Hope for Parents — Woman to Woman Mentoring

God Fights for Prodigals When We Pray His Will!

“You know how it feels when you see any glimmer of hope in your prodigal.” —A praying mom

If you follow my blogs and newsletters, you know I wait on the Lord to tell me what to write about each week. God is so faithful to not only give me a word, but also back it up with confirmation that I cannot ignore. So I know today there are parents and grandparents in my reading audience experiencing sorrow over prodigals in your family because that’s what God has told me to write about in this blog. It’s not the first time I’ve written on this topic, in fact, I wrote an entire book about praying for our prodigals.

Last week, hubby and I participated in a prayer group where the common request was for prodigal children, most of whom were in the millennial age range in their thirties and early forties. That was the age of my own prodigal years. Even children raised in Christian homes sometimes want to explore their independence, which might mean venturing into the world’s ways. So, we prayed that night for the spiritual awakening, or reawakening, of all the prodigals.

Then the next night, Dave and I watched a recorded Flashpoint program, which aired originally on the same night the group was praying for prodigals. Gene Bailey, the host of Flashpoint, interviewed Pastor Kent Christmas about his new book, Turning Sorrow Into Joy: A Journey of Faith and Perseverance. Here’s the interview: Kent Christmas on FlashPoint with Gene Bailey Interview Segment 4.9.2024 (youtube.com). If you have a loved one engaging in sexual sin, I highly recommend you listen.

In the interview with Pastor Christmas, they referred to the previous night’s program when again the topic was praying for prodigals. Now God really had my attention, so we watched it also. Gene Bailey interviewed Pastor Tim Sheets of Awaken Ministries and his daughter Rachel Shafer who wrote together Come Home: Pray, Prophesy, and Proclaim God’s Promises Over Your Prodigal. Even as parents and grandparents agonize and grieve with tears on their pillow every night, Pastor Sheets and Rachel offered assurance that God will forgive returning prodigals.

They emphasized that while you wait, stay rooted in God. Your feelings and emotions will lie to you, but God’s Word is truth, as I wrote in last week’s blog Knowing and Speaking Only the Truth Will Keep Us Free!

Come Home contains 90 decrees in Scriptures to pray for bringing prodigals home. In the interview, the authors mentioned several verses with the prophetic message of hope. Belief accelerates the power of God. Believe in a future where your children will come home physically and spiritually.

But now this is what the Lord says: “Do not weep any longer, for I will reward you,” says the Lord. “Your children will come back to you from the distant land of the enemy. ¹⁷There is hope for your future,” says the Lord. “Your children will come again to their own land. Jer. 31:16-17 NLT

God promises He will fight for and save your children! You must believe and claim these promises and pray them over your children with unwavering faith.

Who can snatch the plunder of war from the hands of a warrior? Who can demand that a tyrant^[^a^] let his captives go? ²⁵But the Lord says, “The captives of warriors will be released, and the plunder of tyrants will be retrieved. For I will fight those who fight you, and I will save your children. Isaiah 49:24-25

The Message translation of Isaiah 49:24-25 says: Can plunder be retrieved from a giant, prisoners of war gotten back from a tyrant? But God says, “Even if a giant grips the plunder and a tyrant holds my people prisoner, I’m the one who’s on your side, defending your cause, rescuing your children. And your enemies, crazed and desperate, will turn on themselves, killing each other in a frenzy of self-destruction. Then everyone will know that I, God, have saved you—I, the Mighty One of Jacob.”

Those verses emphasize that God’s on our side. He’s going to save our children. While we want to believe this, it’s tempting to take back our concerns and worries even after we cast them onto God. We should quit putting power into earthly circumstances and instead magnify God and His heavenly perspective as these following Psalms emphasize.

All the ends of the earth will remember and turn to the Lord, and all the families of the nations will bow down before him, ²⁸for dominion belongs to the Lord and he rules over the nations. Ps. 22:27-28

They [prodigals] will receive the Lord’s blessing and have a right relationship with God their savior. Ps. 24:5 NLT

My Daughter and My Prodigal Story of Redemption

I wrote Praying for Your Prodigal Daughter: Hope, Help & Encouragement for Hurting Parents with input from my daughter of what she was thinking and feeling during her prodigal years. For seventeen years, I was a prodigal raising a prodigal until God reawakened my spirit at a Harvest Crusade where I rededicated my life to Christ. On the stadium floor, I knelt and told the Lord, “Your prodigal has returned. I will go where you send me.”

Kim didn’t receive well the dramatic change in my life. She was happy with the way we were living before. In spite of her resistance, I felt an urgency for Kim to also surrender her life to the Lord. I remembered a time when I stopped eating beef and switched to turkey burger. One day Kim, who was probably in middle school, said, “Mom, don’t you care about my health too?!” I thought she would still want hamburgers, but she wanted to be healthy like me. She hasn’t eaten beef since.

After my rededication, I heard a message on the reality of hell. I couldn’t stand the thought of my daughter going there. I had a dream that I looked down from heaven and heard her saying, “Mom didn’t you care enough about my spiritual health to not give up on me?” That’s when I began praying Scripture for my daughter daily, biblically, expectantly, persistently, sacrificially, unceasingly, and thankfully.

In Praying for Your Prodigal Daughter, Kim writes, “Mom, I saw the book Praying God’s Will for my Daughter in your bathroom one time, and I felt resentful that you thought I was ‘lost’ and needed you to pray for me. You turned your life around so completely, and I couldn’t relate to the new, ‘weird’ you. All the praying stuff was outside of my comfort zone. When I learned you were praying for me, it upset me. I felt that I could take care of myself and didn’t need your prayers.”

From the devotional Kim referred to above, I learned how to personalize and pray Scripture for her, which allowed me to pray God’s will while I journaled my will to release my feelings and concerns on paper. I share those journal writings throughout the book and include “40 Days of Praying Scripture for Your Prodigal” on page 313. Kim thanks me today that I never gave up praying for her.

Satan is Targeting Children!

Today, Satan is blatantly attacking the family and children more openly and abrasively than ever before. Abortion for teenagers or gender changes without parents’ consent. Parents who want to know what their children are being taught in schools labeled domestic terrorists! Drugs are rampant and killing our children. Child suicide has reached record numbers. Schools are teaching young children about perverse sex practices as “sex education,” even as young as kindergarten. As “gay rights” became mainstream and legalized, Satan had to move it up a notch to transgenderism. Children are given drugs and surgically mutilated, irreversibly in many cases, and deceived into thinking they can change their gender from the way God created them. Drag grooming is considered entertainment for children, even though it’s a precursor to pedophilia.

This isn’t normal or biblical. It’s satanical. Satan really is coming after our children, but Christians have the weapons we need to ward off the attacks of the enemy. Prayer. God’s Word. Civic action like voting, running for office, and activism.

I’m not writing this article to promote my book, or any book, but there’s a reason God had these pastors and me write about saving our prodigals. Because we all need to know how to love and pray scripturally for children and grandchildren, while still maintaining a relationship with them without backing down from our biblical beliefs. Their very lives depend on it!

If you have a child or grandchild involved in sinful activities, it doesn’t make it right. Yes, I know it hurts and it’s painful. Parents often think they need to go along with what their child is doing or risk losing the relationship instead of being godly parents and getting them the emotional, spiritual, and mental help they’re so desperately crying out for, while also praying unceasingly for them. If they were a murderer, and some are, you still love your child, but you don’t decide that murder is acceptable because your child committed it. That applies to any and every sin.

I chose to unconditionally love but never condone. In God’s eyes, all sin is wrong, and all have sinned. Only repentance and asking forgiveness from Jesus for our sins places us in a right relationship with God. Salvation.

We are made right with God by placing our faith in Jesus Christ. And this is true for everyone who believes, no matter who we are. ²³For everyone has sinned; we all fall short of God’s glorious standard. ²⁴Yet God, in his grace, freely makes us right in his sight. He did this through Christ Jesus when he freed us from the penalty for our sins. Romans 3:22-24 NLT

Never Stop Praying!

Declaring God’s Word over your prodigal activates your own faith!

None of us know when Christ is going to return for believers. We watch the prevalent evil today and wonder how long it will be before the Lord says enough. No parent or grandparent wants to have a child or grandchild left behind. That was the urgency I felt when I was praying for my daughter’s salvation. Then I prayed for each of our eleven grandchildren to be saved with the assurance that I would someday see them all again in heaven. Yes, there’s been a few regressions, and I just pray all the harder because I know what God assured me with my daughter: God wants our prodigals back even more than we do!

Don’t give up and let Satan win the spiritual battle for your prodigal’s heart and soul. Though it may seem contradictory, the more rebellious, defiant, stubborn, and argumentative your prodigal becomes, the more you should cling to this hope and encouragement: God is working in his or her heart, and they’re resisting. But that means they haven’t surrendered completely to Satan and are experiencing tormenting guilt. God hasn’t given up and neither should you. There’s still hope.

I know it’s hard to do when your heart is breaking and you don’t see any change in the situation, but never stop praying for your prodigal. Pastor Christmas prayed and interceded for 14 years. I prayed Scripture for six years for my prodigal. Previous blogs from prodigal Alycia Neighbours whose story is in Praying for Your Prodigal Daughter, shared how long her parents prayed for her return: Never Stop Praying for Your Prodigal! and After the Party for the Returning Prodigal.

Alice prayed for 27 years. She said, “It’s all you can do when everything else is out of your control.” In the chapter on Praying Biblically in Praying for Your Prodigal Daughter, Alice told how she prayed Scripturally for her daughter, which is how I prayed for my daughter EVERY DAY! It’s simply personalizing and paraphrasing God’s Word as a prayer back to Him. Here’s an example of how Alice said she prayed Scripture for her prodigal.

“I’ve learned to pray for my daughter by praying back the Scriptures to God. For example, I pray Ezekiel 36:27-29 for Liz’s heart to soften and for her to return home: “God, give my daughter Liz a heart of flesh to replace her heart of stone toward spiritual things. Through Your Spirit, move her to follow Your decrees and carefully keep Your laws. Help Liz to return home Allow her to live in the land You, God, gave to her spiritual forefathers; may she be Your child, may You be her God. Save her from all her uncleanness.”

As another praying mom Suzanne said, “I know God isn’t done with her, and I choose to see her the way He does!”

“Never stop praying!” 1 Thess. 5:17 NLT

Photo Credits: http://www.sharefaith.com

PS Hear the interview I did on Solomon and Jamila Jefferson’s podcast about praying for your prodigals, It’s Not How You Start But How You Finish. click here.

PSS The principles I share in Praying for Your Prodigal Daughter also apply to sons and grandchildren. There are questions at the end of each chapter for use in a Support Group or Bible study group.

PSSS For the week of April 15-21, 2024, signed copies of Praying for Your Prodigal Daughter purchased on our website will be reduced to $10, plus tax and shipping costs. We want to enable you to pray for your prodigals! (If PayPal charges you $18.00, we will credit you back $8.00)

Library Update

VICTORY!! Idaho’s Governor Little signed the Children’s School and Library Protection Act, finally addressing the widespread library porn issue in a meaningful way! It goes into effect this summer so I’ll follow up with our local library to be sure they enforce it.
Gov. Little also signed Bill 538 that bars teachers from referring to a student by a name or pronoun that doesn’t align with their birth sex unless parents consent.
Last month, the governor signed House Bill 668, which blocks the use of public funds for gender-affirming procedures.
Gov. Little also signed House Bill 421. It states, “In human beings, there are two, and only two, sexes: male and female. In no case is an individual’s sex determined by stipulation or self-identification.” Most notably, in addition to ruling that sex and gender were synonymous, this bill “codifies in state law biological definitions for ‘woman,’ ‘man,’ and other sex-based terms, making [Idaho] the fifth to exclude men who identify as women from being legally recognized as female.”

Idaho is on a role! What’s happening in your state?

Please leave a comment here. I always reply!

April 15, 2024

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Raising Kids to Follow Christ: Nurturing Lifelong Faith in a Turbulent World

As you’ve read in my previous blogs and newsletters, I have a heavy burden for protecting our children and grandchildren from the wiles of the evil one. Satan is no longer sneaky and sly in his tactics. He’s open, blatant, and ruthless in going after our children in the schools, libraries, entertainment, games, sports, sexualization, gender confusion, and child-sex trafficking, while liberal “progressive” politicians on the left and media are complicit with the devil’s evil demonic ways. As a grandparent, I find it horrifying to watch the legal system working as accomplices to the breakdown of the family and taking away the rights of loving parents.

Satan had a minor setback with the overturn of Roe v Wade, so he’s now targeting his evil attacks on the children given precious life.

Children Are A Gift From God

Children shine with exceptional and extraordinary worth that exceeds all other God-given blessings. These priceless souls arrive in our arms as eternal treasures bearing the very image of God. As stewards of these divine gifts, we have a duty to equip ourselves for their proper care. It sounds like such a daunting task, and at times, it can seem overwhelming. We need tools and insights steeped in Scripture and spiritual wisdom that will empower us when we feel inadequate to guide our children towards a lifelong commitment to Christ.

The Bible does tell us that parents bear a sacred responsibility when it comes to nurturing children in the ways of the Lord. Joel 1:3 instructs parents to impart the truths of their faith to their children, who in turn, will pass on this sacred legacy to future generations. The Woman to Woman Mentoring Ministry and platform God entrusted me with almost 30 years ago is exemplified in this verse.

Tell your children about it in the years to come,
and let your children tell their children.
Pass the story down from generation to generation. Joel 1:3 NLT

This cyclical transmission of faith serves as the bedrock upon which the continuity of Christianity rests, echoing the Great Commission found in Matthew 28:19–20. Therefore, go and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit. ²⁰Teach these new disciples to obey all the commands I have given you. And be sure of this: I am with you always, even to the end of the age.”

Lee Ann Mancini Wants to Help Parents!

A book from an author friend of mine has come along at the perfect time to help parents and grandparents raise and nurture children for Christ and not the culture. Today’s Monday Morning blog is featuring author Lee Ann Mancini’s new release Raising Kids to Follow Christ: Instilling a Lifelong Trust in God. (No relation to my daughter Kimberly Mancini) Let me share with you some thoughts about Lee Ann’s book because we all have children in our family and community. We all should care about their souls.

Our culture’s current trend toward moral relativism amplifies the urgency of instilling a steadfast faith in our children. Lee Ann Mancini provides the solutions we need in her new parenting guide. Raising Kids to Follow Christ: Instilling a Lifelong Trust in God offers invaluable insights drawn from both scripture and cutting-edge research in childhood spiritual development. As the CEO of Raising Christian Kids and a distinguished professor, Mancini emphasizes the vital role of parental guidance rooted in love and joy, safeguarding children from the perils of faithlessness.

I often ask audiences when I’m speaking on mentoring, “Are you the men and women you want your children to become?” “Do you have the marriage you want your children to have?” “Do you have the faith you want your children to live out?”

Lee Ann also recognizes parents are the primary educators and spiritual mentors in the lives of their children. She stresses that the way we live proves the most significant character lesson we teach. Lee Ann says that our actions and attitudes serve as the blueprint upon which our children model their own beliefs and behaviors. Her book shares insights on how to exemplify a life centered on the Word of God so we can provide a living testimony of Christ’s transformative power. Faithfully measured, our personal steps will lead our children and grandchildren towards a deep and abiding relationship with their Savior.

Lee Ann emphasizes the cornerstone of parental efforts must rest upon the unwavering truth of God’s Word. Just as Jesus is the living Stone chosen by God, so too must His teachings form the solid foundation upon which our children’s, and grandchildren’s, faith is built. Amidst the storms of life, anchored in Christ, they can stand firm unwavering in their devotion to Jesus and unyielding in their faith convictions.

As many of us know so well, the journey of raising children in the faith comes with a myriad of challenges. In a world hostile to Christian values, we must remain vigilant in equipping our children and grandchildren with the spiritual armor of God (Ephesians 6:10-18) necessary to withstand the onslaught of worldly temptations. Through prayer, guidance, and unwavering commitment, we can nurture within them a love for God and His Word thus empowering them to become beacons of light in a world shrouded in darkness.

Lee Ann esteems the calling to raise godly children as sacred, but she also shares her parenting advice with the hope of grace. It is never too early, nor too late, to inspire our children to love Jesus and develop a passion for His Kingdom. With fresh insights and transformative strategies, she welcomes us to embark on a journey of faith, nurturing the next generation of believers and disciples.

Raising Kids to Follow Christ serves as a wise and powerful companion as we navigate parenthood or as grandparents. The crises and shadows of life in this world will threaten to shake its youngest souls. Our children need the hope only Christ can offer. With a strong foundation, this generation can transform the future.

As we embrace our role as stewards of His precious gifts of our children, may we rise to the challenge with unwavering faith and steadfast resolve. We can depend on experts like Lee Ann Mancini to come alongside us in raising kids to follow Christ. Together, we can fulfill our true purpose and enjoy our greatest reward of raising a generation to love and follow Christ Jesus as their personal Savior.

An Overview of the Treasures Found in Raising Kids to Follow Christ.

In Raising Kids to Follow Christ: Instilling a Lifelong Trust in God, Lee Ann Mancini inspires parents, grandparents, teachers, and others to teach their children essential Christian principles to enable them to navigate the world with grace, integrity, and an unbreakable bond with their heavenly Father.

This book goes beyond surface-level advice, delving into the intricate matters of children’s hearts and minds and offering a blueprint for nurturing a deep and unwavering faith in Christ.

Raising Kids to Follow Christ offers:
• Decades of personal experience and training based on key essential principles in Scripture
• Practical strategies for addressing doubts, fears, and questions that arise in today’s culture
• Ways to help children control their emotions and actions in various situations
• Suggestions from some of today’s brightest Christian minds in children’s spirituality
• Empowerment for parents to become their child’s spiritual champion
• Easy-to-understand apologetics for children and adults
• Fun ways to connect your child’s heart to Christ

Raising Kids to Follow Christ is a collaborative journey inviting parents to learn, grow, and flourish alongside their children as they become bold in their witness and committed to their faith rather than the secular culture.

About Lee Ann Mancini

Lee Ann Mancini is the award-winning author and executive producer of the Sea Kids series, which can be viewed on Answers.TV, Pure Flix, Right Now Media, and Minno. Lee Ann earned Master’s degrees in Theological Studies, Christian and Classic Studies, and Biblical and Theological Studies. She serves as an adjunct professor at South Florida Bible College and Theological Seminary and hosts the award-winning podcast, Raising Christian Kids.

Raising Kids to Follow Christ: Instilling a Lifelong Trust in God would make a great Easter or Mother’s Day or Father’s Day or any day gift for the parents in your life. The children of today are the future of tomorrow. Let’s be sure they’re spiritually prepared to win the battle for their souls and for our world.

Please leave a comment here. I always reply.

March 4, 2024

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Once I was Blind, But Now I See!

This week, I’m doing something I occasionally do and that’s promote a movie with a message that everyone needs to see and hear. I’m talking about the movie The Blind in theaters this week. Dave and I went to see it on 9/29 and even though I knew most of the story of Duck Dynasty’s Phil and Kay Robertson, I really didn’t know how bad it was before Jesus came into their life.

Decades before “Duck Dynasty,” Phil and Kay Robertson suffered a stormy early period of ten years in their marriage marred by Phil’s alcohol abuse and infidelity. “The Blind” captures their story of struggle, redemption, and hope.

When we were finding our seats at the theater, I saw a young teenage couple and asked if they knew what the story was about. They smiled and said they did. I told them how happy I was to see them there and that this film was reaching the next generation. After the movie, Dave and I started talking to a couple sitting next to us and discovered we had the same conservative faith beliefs and burden to protect children in our state’s schools and libraries. We were blessed to make new like-minded friends.

Let me backtrack a bit. Dave and I enjoyed watching the Robertson family with their four married sons’ families and Phil’s brother Uncle Si in their Duck Dynasty reality show adventures. That sparked our interest in learning more about them since the whole family was obviously Christian and they weren’t afraid to talk about their faith, Jesus, and family.

After Duck Dynasty ended, many in the Robertson family branched out with other shows, podcasts, books, and ministries.

Dave and I have a remote connection to the Robertson family. Their third son Willie Robertson’s wife Korie is the daughter of John and Chrys Howard owners of the former Howard Publishing that published my first two books, Dear God, They Say It’s Cancer: A Companion Guide for Women on the Breast Cancer Journey and Praying for Your Prodigal Daughter: Hope, Help, & Encouragement for Hurting Parents. The Howards later sold their publishing company to Simon & Schuster, which still publishes those two books.

I never personally met Miss Kay [as she’s fondly called] or Phil Robertson, but they spoke several years ago in Nampa, Idaho and Dave and I attended. Phil is a bold evangelist and speaks freely about his life before Christ and the change accepting Jesus as his Savior made in his life, his marriage, and his family.

Recently, we heard Phil and Miss Kay interviewed by Kirk Cameron on his TBN program Takeaways. They said that their children felt the couple’s early tumultuous marriage years needed telling to share the miraculous transformation Jesus made in Phil’s life and Kay’s belief in him when he was haunted by the demons of alcohol, infidelity, and childhood memories. I don’t want to give away any spoilers because you need to see the movie, but to quote Phil, “You’ve got to come to the end of yourself to find the beginning of God.”

It’s one thing to read and even hear Phil and Miss Kay’s testimony, but to see it visually in this film is indescribable and inspirational. The portrayal of Kay and Phil is raw, open, and vulnerable. They hold nothing back of how bad things were and how good God is. In the Kirk Cameron interview, Phil revealed something I hadn’t heard before that he had learned of fathering a now 45-year-old daughter during his time of infidelity. She’s welcomed into the Robertson clan.

Their son, Willie Robertson, said in an interview with USA Today Network about The Blind, “It’s the early years of their marriage, so it’s gutting and raw. It’s definitely not ‘Duck Dynasty.'”

“It tackles big issues – mental illness, depression, alcohol abuse,” Willie said.

Willie and his wife Korie Robertson produced the movie with their Tread Lively production company.

“Mom and dad have been very public about their early struggles, but seeing it up there on the screen really made it real for all of us,” Willie said. “It’s tough for them to open up that part of their life, but they’ve been willing to do it to try to reach others who are struggling. People see the family and ‘Duck Dynasty’ and think, ‘They have everything,’ but this story illustrates we had hard times like everyone else,” said Willie, who was 2 when his parents separated for a time.

“It’s powerful,” Willie said. “It’s a story of hope and redemption that shows you’re never too far gone to be saved.”

“In this movie, ‘The Blind,’ we let go of everything. We’re telling it,” Miss Kay says.

The 10-year span in The Blind depicts what Phil Robertson himself describes as his wild rebellious years of substance abuse and cheating before turning to God and building the clan’s Duck Commander duck-call manufacturing business into an empire in rural West Monroe.

Why would the Robertson’s be so open, vulnerable, and transparent about such a dark time in their life? Because they care more about saving lives than saving their reputation. Their testimony is one of redemption, love, and forgiveness. A wife who didn’t give up hope for her husband and a Jesus who can save even the most despicable wayward person. A testimony shared to bring others to Jesus.

It’s not about how bad you were, it’s about how good God is! He goes after the one that was lost even though 99 are saved. Which gives each of us hope for those we think will never change their life. If God could turn heathen Phil into an evangelist, he can and will save anyone who surrenders his or her life to Jesus Christ and seeks forgiveness for their sins.

“What do you think? If a man owns a hundred sheep, and one of them wanders away, will he not leave the ninety-nine on the hills and go to look for the one that wandered off? ¹³And if he finds it, truly I tell you, he is happier about that one sheep than about the ninety-nine that did not wander off. Matt. 18:12-13

Why Share Our Testimony?

And this is the testimony: God has given us eternal life, and this life is in his Son. Whoever has the Son has life; whoever does not have the Son of God does not have life. —1 John 5:11-12

But as for me, how good it is to be near God! I have made the Sovereign Lord my shelter, And I will tell everyone about the wonderful things you do. —Ps. 73:28 NLT

There’s no greater witness to God’s goodness than sharing what He’s done in your life. No one can question your testimony because it’s your personal experience. As we mature spiritually, we move beyond just remembering God’s goodness for our own benefit and start retelling our testimony to help others just like Phil and Kay have done.

We all have varied life testimonies in addition to our salvation testimony. Some of you have heard my “Feed my Sheep” testimony. If not, you can read a little here. I never tire of telling my story as History.

You may not think you have a testimony if you’ve been a Christian most of your life and life has gone smoothly. You can’t relate to Kay and Phil’s story or maybe even mine. God has been walking beside you guiding your life every step of the way. But that’s your testimony to others who worry about losing something by turning their lives over to God. You’re a living example of how good God really is!

Maybe you’re stumbling under the burden of a hidden past you’ve been too embarrassed to talk about and hope will never be revealed. Now may be the time to deal with those buried hurts and hang-ups. Like Phil and me, once they’re out in the open, Satan can’t use them against you anymore.

When I felt God leading me to write Praying for Your Prodigal Daughter, I had to ask my daughter if she was okay with me revealing the prodigal time in her life before she accepted Christ as her Savior. I assured her that I would also be sharing how I was a prodigal raising a prodigal.

I write her response in the Acknowledgments: “My dearest Kim, you will always be my “baby. To share our story, to bare our souls, is no little thing. I admire and celebrate the beautiful, humble, and courageous Christian woman you have become. When I shared my vision for this book, you were on board and willing to let me expose our lives on these pages, all for the glory of God. That’s no small concession, since our life together has had many twists and turns—some we regret and others we celebrate. I thank God for making both our paths straight. We were lost and now we’re found. I love you baby.”

Kim told me, “Mom, if we can help one daughter and her parents, we need to share our story.” Kim also writes in the book what she was feeling and thinking during her prodigal years.

God redeems your story by surrounding you with people who need to hear your past so it doesn’t become their future. Like Phil and Kay’s testimony and Kim’s and mine, it’s the opportunity to give purpose to a crisis.

You might not make a movie, write a book, or tell your testimony from a stage, but God will bring people across your path and the Holy Spirit will prompt you to share. Every day, you encounter opportunities to share your testimony, and every time you tell it, you’ll remember how good God has been to you.

Revealing is the first step to healing!

Just like Phil’s spiraling down and my backsliding years, our testimony isn’t about how bad we were. Our message is the redemption and forgiveness available through our initial salvation or a rededication to Jesus Christ.

When people ask me how I made it through life’s difficulties, the best answer is, “I couldn’t have done it without God.” That’s your best answer too. It opens the door to share your story. By the way, your story doesn’t have to have a “happy ending” like the Robertson’s or mine for you to share it.

Your story becomes your testimony when the focus is on God, not on you. It’s not a time to tell someone else’s story. Stick to details that pertain to you and those willing to let you include them in your story.

When anyone tells me about an encounter with God, or a memorable circumstance in his or her life, I always ask if they’re writing it down because God is going to use it as a life-experience testimony. My ministry tagline is “Sharing Life Experiences and God’s Faithfulness.”

I’m reminded of the Apostle Paul [formerly Saul], a persecutor of Christians before he was struck blind by the Lord on the road to Damascus in Acts 9:1:1-18.

So Ananias went and found Saul. He laid his hands on him and said, “Brother Saul, the Lord Jesus, who appeared to you on the road, has sent me so that you might regain your sight and be filled with the Holy Spirit.” Instantly something like scales fell from Saul’s eyes, and he regained his sight. Then he got up and was baptized.

Later in Acts 22:1-16, Paul told his testimony of transformation from being an enemy and persecutor of Christians to an evangelist sharing the Gospel.

As I watched in The Blind, Phil Robertson’s retreat into the forest almost living like an animal during his darkest times, I was reminded of the story of King Nebuchadnezzar’s testimony of living like a wild animal until he also surrendered to God (Daniel 4:1-37).

At the closing of The Blind movie, they showed comments on the screen. One was what Miss Kay said to the former pastor of the West Monroe White’s Ferry Church of Christ who visited Phil in Junction City during his darkest hour, planting a seed that eventually sprouted. Kay said to the pastor, “If you can help save Phil, he will go on to help save thousands.” Which Phil certainly has done!

While many may know of Phil’s tenaciously outspoken faith now, they may not know the hard and twisting road he walked before surrendering to Jesus. The title “The Blind is a play on words and refers both to, “I was blind, but now I see” (John 9:25), and to a shelter that conceals duck hunters called “the blind.“

“I think maybe if these people watch the movie and see how I was, and then they look at me now and see how I operate, [it will give them hope],” Mr. Robertson said. “You got to remember all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God so I’m not the only person that has sinned. The way out is faith in Jesus Christ.”

“I would have never dreamed I would be out there preaching the gospel of Jesus Christ when I was back there getting drunk as a skunk,” he continued. “But when that happened and I was freed from it, [everything changed]. That’s why I’ve been saying ever since that happened and I came to Jesus [what God can do].”

“Our prayer is that people will see the movie and know there’s hope. It’s never too late to be saved.”

“Jesus—that one sacrifice—has made perfect, forever, those who come to Him. If you just think about it, His blood gives us the opportunity to move beyond our sinful self,” Mr. Robertson said. “What do you get when He shows up, when you come to Him by faith? Love, joy, peace, patience…. It’s well worth the effort to follow Jesus faithfully.”

Amen!

If you didn’t receive my September newsletter, here’s the link. I would encourage you to read it.

Some of the “Why Share Your Testimony” discussion above is from my book Forsaken God? Remembering the Goodness of God Our Culture Has Forgotten.

Please leave a comment here. I reply to all comments.

October 2, 2023

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Truth is Love! Not Sharing Truth is Hate!

Christians know that God and His Word is our ultimate source of truth, victory, justice, and freedom! When we remain close to Him, we operate out of each of those realms, but when we distance ourselves from God, even as Christians, we falter.

Sadly, we’re living in a country with a culture that is determined to distance actions, accountability, laws, behavior, and morals as far away from God’s Truth as possible causing us all to suffer the consequences, even in the church.

To silence Christians, Satan is using the tactic of calling the speaking of truth hate speech and yet sharing the Truth of the Gospel is the most loving thing anyone can do to help someone experience eternal life and not eternal hell.

Sadly, many pastors today are afraid of the truth and so avoid even talking about the downfall of our culture that is being imposed on congregants as well as innocent children. They’ve forgotten that their role is to speak truth to power and protect their congregation from falling into the trap of accepting sinful lifestyles as normal. Speaking the truth is not hate, it’s love and every pastor’s assignment from God.

¹¹So Christ himself gave the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, the pastors and teachers, ¹²to equip his people for works of service, so that the body of Christ may be built up ¹³until we all reach unity in the faith and in the knowledge of the Son of God and become mature, attaining to the whole measure of the fullness of Christ. Eph. 4:11-13

I find it interesting and a little disconcerting that some politicians and grassroots activists’ groups are more willing to speak the truth than many pastors.

Kirk Cameron, actor and Christian children’s book author, spoke the truth that what the transgender activists did at the White House is not brave — in contrast to the words of the President, who characterized it as such. “That’s an abomination,” said Cameron, and a “disservice and disrespectful to the brave men and women [who fought] on the beaches of Normandy [June 6, 1944,]” he added, including his own grandfather — who was a Navy corpsman during World War II. “Bravery is a call to courage to do the right thing, not to violate morality and undermine the very foundations of America.”

Following are others who spoke out against the pornographic display of promiscuity and sexual perversion entertained by the President at the White House during a “Pride” event last week where the gay flag was displayed prominently, in breach of the US Flag Code, between two American flags and Biden said that men dressing up as women were the bravest people he’s ever known?! The military, police officers, fire fighters, first responders, and even his own Secret Service aren’t the bravest people he knows. No, in his deceived mind and soul he gives that distinction to depraved men sexually cavorting and flashing on the White House lawn.

“I’m livid and incensed by this White House, not only for the kids present at this event, but the message this sends to children across the country. Biden’s disregard for commonsense and protocol is deeply troubling. This obscenity is never acceptable, let alone at the White House that belongs to the people.” Sen. Tim Scott, R-S.C.

“This is yet another example of the radical left shoving trans propaganda in the face of the American people. In our schools, at the White House, where does it end? The fact that this happened on White House grounds makes Biden look like the real boob.” Conservative radio host and former California gubernatorial candidate Larry Elder

Following is one of my favorite quotes because it states the truth so clearly and lovingly!

“When someone says they’re trans, it usually means something else is badly wrong in their life. Confirming the confusion isn’t compassion, it’s cruelty. Joe Biden is celebrating that cruelty. Let’s abandon the farce that the ‘humane’ thing to do is to affirm their confusion, rather than to actually help. It’s inhumane.” Businessman Vivek Ramaswamy, Republican Presidential candidate

After the White House agreed that topless trans activists were “inappropriate and disrespectful” and would not be invited back to the White House, Florida Governor Ron DeSantis also asked why anyone would want to have that kind of curriculum “jammed into a second-grader’s classroom?”

Quotes above are from GOP candidates condemn Biden for illicit mishap during White House Pride event: ‘Very revealing’

Here’s What Parents’ Rights Groups are Saying!

“I agree with Gov. DeSantis in his analogy to his parental rights bill,” Sheri Few, president and founder of United States Parents Involved in Education said. “If it is inappropriate for adults, why then is it OK for children? The same can be said for the pornographic and vulgar books in government schools that are being objected to by parents across the country. I believe Pride celebrations, with their lascivious and drunken displays, are a true reflection of the mental health issues that accompany this often promiscuous lifestyle. Attempting to make ‘LGBTQ Pride’ palatable for children is merely another way to indoctrinate children with the Leftist agenda.”

Parents’ Rights In Education Executive Director Suzanne Gallagher said, “Public display of nudity at the national capital, and elsewhere by extreme far left LGBTQAI+ activists is an extension of their larger agenda. It is the goal of the far left to change the culture, by removing all sexual moral stigma. They are doing so by using public schools and mandating K-12 comprehensive – every child, every grade, every subject – sexuality education.”

“The nationwide response we are receiving regarding this trend, promoting and demanding acceptance of all sexual behaviors at any age with anyone, is negative,” Gallagher added. “Most people want higher, not lower, moral standards for themselves and their kids.”

“Parents and allies are tired of seeing and hearing it everywhere, every day,” she added. “Students are done with it in their schools, too. Polls show the net effect is less, rather than more, respect for those demanding it.”

CEO of American Family Association Action, Walker Wildmon said, “Our nation was built on a respect for biblical morality and decency with immoral behavior discouraged and even outlawed in many cases. It is sad that what was once deemed indecent behavior that brought about shame is now being flaunted by the president and other leaders in our government. Our nation must return to a biblical ethic of family where we promote that which is truly good and acceptable.”

Amen!

Quotes above are from Parents’ rights groups slam WH over topless trans activists at Pride event: ‘I agree with Gov. DeSantis’ The White House acknowledged topless transgender activists at the Pride event were ‘inappropriate’

What Are You Hearing in Your Churches?

Did you hear any of the above condemnations of the “Pride” or left agenda from the pulpit on Sunday? I hope so because weak pulpits create weak Christians who allow and maybe even justify elicit behavior from our White House to our classrooms. I’m here to tell you that is NOT what God wants or Jesus would tolerate. That is NOT love!

I know your grief when family or friends are influenced by this, or any, evil agenda. But just because they’re our loved ones doesn’t make their sinful confused choices or skewed definition of truth or love acceptable or any less sinful.

Love doesn’t affirm lies or deprecate truth.

Love doesn’t compromise the truth because sin destroys. Instead, you must worship Christ as Lord of your life. And if someone asks about your hope as a believer, always be ready to explain it. 1 Peter 3:15 NLT

Love corrects. For the Lord corrects those he loves, just as a father corrects a child in whom he delights. Pr. 3:12 NLT

Maybe you’ve heard the argument, like I did, of using Matthew 19:12 to justify gay or trans lifestyles. “For there are eunuchs who were born that way,” insinuating I guess that some are born as gay or trans. But eunuch here refers to being born impotent, not sexual preference.

It’s important to look at the rest of the verse as we can never take Scripture out of context, “and there are eunuchs who have been made eunuchs by others . . .” Sadly, that’s the evil happening today with children being castrated either with drugs or surgery.

Eunuchs were often male servants castrated in biblical times by those in power over them, so the men couldn’t have sex with the women in their household or royal entourage. It didn’t mean it was a good or justified mutilation just because it’s in the Bible. The Bible exposes many evil practices.

The remainder of the verse continues, “and there are those who choose to live like eunuchs for the sake of the kingdom of heaven. The one who can accept this should accept it.” That meant those choosing to live in celibacy, maybe like Catholic priests and nuns today, or even those who are tempted to be gay but stay celibate and don’t give in to their sinful lustful temptations.

Interestingly, Jesus’s timing right after Matthew 19:12 are the following verses titled “The Little Children and Jesus.” ¹³Then people brought little children to Jesus for him to place his hands on them and pray for them. But the disciples rebuked them. Jesus said, “Let the little children come to me, and do not hinder them, for the kingdom of heaven belongs to such as these.” ¹⁵When he had placed his hands on them, he went on from there. Matt. 19:13-15

Here’s my point: Just because someone we love is living a sinful lifestyle doesn’t make it right. Believe me, I understand because I’ve been there. My daughter and I wrote about this in Praying for Your Prodigal Daughter; Hope, Help & Encouragement for Hurting Parents. Because we love our child, relative, or friend, we pray their eyes will open to the truth and they’ll no longer be blinded by Satan’s lies. Gay or trans was not the issue I prayed daily from Scripture for my daughter, although there are stories in the book of other mother’s praying against that sinful lifestyle.

I loved my daughter enough to NOT want her spending eternity in hell but instead to be in heaven with me someday. I wanted her to know Jesus personally and how He wanted her to live. So, I loved her unconditionally, but never condoned her living with her boyfriend. Today, that would seem like a minor sin, but as we know, there’s no minor sins. Even though living together unmarried has become normalized by culture, and even some churches, it’s still a sin in God’s eyes.

We’ve watched how far culture has fallen as to what’s ‘acceptable.’ Now we’re all exposed to a federally imposed month dedicated to celebrating perverted sexual sin from the streets, schools, and the Peoples’ House, the White House. Children are literally taught about sexual perversion as early as kindergarten!!

I said last week in Why The Serpent Is Still Going After Women, that Satan knows NO boundaries. God is giving us a glimpse of what the tribulation will look like after the rapture. He continues to provide more time for the church and Christians to care and love enough to share the Truth with everyone we know who has not committed their entire life to Jesus or is living in willful sin. Because as bad as it is now, it will be like this on steroids during the tribulation and who would want a loved one living through that hell on earth?!

Who do you love enough to share the Truth with today? Don’t wait for your pastor to give you the marching orders, Jesus already has. Remember: Truth is Love; Not Sharing the Truth is Hate.

²²And you must show mercy to those whose faith is wavering. ²³Rescue others by snatching them from the flames of judgment. Show mercy to still others, but do so with great caution, hating the sins that contaminate their lives. Jude 22-23 NLT

³¹Jesus said to the people who believed in him, “You are truly my disciples if you remain faithful to my teachings. ³²And you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.” John 8:31-32 NLT

But Romans 1:18-32 plainly states the fate of those who will encounter God’s wrath if they continue living a perverted sexual or sinful lifestyle. “²⁴So God abandoned them to do whatever shameful things their hearts desired. As a result, they did vile and degrading things with each other’s bodies. ²⁵They traded the truth about God for a lie.”

Do you love someone enough to pray daily for them to avoid this fate? I hope so. I’m so glad I never stopped praying for my daughter, and she’s glad too!

PS: After I had already written this blog, a friend sent me the link to a sermon by Pastor Gary Hamrick of Cornerstone Chapel, Leesburg, VA, titled “A Biblical Response to the ‘Transing of America–Romans 1:18-28.” Pastor Hamrick boldly, bravely, and lovingly says so much of what I wrote above and in previous blogs. This is a pastor not afraid to share the truth with his flock! I hope you’ll listen to Pastor Hamrick, who tells a very interesting and revealing story of a trans man visiting his church.

“It is not loving to affirm a lie.” Pastor Gary Hamrick

If you received this blog by email, please leave a comment on the website here. I reply to all comments. While scrolling Facebook, I saw this meme that summarizes everything I just said in this blog pretty well.

June 19, 2023

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What Is the Biblical Truth Behind Genders and Their Roles in Society?—Part 1

When I started writing, I had so much to say, or I should clarify the Bible has so much to say, and I wanted to include evolving current events . . . I decided to break this blog into two parts. So, we’ll get started this week and finish with Part 2 in next Monday’s blog.

Today’s liberal culture is trying to blur the lines between genders by encouraging young children to be discontent with the way God created them. There’s a small but vocal demonic force attempting to cancel and silence anyone who says the truth that men cannot be women and women cannot be men. No matter how many surgeries or hormones someone takes or how they dress in the opposite gender’s clothes, men are still men and women are still women.

Not that long ago, those wouldn’t be controversial statements, but because the alphabet community has tried to legitimize a Sodom and Gomorrah culture, young children are victimized with false and explicit sexual indoctrination and grooming with the legal approval of many city, state, school, and government officials.

Pornography is now included in school curriculum and flaunted in libraries. There was a time when those with child pornography on their computer were arrested as pedophiles, but now perverted men dressed outrageously as women can provocatively dance and gyrate in front of young children and anyone who complains is canceled or called intolerant or even a “hater.”

But complain we must regardless of what names we’re called or lies said about us. God is clear that we shouldn’t tolerate perversion. We should hate the sexualization of young children and we should protect them!
⁶“If anyone causes one of these little ones—those who believe in me—to stumble, it would be better for them to have a large millstone hung around their neck and to be drowned in the depths of the sea. ⁷Woe to the world because of the things that cause people to stumble! Such things must come, but woe to the person through whom they come! Matt. 18:6-7

Let those who love the Lord hate evil, for he guards the lives of his faithful ones and delivers them from the hand of the wicked. Ps. 97:10

Here are some of the books that Gov. Ron DeSantis was criticized by the left for pulling from Florida schools and are widely distributed in other state schools and libraries like in California. Are they in your children’s schools or libraries too?

Gender Queer: A Memoir – an explicitly pornographic book showing sex acts and marketed for grades 7-12.
Flamer – a graphic book about young boys engaging in various sexual acts at a summer camp.
This Book Is Gay – a book containing instructions on “the ins and outs of gay sex.”
Let’s Talk About It – a book that contains graphic depictions about how to masturbate for males and females — as well as encouraging youth to use the internet to talk to strangers about sex.

Are you shocked? I hope so! These sexually explicit and graphic books encourage children to talk to strangers and seek out more sexual information and connections on the internet! Others tell them to keep secrets from their parents. Yes, these are in public schools and libraries!!

Libraries and schools used to be a safe neutral space for children, but no longer. Many Democrat progressive liberal librarians, teachers, and school board councils are adopting evil deviant propaganda, curriculum, and policies to inflict on innocent children. But praise God for those Governors, parents, child-protection advocates like California Reform, Christians, pastors, and even some celebrities willing to confront evil with good.

Christian actor and author Kirk Cameron’s children’s book “As You Grow” is about the fruit of the spirit: But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, ²³gentleness and self-control. Against such things there is no law. (Gal. 5:22-23).

So the protests and pushback against him reading his book in libraries is satanic because who else wouldn’t want children to know about those virtues? You can read here about the harassment he and Missy Robertson from Duck Dynasty, who also has a Christian children’s book, received at a library in Tennessee. A few days later in Arkansas, ghoulish dressed drag queens attended a library reading event to interrupt Cameron and harass those attending.

Cameron, who was turned down by 50 libraries, some of which hosted drag queen story hours, labeled the disruptors as a “small group of protesters, which included some grown men wearing silly makeup, dressed in skirts and heels, pretending to be women.”

Brave Books chief of staff Zac Bell said, “In coming to Fayetteville, Arkansas we expected to get a ton of supportive Christian and conservative families to show up. What we did not expect was for a group of drag queens and activists to attend and walk up and down the event giving the children in attendance the creeps.”

Christian Chaya Raichik, creator of “LibsOfTikTok” which exposes the liberal TikTok videos especially of teachers, also authored a Christian children’s book “No More Secrets: The Candy Cavern.” She planned a story hour in New York as a rival event to New York lawmakers, including Attorney General Letitia James,’ drag queen family story hour on Sunday March 19 sponsored by “The Pride Center of Staten Island, Queens Public Library, Brooklyn Public Library, and Destination Tomorrow, a grassroots, LGBTQ event.”

To advertise her family story event, Chaya tweeted on her LibsOfTikTok account the website to her publisher Brave Books (also the publisher of Kirk Cameron’s book) and added, “Help kids be able to spot predatory behavior. Such an important message!”

James’ drag story event went on as scheduled, but Chaya’s publisher canceled her story hour due to threats of “inappropriate and unsafe behavior” of protestors planning to attend. Brave Books felt with children being involved “we don’t want to take any chances.”

These disturbed twisted protestors aren’t happy just having their own inappropriate events. No, they want to prevent appropriate events from offering wholesome family experiences. So, for anyone defending the trans and drag agenda, think about that for a moment.

The Truth is Never Afraid of Lies, but a Lie Can’t Survive the Truth!

I recently heard a pastor say, “Speak the truth. Don’t leave your faith at the curb!”

Don’t be silent when confronted with lies. Now is the time to speak truth to evil as those subverting righteousness try to silence us. If Christians ever stop speaking The Truth, our society will quickly crumble. In our own state of Idaho, it’s been the pastors and Christians of the Advocacy Values Council who’ve taken the lead in being present and vocal in stopping absurdities like trying to kill unborn babies, letting men invade the privacy of girl’s bathrooms, or mutilating young children in local hospitals.

One of the things I do when asked to fill out a form, maybe at a doctors’ office or an enrollment form, if it lists more than male or female as selections (like the opening picture), I let them know that’s offensive to me and remind them that there are only two genders. I do the same thing if the form asks what pronouns I want. Often, I’m told it was some new electronic form and they didn’t even know other options were listed and they’ll register my complaint.

We must diligently work to combat the agenda of the current administration. Biden called it “sinful” that Governor DeSantis is prohibiting gender mutilation of minors in Florida and Biden’s male dressed as a woman Assistant Secretary for Health for the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) Richard Levine promised that medically changing kids’ genders will soon be normalized and has the highest support of the Biden Administration!

I hope you’re saying with me, “Not on my watch as long as God gives me breath!”

So, what’s the biblical truth behind gender roles? Next week, we’ll take a close look at Scriptures that provide truth for you to share from God’s perspective when faced with cultural lies and distortion.

We can’t lose hope, but we do need to pushback against the lies of the devil.

We can do all things through Christ who gives us strength and courage!

May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace as you trust in him, so that you may overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit. Romans 15:13

But remember . . .

Cast all your anxiety on him because he cares for you.

⁸Be alert and of sober mind. Your enemy the devil prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour. ⁹Resist him, standing firm in the faith, because you know that the family of believers throughout the world is undergoing the same kind of sufferings. 1 Peter 5:7-9

If you received this blog by email, please leave a comment here. I appreciate hearing from you.

Note: After this blog published, Breitbart posted a more complete article about Kirk Cameron’s story hour at the library in Arkansas. The article was titled “Former Transgender Person Reads Anti-Trans Book to 500, Including Men In Drag: ‘I Want Kids to Hear The Truth'” . I’ll be writing more about this in next week’s Part 2 blog. But I encourage you to go to the link now and see the pictures, video, and more of Kirk Cameron’s comments and those of this brave former transgender woman, Laura Perry Smalts, who tells her story of how faith had a huge effect on her journey of loving herself the way God made her as she reads her book Elephants Are Not Birds.

March 20, 2023

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When Did Bible-Believing Christians Start Being Labeled “Right Wing”?

The title of my September AHW Ministries newsletter’s opening article is “Lord, Bring Our Prodigals Home!” I wrote that article because of the recent interest and activity around a book I wrote almost fifteen years ago as a memoir of being a prodigal mom raising a prodigal daughter, Praying for Your Prodigal Daughter: Hope, Help & Encouragement for Hurting Parents. My daughter Kim shares her journey during that time too and each chapter also includes the story of other moms with a prodigal daughter and some of those daughters share their story.

The key to praying for my prodigal I discovered was praying and personalizing Scripture. Praying God’s Word back to Him for my daughter. Instead of just praying my will, I prayed for His will in her life. The back of the book has a section 40 Days of Praying Scripture for Your Daughter and this can also be applied to prodigal sons or grandchildren.

In the past few months, the Lord has brought Praying for Your Prodigal Daughter to my attention in a variety of ways. One of the contributing mothers in the book sent me a praise for her daughter’s return to the Lord and to her family after 10 years of praying. A few days later, another mother emailed me that she had just read the book and it was helping her in communicating with her daughter. Sales on the book have suddenly increased noticeably. A couple who has a podcast, “It’s Not How You Start But How You Finish,” contacted me for an interview on the book, which you can listen to here.

Again, I hope you’ll read the full article in my AHW Ministries newsletter of what God is doing with this book and listen to the podcast because I don’t want to repeat it all here for those of you who already read my newsletter. If you don’t receive my newsletter, you can sign up on my website or let me know and we’ll sign you up.

But here’s what I do want to talk about in this blog. Praying for Your Prodigal Daughter has been out since January 2008, so I hadn’t looked for a long time at the comments on Amazon. I’m not an author that is always checking my reviews because I’m usually on to writing the next book or article, but with all the activity lately, I decided to take a look. God wanted me to see a comment which was right on top.

At first, I chuckled, but then I was sad for the mother. It was the best “worst” review I’d ever had.

The reviewer returned the book, gave me only 1 star, and headed her comment “This book is for the deeply and devoted right wing Christians.” This was startling since it was my first time being referred to as a “right-wing” Christian. I’m always clear that I’m a Bible-believing Christian and in today’s culture that can set you apart because anyone can say they’re a Christian, but fewer and fewer people are connecting Christianity with the Bible and that’s a real travesty.

Here’s the first paragraph of the reader’s comment. I would encourage you to go to the page on Amazon if you want to read the remainder because it makes it even clearer why she thought my book was only for the deeply devout Christian and yet I ask: how can you be a Christian and not be devout?

“I have no judgment for the author or the tone of this book. For Christians who are devoted to God and extreme in their beliefs, this book is for them. My own struggles with my prodigal daughter led me to buy the book with hope to help guide me through my pain. However, the book is not so much about daughters coming home to their family as it is daughters coming home to Jesus. Over and over again, the dilemma was about the prodigal daughter coming back to Jesus and religion.”

I was elated that she got my point in the book that the answer to any prodigal’s life-changing return is first their return to Jesus! But I was deflated that she rejected this truth as too “right wing.” She added the term “religion,” but I talk about a relationship with Jesus NOT a religion.

My Thoughts on Being Called Right-Wing Christians

I don’t receive or acknowledge “right wing” as an acceptable term for Christians. I find it offensive to make it sound like we’re eccentric or on the edge to be extremely in love with Jesus and the inerrant Word of God, the Bible!

I don’t accept “Cultural Christian” or “Progressive Christian” as a description for any Christian because you’re either with the culture or with Christ. There’s no in between. The Bible is clear that we will have to be in the world while we’re alive, but we must not become of the world. Christ came to change the culture and turn people away from sin, not embrace sin as acceptable because it makes them feel good.

Christ came to make us holy NOT happy! What so many don’t understand is that when you let go of the secular culture and grab the hand of Jesus, you will be happy for eternity.

¹⁴I have given them your word. And the world hates them because they do not belong to the world, just as I do not belong to the world. ¹⁵I’m not asking you to take them out of the world, but to keep them safe from the evil one. ¹⁶They do not belong to this world any more than I do. ¹⁷Make them holy by your truth; teach them your word, which is truth. John 17:14-17 NLT

I had a Facebook “conversation” where someone told me God did not create her or the climate. So I asked well then who did? She said that I needed to study biology instead of the Bible, which she referred to as “fantasy.” I said, well one thing the Bible and biology both agree on is that we’re all going to die and I know where I’m going to spend eternity. Do you know where you’re going when you die? The conversation ended.

The Bible tells us this world is but a bleep in the big picture of our life. Attempting to be a Christian who thinks that Jesus died on the Cross so that we could keep on sinning because He loves us so much or that the Bible doesn’t apply to today’s world is left-wing, wrong-wing, believing Satan-infused-demonic wing progressive lies and rationalizations.

Every Christian must make the decision to remain Christ-like and be a Bible-Believer no matter what names they call you. In fact, if someone isn’t calling you a name in today’s culture, you might not be wearing Jesus on your sleeve, and I’m not talking about a t-shirt.

Christians are not left wing or right wing, we’re under Jesus’s wing!

He will cover you with his feathers. He will shelter you with his wings. His faithful promises are your armor and protection. Ps. 91:4 NLT

In Praying for Your Prodigal Daughter, my daughter, Kim, came to the realization that being a Christian cannot be inherited or passed down through your family. Living in a Christian family doesn’t make you a Christian. It educates you and certainly wraps you in Christian love, but choosing Christ as your Lord and Savior is an individual decision only you can make.

Kim wrote about an experience she had in the Bible-based premarital course Dave and I gave her and Toby as an engagement gift, which they didn’t appreciate, but that is where they were both saved!

“Pastor Pete made it clear we couldn’t get to heaven on our parents’ faith—something I had been counting on—it had to be our own personal decision and relationships with Christ. That really got us thinking. I know that because we committed our lives to Christ, God has blessed our marriage.”

You’re either Holy Spirit-filled, or you’re not. I think God is putting the pressure on currently for the true Bible-believing Christians to step forward. The words I wrote in Praying for Your Prodigal Daughter, still ring true today because they were based on the premise that Jesus is the Only way, a truth that never changes.

And this is my prayer: that your love may abound more and more in knowledge and depth of insight, so that you may be able to discern what is best and may be pure and blameless for the day of Christ, filled with the fruit of righteousness that comes through Jesus Christ—to the glory and praise of God. Phil. 1:9-11

Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever. Hebrews 13:8

Note: Dave and I saw the movie SuperSpreader about worship leader Sean Feucht’s journey in starting the ministry Let Us Worship during a time when Covid was closing churches and not allowing people to sing in church. A powerful movie only in theaters until 10/6 so I hope you’ll find out where it’s playing in your area. Sean lives out Isaiah 6:8

Then I heard the Lord asking, “Whom should I send as a messenger to this people? Who will go for us?”

I said, “Here I am. Send me.” (NLT)

My book Praying for Your Prodigal Daughter is also available on my website signed and personalized.

If you received this blog by email, please leave a comment here.

I apologize if you receive an email of this blog twice, but we’re having problems with MailChimp our delivery mechanism and it didn’t send out the blog to the majority of our mailing list the day it posted so we’re reposting it again.

October 3, 2022

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How Can We Have Hope During Times of Crisis?

As I sat in the swing on our deck one early morning last week, sipping coffee and drinking in the serene beauty of the forest where we live, my mind and prayers were consumed by the horrors of what our country has done in Afghanistan. I was safe and comfortable while thousands of people were living in fear for their life and praying they aren’t discovered and killed before somehow they miraculously can escape. Honestly, I had little hope for them if they were depending on our government to save them.

How could they trust the same bungling American government that put them in these dire circumstances in the first place?!

I’ve felt the heavy burden in my last two blogs to awaken those whom they might reach to the evil being unleashed not only in our country, but in the world, How Does God Define Evil vs Good? How Do You? and Take the Spiritual Battle Seriously, Don’t Become a Casualty. We carry on with our daily life, which we must, but the Bible warns, “Be alert and of sober mind. Your enemy the devil prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour.” 1 Peter 5:8

For the Afghani Christians and underground churches, they know their only hope is in the Lord. If He chooses that this is the time for them to meet Him face-to-face, then perhaps it’s God sparing them for glory and not the gory fate awaiting them from an evil regime that Biden just handed them over to after twenty years, while he went on “vacation”!

It’s hard to process the incompetence and inaptitude in our government and military leaders right now. How could they have so misjudged what would happen so quickly? How could they leave behind in harm’s way Americans, interpreters, and Afghan nationals who helped our military? Not to mention abandoning all our weapons and military bases? What was their end game? Why?

Watching the chaotic fiasco that has just occurred on the world stage, one that impacts our allies as well as the Afghanis, how can we trust our own government about anything? They’ve created a crisis at the southern border, lawlessness in our streets, wokeness instead of greatness, inflation, racial division, Marxist Critical Race Theory in our schools, and used a virus as a weapon to try and force Americans to forfeit our autonomy and freedoms.

When you look at the pictures of the packed cargo planes and crowds in Afghanistan, do you see anyone aside from a few reporters in masks? Those people are running for their lives and social distancing and Covid rules are the last thing on their mind.

When you see the pictures of the hordes of people coming across our southern borders are they wearing masks or vaccinated? Was anyone wearing a mask, showing vaccine papers, or social distancing at Obama’s huge birthday party? NO!

When the elites are caught enjoying life without a mask, or ignoring their own rules, you know it’s because they must know the masks don’t really work! Yet they want to mask our precious children in school! Vaccinated people are still getting Covid!?

I had to go to a hospital last week for a bone density test. When we walked in, we were handed a paper mask and told that we had to wear their mask, even though we had our own masks. When we questioned why we couldn’t wear our own masks, no one could explain why. Their only answer, “It’s the rules. Wear our mask or leave!”

Can you remember when we had outbreaks of the flu virus? BTW whatever happened to the flu? The flu hospitalized some, and yes there were deaths, but we didn’t all wear masks. Vaccines were available to those who wanted them, but they were optional and even if you got one, you were told they didn’t cover all the variants of flu. Schools, churches, and businesses weren’t closed. Life went on. People took precautions but there was medicine available if you did get the flu and there’s medicine for treatment of Covid too, but it’s being sequestered by the government. Why?

I’m going to make one more point that’s been on my mind. Israel had the strictest lockdowns, masks and vaccine mandates, and yet had extremely high cases of Covid and when the Delta variant came around, Israel had one of the worst outbreaks. Same thing with draconian controlled blue states and yet many red states that let their citizens make their own choices had lower numbers then and now! We’re being played because hyperbole and fear lead to control, dominance, and acquiescence . . . if we let it.

There are so many issues today that could divide us, let’s not let Covid be one of them. If you want to wear a mask or get the vaccine, it should be a choice. Prayerfully do your own research, don’t accept what you hear or read. Just remember that statistics can be manipulated and reported to prove any outcome desired. Every time I hear the word “mandate” arbitrarily being imposed on our citizens, I cringe.

Many will disagree with me, and again, that’s you’re right, but the more freedoms we give up the less we are “the land of the free.”

It might not be a matter of conscience for you, but it is for the other person. For why should my freedom be limited by what someone else thinks? 1 Cor. 10:29 NLT

⁴⁰A man with leprosy came and knelt in front of Jesus, begging to be healed. “If you are willing, you can heal me and make me clean,” he said.

⁴¹Moved with compassion,^[a] Jesus reached out and touched him. “I am willing,” he said. “Be healed!” Mark 1:40-41

What’s In Our Future?

Hal Lindsey, author of The Late Great Planet Earth, wrote in his newsletter this week, “The US debacle in Afghanistan is further destabilizing an already unstable world. In other words, planet earth is being rapidly prepared for the coming leader known as Antichrist.”

To those of us who believe that Christians and the church will be raptured before the Antichrist comes on the scene this actually gives us hope that Jesus will be returning soon!

It couldn’t be far off when you see the emerging attempts that seem so much like the mark of the beast when places like New York City are requiring vaccine proof to eat in restaurants and go to indoor public events, even gyms!

¹⁵The second beast was given power to give breath to the image of the first beast, so that the image could speak and cause all who refused to worship the image to be killed. ¹⁶It also forced all people, great and small, rich and poor, free and slave, to receive a mark on their right hands or on their foreheads, ¹⁷so that they could not buy or sell unless they had the mark, which is the name of the beast or the number of its name.
¹⁸This calls for wisdom. Let the person who has insight calculate the number of the beast, for it is the number of a man.^[a] That number is 666. Rev. 13:15-18

My husband and I have been watching the Victory Channel for news from a Christian perspective. On Tuesday and Thursday nights, they have a program called Flashpoint where they discuss “how prophecy and current events are aligning to usher in the greatest awakening the world has ever known. Host Gene Bailey, along with regular contributors Mario Murillo, Hank Kunneman and Lance Wallnau, are joined by special guests that include prominent prophetic voices in the Church today, as well as political, governmental, business and church leaders. FlashPoint focuses on pertinent issues currently facing America and delivers news and commentary under the anointing—encouraging evidence and hope that God is indeed working to bring about His plans and purposes during these turbulent times. Join us every Tuesday and Thursday at 8 p.m. ET/7 p.m. CT.”

Last Thursday night, 8/19, the guest was General Michael Flynn who presented his views of what could be going on right now under the current administration. He spoke from his years of military service including in Afghanistan, serving in the White House, and being targeted by the evil deep state. It was distressing to hear, but he concluded that he still has hope.

His hope lies in the fact that in times of crises with incompetent leadership like we’re watching now, a strong leader emerges! After reading Hal Lindsey’s comments, I wondered if that leader truly would be the Antichrist or if it’s not yet time for him to emerge and it will be another Ronald Reagan or Donald Trump type leader.

Only God knows!

Until then, we need to pray for our own personal wisdom and discernment and for patriotic wise leadership to emerge on the local levels.

Don’t live in fear live in faith! Stop listening to the screaming, threatening talking heads and listen only to the Head of the church, Jesus Christ. You’ll hear that still small voice when you pray and read your Bible.

Like General Flynn, I want to leave you today with a message of hope from my devotional The One Year Salt and Light by Chris Tiegreen, August 20.

No situation in this world is hopeless; even the worst events have threads of redemption running through them. God has told us so, and we have seen it ourselves. We have no reason to despair
Even so, people around us will despair. That’s where we come in as bearers of good news . . . When we point others to the hope we have been given despite what we experience on earth and put a positive light on today’s headlines, we are bearers of good news. The media will give us a constant stream of tragic circumstances, but we see the bigger picture. God is at work in this world, amazing things are happening, and we get to participate in and tell the story.

How beautiful on the mountains
are the feet of the messenger who brings good news,
the good news of peace and salvation,
the news that the God of Israel reigns! Is. 52:7 NLT

Here is a beautiful prayer by Anne Graham-Lotz for Afghanistan. Keep praying for them as the ruthless Taliban moves into power.

I also wanted to share three talks that were given by William Federer at Pastor Jack Hibbs Calvary Chapel Chino Hills Church. Federer traces events we’re watching in our culture today through history and the Bible. Fascinating.

Day 1 : Understanding the Culture with William Federer – YouTube

Day 2: (Day 2) Understanding the Culture with William Federer – YouTube

Day 3: (Day 3) Understanding the Culture with William Federer – YouTube

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August 23, 2021

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Why I Have Hope for Katy Perry

My book Praying for Your Prodigal Daughter: Hope, Help & Encouragement for Hurting Parents, is about a prodigal, aka me, raising a prodigal. As I’ve read about Katy Perry’s recent public confessions of why she turned away from her childhood Christian faith, I saw a certain parallel to my life. No, I never became a multimillion dollar, outrageously popular pop star, but I did turn my back on my Christian faith after my divorce and became a very successful businesswoman living a worldly life while raising my prodigal.

Katy’s father is a pastor and her childhood home was faith-filled. In her public therapy session aired on Viceland, she went by her birth name Katheryn Hudson. Faithwire wrote an article from this session, Why Kathy Perry’s Rejection of Her Childhood Faith Should Concern Every Bible-Believing Christian. They quoted Hudson as saying, “I grew up with a lot of born-again Christian beliefs around me, and so I had people around me — like-minded people — and I would say it was a bit of a bubble,” Hudson explained. “I was a very curious person, and the curiosity — sometimes it wasn’t allowed because you had to have faith.”

The article goes on to say that Hudson explained she was “curious about what was going on in the rest of the world, and how they lived, and what they saw as they were living . . . I felt like I was missing out.” She decided to explore her singing career further to “pop [her] own bubble, to get out of [her] own situation.”

“I guess I was just trying to get out of one way of thinking. It was like ‘do as I say, no ifs, ands, or buts. It was based on my religious upbringing… I have so many questions. I ask all the questions in the world, and all the questions in the world have gotten me to where I am at now.” [To read the whole article]

There is so much in that last statement about finding answers in the world, which made her rich and famous, but spiritually bankrupt denouncing her faith and singing songs with provocative, shocking lyrics and movements that many young girls listen to and imitate.

[Tweet “Why did Katy Perry turn to the world for answers to her questions?”]

Why did she turn to the world for answers? Because she couldn’t find answers to her questions in the church. She was raised around born-again Christians, but never actually says she was born-again.

In Forsaken God?: Remembering the Goodness of God Our Culture Has Forgotten, I challenge the church with that same thought: “If we don’t teach our children to follow Christ, the world will teach them not to. Not encumber them with rules easily broken, but guide them toward a relationship they wouldn’t forfeit or jeopardize for anything.” I ask the question: “How many are making sure their children and grandchildren understand, accept, and embrace the Christian lifestyle? How many know, for certain, their children have a personal relationship with Jesus?”

[Tweet “How many parents know, for certain, their children have a personal relationship with Jesus?””]

Again I warn in Forsaken God?: “The church failed to reach out to the next generation with a message relevant to the world they live in today, but the secular world was ready and waiting for them. . . .Today, even children from Bible-believing homes may not have the tools or fortitude to equip them to face a liberal world drifting away from the God of the Bible.”

I stress exactly what Katy Perry said she couldn’t get from the Christian “bubble.”

They need mentors and parents to have the tough, honest discussion about abortion, sexuality, sexual exploitation, marriage, same-sex attraction, transgenderism, radical Islam, cults, drugs, alcohol, suicide . . . whatever they’re facing in their world.

My “Katy Perry” Story

When I left my good-girl Christian lifestyle, even though I was a born-again Christian since age eleven, I felt just like Katy that I was missing something “out in the world.” Satan makes sin seem fun and enticing. And there were plenty of people ready to teach me the “world’s ways.” I was naïve enough not to understand how quickly I was being sucked into that lifestyle.

[Tweet ” Satan makes sin seem fun and enticing.”]

I wasn’t raised in a Christian home like Katy was, but I did have a very devout grandmother who planted the seeds of faith in me. My mother would drop me off at church, but I was on my own. I loved everything about church and did find mentors and “spiritual mothers” to answer my questions until I went away to college and there was no one guiding me not to marry an unbeliever or pray with me about my choices.

What Brought Me Back to the Lord?

After seventeen years of backsliding, I was invited to a Harvest Crusade where Pastor Greg Laurie asked the crowd if they were ready to die that night? The Lord had gradually been bringing me back to Him through attending Pastor Rick Warren’s Saddleback Church, and I knew the answer to Pastor Laurie’s question was, no. I rededicated my life to the Lord that night and God has been using me About His Work ever since.

[Tweet “Do you know where you’re going if you die tonight?”]

I think Katy Perry, Katherine Hudson’s, public “therapy” session is her cry for help. I know she feels God on her shoulder calling her back with every provocative move, word, and action she uses to try to separate from Him.

[Tweet “I think Kathy Perry’s public “therapy” session Katy Perry is her cry for help”]

What Can We Do?

Katy Perry’s mother, a minister’s wife, author, and a mentor to many Christian women, has some advice that she shared in an interview by J. Lee Grady, Charisma News, “How Katy Perry’s Mother Praises God Through the Pain.” Grady asks: How does a Christian mother handle it when she sees her daughter drifting so far from the values she taught her?

“The devil definitely tries to steal my joy,” Mary told me. “I sometimes have to fight depression.” A few years ago, Mary anchored her soul to Psalm 113:9, which says, “He gives the barren woman a dwelling, making her the joyful mother of children. Praise the Lord!”

“That verse inspired her to write her 2015 book, Joyful Parent, Happy Home. Mary believes if you want your children to live for God, “You have to get happy and stay in the ‘God zone.’ Mary’s close friends also support her unconditionally. And she asks new friends to agree with her in prayer for a miracle turnaround for her daughter . . . Mary believes parents of prodigals must focus on others rather than wallowing in their own pain. For the past 11 years she has poured her life into women who attend her Arise conferences.” The full interview is at CharismaNews.

[Tweet “Katy Perry’s mother encourages parents of prodigals to focus on others rather than wallowing in their own pain”]

Mary also mentioned something important that I share in Praying for Your Prodigal Daughter: show unconditional love to your prodigal, and as much as it is up to you, keep the lines of communication open.

Praise God, both my daughter and I enjoy a wonderful relationship with God and each other. I now have precious grandchildren to help pour into spiritually. I want to make sure I’m not just telling them what to believe, but helping them come to their own conclusions. To feel free to ask us questions and to help them solve their faith problems without giving them the answers we think they should arrive at. To help them develop problem-solving techniques and know where and how to go to the Bible when they question something happening in the world.

When they ask if I know that Katy Perry “used to be a Christian,” we talk about the fact that if she did give her heart to Jesus as a child, she still is a Christian, but she’s not living like one, so let’s pray for her.

The 6/26/17 issue of Time Magazine, quoted Katy’s apology for “criticized acts of cultural appropriation”: “I didn’t know that I did it wrong until I heard people saying I did it wrong. And sometimes that’s what it takes.” Let’s pray Katy hears from God that she’s been doing wrong and apologizes to Him. Someday, Katy could have an amazing testimony and God will use it for good. Pray it’s soon before she influences more young girls and women for the world.

[Tweet ” Someday, Katy could have an amazing testimony and God will use it for good.”]

Start children off on the way they should go, and even when they are old they will not turn from it. Proverbs 22:6

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PS I just realized this is the end of June already and should be Love Your Body Monday, but this post was on my heart so I’ll post a Love Your Body blog for the 4th of July week!

June 26, 2017

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Messy Journey, Offering the Prodigal a Way Home by Lori Wildenberg

I always teach that mentoring the next generation starts with our own family. But what do you do when your children or grandchildren are walking with the world instead of with God? As many of you know, parenting prodigals is dear to my heart and prompted me to share our family’s journey in Praying for Your Prodigal Daughter: Hope Help & Encouragement for Hurting Parents.

Today, my author friend, and licensed parent and family educator Lori Wildenberg offers practical grace- and truth-filled ways of navigating your relationship with a detoured child whether they are rejecting faith, dabbling in sin, or wholeheartedly embracing sinful behavior.

Lori knows the heartache of having a rebel child. Her new release Messy Journey: How Grace and Truth Offer the Prodigal a Way Home is for parents walking the difficult road with a wayward child. Be inspired to drink the deep waters of peace as you draw closer to the Father of all prodigals. There is hope. After all, their struggle isn’t really with you, it’s with God.

[Tweet “A prodigal’s struggle isn’t with you, it’s with God.”]

MESSY LIFE by Lori Wildenberg

“When her parents discovered she was pregnant, they kicked her out.”

This single mom has defied the odds. She is raising her child, going to college, and working to support the two of them.

Not easy.

I don’t know the details of this woman’s story. I have no clue as to the relationship she had or has with her parents. I don’t know all the times of trouble that led up to this separation.

But…

I do know a number of families in a similar situation who chose to do life differently. They chose to support their unwed pregnant daughter and help her in her time of need. Three of the girls kept their babies. All three are now married (not to the baby daddy), another girl miscarried (now married with kids), and a fifth made an open adoption plan.

During the most difficult time in their life, each young mom knew her parents were there for her. Each woman in the middle of the mess knew she could count on her parents to help stabilize the shaky ground. All girls are now thriving.

As daughter’s of Eve and sons of Adam, we make decisions that are not in our best interest, ones that are not God’s best for us.

[Tweet “We make decisions that are not in our best interest, ones that are not God’s best for us.”]

Humans have a wandering propensity.

[Tweet “Humans have a wandering propensity”]

Some young people stray due to an unwed pregnancy, sexual sin, porn, substance abuse, or a rejection of faith. When we have a prodigal, sometimes we are to let ’em go (see Luke 15) and other times we are to chase after our lost sheep (see Luke 15).

Either way, we need to keep the bridge built so our prodigal is able to return.

[Tweet “Parents need to keep a bridge built so our prodigal is able to return”]

I have a child who, for a season, stepped away from the family. It was the most painful thing I have ever endured. There were times I chased her down like the shepherd and other times I waited like the dad.

[Tweet “My prodigal shutting out the family was the most painful thing I’ve ever endured.”]

I cried. I prayed.

I was a mess. I was weak.

God was strong.

Praise God, He brought her back to us.

I am thankful I kept the drawbridge down so she could cross it.

If your young person has taken a detour from the way in which he should go, keep the bridge open.

Don’t destroy it, build it.

During a messy life, lay down the planks of unconditional love: grace, humility, mercy, forgiveness, honesty, and truth.

Build the bridge and yes…they will come.

Back.

“Rejoice with me; I have found my lost sheep.”
Luke 15:6b (NIV)

Where is God calling you to build or rebuild a relational bridge?

If you received this post by email, leave a comment here.

Lori Wildenberg is passionate about helping families build connections that last a life time. She is a licensed parent-family educator and co-founder of 1 Corinthians 13 Parenting. She has written 4 parenting books with Messy Journey: How Grace and Truth Offer the Prodigal a Way Home published by New Hope as her most recent. She is a parent consultant, national speaker, and lead Mentor Mom over at the Moms Together Facebook Community Page. Lori is a contributor to a number of on-line magazines. Every Monday you can find her blogging about faith and family. Mostly, Lori is wife to Tom and mom of four. The Wildenberg’s home is nestled in the foothills of the Rocky Mountains. A perfect day in Lori’s world is a hike with her hubby, four kids plus a daughter-in-love, and Murphy the family labradoodle.

Find Messy Journey: How Grace and Truth Offer the Prodigal a Way Home at Amazon.

Additional Books:
Raising Little Kids with Big Love (for parents of toddlers- 9)
Raising Big Kids with Supernatural Love (for parents of tweens-young adults)

www.loriwildenberg.blogspot.com

www.loriwildenberg.com

www.facebook.com/momstogether

www.facebook.com/1Corinthians13Parenting

www.1Corinthians13Parenting.com
https://twitter.com/LoriWildenberg

https://pinterest.com/loriwildenberg/

Instagram: LoriWildenberg

May 8, 2017

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Hope-We All Need It by Karen Whiting

Today’s blog post is from author friend Karen Whiting and she shares a little about her book 365 Devotions for Hope. Hope is central to our faith, but sometimes we can lose our hope during difficult circumstances. Karen’s devotional will help restore your hope, the center of our faith. Enjoy

xxxxxxx

365Devotions4Hope

Sometimes, when life is rough or we feel that God is not answering our prayers, we feel like we need it more than other times.

[Tweet “Sometimes, when life is rough or we feel that God is not answering our prayers,”]

Whether we are leaders or followers, we need hope. There’s good news. Signs and words of hope are all around us. That’s good because we need hope to move forward, especially during struggles and loss. Hope is the expectation of something good.

[Tweet “Hope is the expectation of something good.”]

What are some of the signs of hope around us?

Nature provides many signs, such as a daffodil blooming in the snow, a blue sky, twinkling stars at night, and a beautiful sunset.

Loved ones bring hope with encouraging words, hugs, smiles, and gifts.

God’s Word brings the ultimate hope with the promise of God’s presence and eternity.

What can we do when we feel hopeless?

[Tweet “We all have times we need a little CPR for hope.”]

We all have times we need a little CPR for hope. Start with counting your blessings, including God’s love. Take things one step and one moment at a time when you feel overwhelmed. Cling to a verse or two. Be patient. Since the time of Job and other Bible characters, people have faced catastrophes and loss.

It’s easy to wallow in self-pity. Some things to try:

Choose to look for the positive and count your blessings.
Forgive anyone who caused problems or let you down.
Believe there will be blessings in the future.
If you have a recent loss allow yourself time to grieve. It’s a natural process.
If your hopelessness is long lasting or serious do seek professional help.
Acknowledge your strengths and gifts. Find ways to use them.
Eat healthy, get enough sleep, and drink plenty of water.
Let go of what you cannot control.
Reframe a problem into a challenge. It will strengthen you and give you new hope.
Spend time in nature appreciating God’s creation.
Pray for God’s comfort and joy.
Surround yourself with supportive people.

What’s your new book and what’s it about?

365 Devotions for Hope is daily meditations that focus on various aspects and signs of hope. Word pictures of images, uplifting quotes, and glimpses into God’s love will inspire readers to embrace life.

For example, in examining the Scripture of Christ as our anchor, devotions explore various anchors (plow, mushroom, claw, and fluke) as well as moorings and other nautical analogies to discover more about hope in God.

Everyday signs of hope are found in encouraging words, laughter, and smiles to natural wonders like the sun peeking through the clouds. The daily reflections will bring seeds of hope to face struggles, renew minds, and refresh spirits.

What helps you when you feel hopeless?

KarenWhiting

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June 13, 2016

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My Daughter and My Prodigal Story of Redemption

Satan is Targeting Children!

Never Stop Praying!

Library Update

Children Are A Gift From God

Lee Ann Mancini Wants to Help Parents!

An Overview of the Treasures Found in Raising Kids to Follow Christ.

About Lee Ann Mancini

Why Share Our Testimony?

Here’s What Parents’ Rights Groups are Saying!

What Are You Hearing in Your Churches?

The Truth is Never Afraid of Lies, but a Lie Can’t Survive the Truth!

My Thoughts on Being Called Right-Wing Christians

What’s In Our Future?

My “Katy Perry” Story

What Brought Me Back to the Lord?

What Can We Do?

MESSY LIFE by Lori Wildenberg

What are some of the signs of hope around us?

What can we do when we feel hopeless?

What’s your new book and what’s it about?

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