Marc is more of a private guy–I thought I’d return the favor by posting different 13 quotes on friendship. According to Timothy Keller’s book The Meaning of Marriage, Chapter 4 explores friendship as the mission of marriage. I hope you enjoy and are encouraged by these friendship quotes. 1. Christian friends…are to honestly confess their own sins to each other (James 5:16). 2. Christian friends…are to lovingly point out their friend’s sin if he or she is blind to them (Romans…
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Don't Just Guard Your Heart
At first, I wanted to name this Triple Threat–like last week. I’d post the 3 links and be done with it. Then I remembered my mom’s email to me. “Renee, don’t just call it Triple Threat. Where’s the threat? Call it Triple Treat because your writing is such a treat.” Aww. Mom. Thank you, but no! Instead, I am naming it Don’t Just Guard Your Heart because I wanted to let you know of a post I wrote featured on Relevant today entitled Why Guarding Your Heart Isn’t Enough. If you’ve ever had someone throw the phrase around like a punch to the face–I know you’ll appreciate it. *Next, I…
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Your Relationship Status
[Guest post by Jessica Bufkin] – And don’t be wishing you were someplace else or with someone else. Where you are right now is God’s place for you. Live and obey and love and believe right there. God, not your marital status, defines your life. Don’t think I’m being harder on you than on the others. I give this same counsel in all the churches. (1 Corinthians 7:17 MSG) People mean well. Really, they do. But honestly, sometimes the things that they say, despite their well-meaning intentions, remain lodged in our minds for a very long time. For instance, your relationship status. My parents have never once poked or prodded…
