Half-eaten chicken nuggets were scattered across the floor of my minivan, and the faint whiff of a diaper lost under a seat somewhere permeated the air. I didn’t notice any of it that day. I stared absently past the dust on the dashboard.

I looked down at my journal. It read: There’s a very real chance that my marriage will end in divorce.

You see, two months prior and almost ten years into what I thought was the perfect marriage, I found out that my husband had betrayed me. It shattered me.

Everything I thought I knew about him and our relationship suddenly felt like a lie. I didn’t even recognize myself. I was confused, sad, and so angry. It felt like I was free-falling through a black hole, and I didn’t even know if it was possible to get to the other side. Or if this—in all my pain and anger—was who I had become.

In the following months and years, I leaned into healing and processing the pain. I joined a support group. My husband and I went to counseling. I honored my anger and put it into words.

Do you ever find yourself in church jotting your sermon notes into your phone, or your
Bible study notes into a random journal you’ll misplace later? We’ve discovered three
beautiful Christian journals to take your time spent in prayer, study, and at church from
mundane into something to be treasured and remembered.

God is constantly speaking to us, but it’s hard to remember each answered prayer or
each Bible verse He’s laid upon our hearts if we aren’t making the effort to write them
down so we can watch Him work. That’s why we love these journals!

Whether you’re listening to a Sunday sermon, sitting quietly with your Bible in the early morning, or pouring out your heart in prayer at the end of a long day, these journals are designed to meet you right where you are. They invite you to slow down, reflect deeply, and create space to hear from God in the midst of everyday life.

Over time, the pages become a tangible testimony of answered prayers, lessons learned, and the steady faithfulness of the Lord through every season. This is more than just writing.

Offense My Copilot

My earliest memories were rooted in Caracas, Venezuela. I can still feel the warmth of the breeze, the kindness of the people, and the vibrancy of the culture. It was a place where I felt a sense of belonging so deep it still lingers. 

Everything shifted when we moved back to the US. My parents had been separated, living in different countries, but I missed my dad deeply. I longed for his love—for a chance at family again. My mom said yes to leaving behind the life we knew, even though it terrified her. She made the move with hope in her heart—hope that maybe, just maybe, something could be restored.

She wanted more for me. A father. A family. A future we could reclaim. But her sacrifice unraveled quickly. My dad chose himself over us—preferring another woman and, above all, alcohol. The betrayal cut deep. It didn’t just hurt; it hollowed. And pain like that doesn’t stay contained. It spills into everything. It steals vision, chokes out hope, and leaves you grasping for meaning.

My dad’s choices rewrote how my mom saw herself—her worth, her value, her security.

We’ve all heard the lie that God won’t give us more than we can handle. But Scripture tells a different story—one of surrender and divine strength.

When I was about thirty weeks pregnant with my daughter, Olivia, I was hospitalized because of a “small baby and crappy placenta,” per the astutely medically accurate description by my doctor. It was my first pregnancy, and really, I had never thought of myself as the mothering type. Some little girls dream of being a mommy—I aspired to be on American Idol or training dolphins at SeaWorld. 

Have you ever been at an appointment where you just know you’re about to hear bad news? It starts with a look or a too-­pregnant pause, and someone who “isn’t allowed” to tell you more tells you all you need to know with avoidant eye contact and a “Let me get the doctor.”

The doctor looked at me with such empathy—as if he was a seasoned pro at telling women they or their baby may not make it to tomorrow. “Erica, you’re sicker than you feel. You’re at extremely high risk right now of a stroke, a seizure, or both.

When you refuse to listen to God, the weight of disobedience lingers. This story shows the importance of hearing His voice, overcoming obstacles, and walking in faith and obedience.

I was volunteering in New York City with a group I had worked with for years. It was one of my favorite weeks of the year, helping busloads of kids enter the ministry center to hear the gospel. I had taken a team of about twenty volunteers with me, and we were buzzing with anticipation.

Balloons were on the stage, killer prizes were stacked in the corner, and hundreds of kids were lining the bleachers. It was going to be a good day. Excited about the cute preschoolers sitting in front of me, I initially tried to dismiss the voice that I heard in my heart. 

When You Ignore God

Go sit by her. 

I knew exactly who He was talking about. An older girl, probably around twelve or so, had just walked past me. I had to hold my breath as she walked by because she smelled so bad. I averted my eyes, uncomfortable in the situation, and did my best to ignore her.

Being single in the church can feel isolating. Discover encouragement, empathy, and hope for singles learning to walk with Christ in every season.

It is a delicate dance, being single into your thirties and beyond. People stop telling you that you have plenty of time. They stop telling you “You’re next” at a wedding. They stop asking about dating with excited tones and instead ask with a thin layer of pity. 

It’s one thing to turn to Jesus because of abundance and love and warm fuzzy feelings, but it is another thing to turn to Him when you know He’s your only and last hope. There is a feeling of fear that enters the room because I worry that He might not be enough, and then we’ve used our last bandage only to bleed through it. 

We worry that Jesus isn’t coming back for us—we’re afraid that we might be met by His desire to stay away from our wounds, not get closer to them. 

I am often surprised to find that the Jesus I make up in moments of panic is not the Jesus I encounter.

The Barbie movie shines a light on the lie of comparison. Learn why real purpose, family, and faith matter more than chasing perfection.

My favorite movie of 2023 was Greta Gerwig’s Barbie. The movie opens with a utopian world called Barbie Land. Every Barbie is happy and content in who she is. Every Barbie has a role and feels deeply satisfied with how she contributes to society.  

There are a few digs in these opening scenes that are extremely important: first, Midge. Midge is Barbie’s pregnant friend, and Mirren notes, “Let’s not show Midge, actually. She was discontinued by Mattel because a pregnant doll is just too weird.” All the Barbies in Barbie Land have careers, but none have the role of being a mother. Come to think of it, none are married or have families at all.

Barbie and Comparison

All of this is meant to be satire, but these opening scenes pack so much to think about. First off, there’s this world where Barbies have a role and purpose and feel so wonderful about themselves. There’s also no comparison or gossip. However, there isn’t any death, sadness, or cellulite either.

Discover how your vision—like Paul’s—can shape your life with hope, purpose, and joy, no matter your circumstances.

Paul could have despaired. In his situation, many of us would have. 

Imagine spending years on a relentless mission to spread the gospel throughout the Gentile world, and then experiencing all of this: One of your favorite churches is struggling; you’re under house arrest and can’t go anywhere; preachers with impure motives are exploiting your absence to promote their own ministries for personal gain; and, to top it all off, you think you might soon be executed.

Paul mentions all of these pressures in the first chapter of his letter to the Philippians, and we might wonder how he coped with them with so much hope. In his situation, we could easily envision being filled with fear, anxiety, and discouragement. But Paul wasn’t. Why not?

Paul clearly wasn’t living in denial. He was aware of how distressing any of these situations might be. But he didn’t seem overly focused on them. Somehow, some way, he was living above them. He could see the reality behind the scenes, and that vision filled him with joy.

Seeing the Unseen Reality

Notice all the ways Paul reads between the lines of his circumstances:

• Those struggling believers?

Grieving is a painful experience, and sometimes, our brains want us to avoid feeling the pain in an effort to protect us. However, to heal, we actually need to confront our grief by walking directly through the fire with Jesus. Without Him, the flames will inevitably scathe us.

Our culture lacks sensitivity and holds unspoken expectations for the grieving, such as Move on! Be strong. Get over it! Don’t talk about it. These subliminal messages make us push our feelings down and pretend we are okay. 

Allow Yourself Time to Grieve

We need to allow ourselves time and space to grieve even when others have moved on and have stopped checking in on us. Even if it feels like no one else cares anymore, it’s important to carve out dedicated grieving time in your schedule. Although you may feel left behind and lonely, your private season of grieving is vital to your healing. It’s true what they say, “You have to feel to heal.” It is worth spending time grieving rather than rushing back into the demands of your regular routine.

I can still remember the sound of the wind chimes on our back deck as I sat in the stillness of our living room.

Create a personal prayer plan to overcome overwhelm, pray with purpose, and cover your family with focused prayers each day of the week.

Do you sometimes feel overwhelmed when you try to pray? 

I do.

There are so many needs in our own families as well as with our friends, our country, our world. It’s hard to know how to begin. It’s easy to feel like a failure before we even begin to pray. 

Several years ago, I realized that I needed a plan that would enable me to be more organized in my prayer life. My husband John had always had a prayer notebook with different prayers for each day. He suggested I might try something like that. 

So I did!

I bought a very simple small notebook and some sticky dividers to enable me to create a section for each day of the week. I choose a theme for each day for our immediate family, creating a prayer around this theme. 

Mondays I pray about our relationships with the Lord, inserting names into the Lord’s prayer. 

Tuesdays I pray for our marriages, Wednesdays for close accountable Christian friendships, Thursdays, for boldness in proclaiming the gospel, Fridays for each of our families to be given a passion for the poor, lonely and hurting and a means in which to care for them. 

Each year we ask our five children and their mates to send us very specific prayer requests for each of them and their children for the coming year.