Tag Archives: women

Stress Point Book Review and Giveaway

Posted on October 25, 2012 by | 1 Comment

“Stress Point – Thriving Through Your 20s in a Decade of Drama” by my friend Sarah Francis Martin is an encouraging Bible study that I would recommend to all 20 something women. In each chapter Sarah discusses issues that many 20 somethings view as stress points such as money, career, dating, friends, family, body image, etc. Through this interactive Bible study, Sarah helps young adult women address each stress point by encouraging them to wait on the Lord, worship Him, and make Him the focus of their lives.

I love the format of this book because it continually brings the reader back to Christ. Sarah provides journal space for each day to worship the Lord, study scripture, and allow the reader to surrender each issue completely to Him. She also provides stories from other women that are struggling with the same issues which is encouraging because it reminds us that we are not alone in these battles.

Throughout the book the reader also learns the different names of God which draws one closer to Him and helps to understand His character on a deeper level.  This book is a must read not just for 20 somethings girls but for all women. Be sure to get your copy here and check out more stress point resources including a video series on the book here.  Also, Sarah has kindly donated a book for us to giveaway to our readers. To win a copy comment on this post telling us how you deal with stress and be sure to check back on Monday when we announce the winner. :)

Sarah would also like to invite you to join her in Stress Points to Life Points: 10 Days to Godly Success, Purpose and Well-Being. http://liveitoutblog.com/category/stress-points-to-life-points/

 About the Author:

Sarah Francis Martin has a passion to encourage and relate to women in their twenties. Her relevant and conversational style will lead young adult readers to live out the Kingship of Christ in everyday life in order to find godly success, purpose, and well-being. Obsessed with pink lip gloss and all things artsy-crafty, Sarah lives with her husband and son in North Carolina. Her ministry, LIVE IT OUT!, is a space for 20-somethings to connect with one another and grow closer to Jesus (www.liveitoutblog.com).

Amelia McNeilly

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Kerri Pomarolli – “The Ring”

Posted on October 24, 2012 by | 2 Comments

Happy Wednesday my friends! Today I thought I would share a clip from  Christian comedian Kerri Pomarolli who I am blessed to work for. This is one of my favorites from her. For more information visit her website here, and check out some clips from a recent show here. Hope you enjoy! :)

Amelia McNeilly

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Book Review: Doing Things Right in Matters of the Heart

Posted on September 27, 2012 by | Leave a comment

No matter the stage of life we are in as ladies, the matters of the heart are of utmost importance.  God looks at our hearts, His Word warns us to keep our hearts with all diligence, and we strive to please Him in the hope of the          Gospel of Christ.

Doing Things Right in Matters of the Heart is a book that is sort of a hybrid between Recovering Biblical Manhood and Womanhood (thick, theological, ethical, cutltural), Sacred Marriage (covenantal view of marriage and its benefits) , and I Kissed Dating Goodbye (Josh Harris’ book wonder). All good in their own right, this one adds something to the mix.

John Ensor, who lives in the NE with his family and directs Heartbeat International, wrote a practical and pastoral book for women (or men of course). This book would be excellent in a young married or singles group at a church.

The first part of it deals with the base of his subject: biblical manhood and womanhood, salvation, relationship with God, how things got so messed up in the first place, etc. Good meat but his writing styles tend to jump around too much for my liking; although I do like the personal feeling to his writing. The second half is more practical in nature. Deals with subjects like submission in dating/courtship, family responsibilities, personal qualities in both men and women, sacrificing, and happiness in relationships. This part is very helpful for  singles.  One of my fave verses he used in the whole book was Ps 107.9: “For He satisfies the longing soul, and the hungry soul He fills with good things.” “When God prohibits something, he is not robbing us of a good time. He is preserving for us a better time. He is blessing us and this blessing is for both men and women equally.”

Talking about how pair figure skating and dating look the same (or should): “Her focus is on following his lead and signaling her readiness to receive his next move. He takes responsibility for the two of them, and she trusts his leadership and delights in it.”

Probably the most famous quote in the whole book speaks of how women can be open to a man’s inquiry: “It is for women to crack the twigs and stir the leaves so we know where to find them.” I think that is the hardest thing for godly women to know how to do.

Good book altogether, one I would recommend.  A great compliment to it would be Did I Kiss Marriage Goodbye from Carolyn McCulley.

Kimberly Campbell

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We Need Biblical Teaching

Posted on September 26, 2012 by | Leave a comment

“The image that stays with me from last weekend is this: young women, hordes of them, some still in their work clothes, some with strollers, some eight months pregnant, some with that look a girl gets when she knows her family is probably eating Cheerios and Skittles for dinner and she.just.doesn’t.care for the next forty-eight hours. Some of them from a thousand miles away. All of them out-of-their-minds excited to be taught, and taught well.
Do you know why I cried at my computer last summer? I cried because I want to end the crisis of biblical illiteracy in the church. I cried because I am determined to rescue a generation of young women from a faith grounded only in the shifting sands of emotionalism. I cried out of sheer relief that I wasn’t alone in my hope that things can change.
For too long women of belief have been the willing recipients of gender-specific teaching that patronizes their intellect and panders to their emotions. For too long churches have neglected to raise the bar, settling for a ministry model that is content to connect women in relationships without challenging them to deeper understanding of the Word. For forty-eight hours this weekend I got to hear influential voices raise a cry for a different standard. For forty-eight hours I got to entertain the very real possibility that the tide could turn.”

The above quote portion is from a blog of a friend of mine, Jen Wilkin, who writes over at The Beginning of Wisdom.  She is referring to The Gospel Coalition Women’s Conference 2012 and if you didn’t have a chance to attend, you can watch all the videos of the main sessions here.

Take a read at Psalm 119.  It is long but powerful and should give us a longing to be in the Word more and enable the women we teach to WANT to dig into the Word more and learn more of who God is and what He desires from His daughters (that’s us)!

Kimberly Campbell

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True Beauty

Posted on August 22, 2012 by | 1 Comment

Most single women out there have some sort of impression that maybe they would be married if they were only as pretty as the next girl.  I know I struggled with this.  (And you know, the complexities with beauty don’t end when you get married).

Recently I found a blog that I love because it gives me ideas that will look great on the inside, but knowing where the author’s focus is and where her true beauty comes from, allows me to really enjoy the articles she writes and the tips she give.

This is an excerpt from her About Me tab on her site:

While I spend a lot of time talking about hair, beauty products, fashion, shoes, makeup, crafts, food, artsy things. . .(are you catching my drift?), I know that my worth is in Christ. God has given me a passion for all of these things, and I intend to use it, and share it with you all! So what I’m trying to say here is this: don’t look for your value or identity in how good you look, or how talented you are at something. Nothing will fill you like the love of Christ.

Kimberly Campbell

Photo taken for Moon&Lola jewelry

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Top 10 Situations That Dull the Glamour of the Single Woman’s Life

Posted on August 14, 2012 by | 2 Comments

  1. When you take your car to the dealership for a simple oil change, the mechanics talk to you like you’re a four-year-old and try to convince you to pay hundreds of dollars for “urgent” repairs.
  2. Two words: clogged toilet
  3. When you hear a suspicious noise in the middle of the night, it’s up to you to pray and then be prepared to unleash all manner of righteous fury on whatever might be foolish enough to come in uninvited.
  4. There’s no such thing as a honey-do list in your house, unless you call yourself Honey.
  5. If you want nifty kitchen gadgets and pricey bath linens like the ones your married friends got at their bridal showers, you have to buy them for yourself.
  6. You have sharpened your math skills by learning to reduce recipes from six servings to one.
  7. You find yourself perched like a monkey on your kitchen counter after the third sighting of the skink that has taken up residence in your laundry room, and you realize it’s time to be the daughter of Eve that you are and take dominion over this part of creation. There’s not enough room in this house for the both of you.
  8. You know the meaning of “fifth wheel” first hand.
  9. You’re on a first-name basis with the meat department staff at your local grocery store because you’re always asking them to break up “family size” packages.
  10. After four consecutive roommates move out to get married, you decide to get off that merry-go-round, move to a smaller, less expensive place, and adopt a dog, which unlike any prior roommate, isn’t housetrained, and you learn how quickly an odor can permeate 500 square feet.

Bethany Wester

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Uncomfortable Wrestling

Posted on August 8, 2012 by | 2 Comments

Why, my soul, are you downcast? Why so disturbed within me? Put your hope in God, for I will yet praise him, my Savior and my God. -Psalm 42:5

David’s words hit close to home for me. That uncomfortable wrestling we have within ourselves that tells us we are not where we are “suppose” to be in life. Yeah, that happens to me more than I care to admit. I believe that our world has created a false, unrealistic image of what women are supposed to look and act like. It seems not fair. Single women are kind of made to feel that they are missing something because they are not married yet. Married women are made to feel like they must have a career to be complete. Now that doesn’t mean you can’t be either one. But I don’t think every one has to be the same. We were all meant for different things. Our value is not determined by what we do, but how God views us.

How precious are your thoughts about me, O God. They cannot be numbered! I can’t even count them; they outnumber the grains of sand! And when I wake up, you are still with me! -Psalm 139: 17-18

So I leave you with a prayer I have had to pray to remind myself who I am in Christ.

Lord, You know exactly how I feel about myself. You know how deeply I’ve been influenced by the messages of our culture and how confusing it is. Help me discover the truth of my worth and value in Your eyes. Thank You for giving me Your word to cling to. My hope is in You. Amen.

Karina Lopez

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Titus 2

Posted on July 9, 2012 by | Leave a comment

Many times as single women, we have a hard time finding our place in the church. We have a desire to serve, teach, and minister, but we may feel limited by verses such as 1 Corinthians 14:33-36 and 1 Timothy 2:11-12. Even though I am in agreement with most complementarians that woman should remain silent in the church, I do believe that these verses can give us much freedom. These verses allow us as women to lean upon and learn from the men that God has placed in authority over our lives. So if we are to remain in submission to the men in our lives, and if we are commanded to “be silent” in the church, what are we to do? Many women lean on their husband’s ministry to find their place to serve. Whether they are a pastors wife, a deacons wife, a sunday school teachers wife, that is where they plug in to serve. This is a wonderful thing for a couple to serve together, and men need to have their wives serving beside them supporting them and encouraging their work in the Lord. But where does this leave us single women? What is our role in the church?

We as women, whether single, married, young, or old, have been specifically commanded in Scripture what our role in ministry is. We can find this direct command in Titus. Throughout Titus 2 we see Paul giving everyone in the church their specific instructions for godly living within the church. In verses 3-5, Paul is writing directly to the women. He writes,

“Older women likewise are to be reverent in behavior, not slanderers or slaves to much wine. They are to teach what is good, and so train the young women to love their husbands and children, to be self-controlled, pure, working at home, kind, and submissive to their own husbands, that the word of God may not be reviled.” (ESV)

As we see here, Paul is commanding that we as women should mentor other women. In the dictionary, a mentor is said to be, “A wise and trusted counselor or teacher.” Many women run from this word because they do not truly understand its meaning. It is an intimidating word! I would like to propose a definition for us: to mentor someone means that you teach, counsel, and encourage by living life with someone who is younger in the faith.  Now this definition should be freeing to all of us. How many of us couldn’t just live life with someone else? We get so wrapped up and intimidated by this mentoring word that we don’t realize how easy this mentoring thing can be! Allowing someone to be a apart of your life is the best way for you to mentor someone! Let another lady see how you handle your everyday life….grocery shopping, studying, going to church, interacting with friends, going to the gym, etc.

If we look back to our passage in Titus 2, Paul tells us the specific things we are to teach. We are to teach what is good, how to be loving in our relationships, self-controlled and pure. Also we are to teach how to be responsible at home, kind, and submissive to the men in our lives. Allowing your mentee to live life with you, all these things will be modeled and taught by your actions. Dr. Alvin Reid states it well in his ebook With when he writes, “If you live a life that demonstrates Jesus, you will have plenty of people who want to be mentored. Mentoring is not an institution to manage-it is a lifestyle to emulate.”

Now please don’t forget this works two ways! Not only should we be mentoring someone else-you need to be mentored! Find a woman who is further along in the faith and ask if you can just hang out with her and live life with her! Remember: there are always women who you can learn from-being teachable is one of the best qualities you can have!

I have had the privilege of being a mentor and a mentee. Even though some of these relationships were only for a short season, they left a lasting impact on my life! I grew so much by being both a mentor and a mentee..I was stretched, challenged, and had a lot of fun…all by living life with someone else!

What does mentoring look like for you? Who are you currently mentoring? Who is currently mentoring you?

“A godly older woman points the younger woman to the only One who will never disappoint her and who is completely trustworthy in any and all of life’s situations.”.  -Kraft in Women Mentoring Women

Marlana Kaye

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