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Learning Covenant Before Marriage – Part 1
Learn why understanding God’s design for covenant is essential before making one of the most important commitments of your life. Most of us don’t grow up dreaming about covenant. We dream about getting married. We think about finding someone who loves us, building a life together, having someone to come home to, and growing old…
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Will God Meet Me in My Sadness?
When loneliness makes you question whether obedience is worth the wait Proverbs 4:26 (NLT) says, “Mark out a straight path for your feet; stay on the safe path.” There is something we need to understand when we are making decisions about our relationships: God expects us to use the wisdom and truth He has given…
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If Love Is Real, Where’s the Sacrifice?
We’ve Been Taught a Lot About What Love Is Supposed to Look Like John 3:16 (NLT) “For this is how God loved the world: He gave his one and only Son, so that everyone who believes in him will not perish but have eternal life.” When we’re young and moving through different phases of life,…
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Learning Discernment Before Marriage
Learn why developing biblical discernment before marriage is essential for recognizing godly character, seeing clearly beyond your emotions, and making wise relationship decisions that honor God. You Need Discernment Before You Need an Answer Most of us don’t start thinking seriously about discernment until there is somebody to discern. Before that, we’re just living our…
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Light to the Deepest Gloom
A broken heart is more than a break—it can be a signal that God wants to take the healing deeper within us. Heartbreak has a way of bringing things to the surface that we may not have recognized before—wounds, patterns, fears, misplaced hopes, and even places where our faith needs to grow. And when we…
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Am I Allowed to Ask “Why”?
There Is a Difference Between Questioning God and Asking God Questions James 1:5 (NLT) says, “If you need wisdom, ask our generous God, and he will give it to you. He will not rebuke you for asking.” How many times have you wanted to ask God a question but stopped yourself because you felt like…
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Are You Trusting God—or Trusting Him to Send You a Spouse?
Learn why trusting God for marriage means trusting His wisdom and His Will, even when His answer or timing may be different from what you hoped. When Your Desire for Marriage Becomes a Test of Your Trust in God There is nothing wrong with wanting to be married. If marriage is a desire of your…
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How Do I Get There?
The Bible doesn’t give us a step-by-step guide called “How to Date,” but it does give us God’s wisdom for how we are supposed to live. That means dating isn’t something we have to figure out without Him. God cares about how we handle every part of our lives, including how we choose the person…
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So Busy Living, We Forget to Live for God
John 15:4 (NLT) “Remain in me, and I will remain in you. For a branch cannot produce fruit if it is severed from the vine, and you cannot be fruitful unless you remain in me.” “Life is just life-ing right now.” That’s what we hear, and honestly, sometimes that’s exactly how life feels. Work. School.…
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Pursuing God’s Healing Before Marriage
Learn why bringing your wounds, past hurts, and unhealthy patterns before God is an important part of preparing for a Christ-centered marriage. ________ Before You Bring Someone Into Your Life, Let God Work on Your Heart We spend a lot of time preparing for marriage by thinking about the person we want to marry, the…
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Remember the Mercy God Has Given You
Matthew 18:33 (NLT) “Shouldn’t you have mercy on your fellow servant, just as I had mercy on you?” What is our immediate reaction when someone does something to hurt us? If we’re honest about it, sometimes that ol’ vengeance nature raises to the surface and we want to get them back, big time. We want…
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Chemistry Is Not the Same as Confirmation
Chemistry can be powerful. You meet someone, you enjoy being around them, you can talk for hours, and there is an attraction that feels natural. You may feel like you have known them forever. There is nothing wrong with having chemistry with someone, but we have to be careful about what we allow those feelings…
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Learning Surrender Before Marriage
Before You Say “I Do” Series Before God Gives You a Marriage, He Prepares You for One Learn why surrendering your plans, expectations, and timeline to God’s Will is essential for building a Christ-centered marriage. Surrender Begins Before Marriage Most people think preparing for marriage means praying for the right person. That’s definitely part of…
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Finish Faithfully
Becoming saved isn’t just about avoiding hell, and it’s not a get-out-of-jail-free card. Being a follower of Christ is more than being able to say we’re going to Heaven. When we become saved, it doesn’t mean that we’re then going to live a perfect life. Giving our lives to Jesus Christ is an acknowledgment that…
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It’s Time to Wake Up
Lucy is 63 years old, and she is very aware of it. She knows her knees don’t always cooperate like they used to, she knows she needs a little more recovery time after a long day, and she knows that some of the things she wore at 30 probably need to stay at 30. But…
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Stop Limiting God to Your Expectations
Most women I know aren’t praying for an ordinary marriage. They’re praying for God’s best, and there’s nothing wrong with praying that way. In fact, I hope you never settle for less than God’s best. But here’s a question I had to ask myself one day: Do I really know what God’s best is. At…
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Life Before Salvation Isn’t Life at All
Living life outside of salvation is simply existing. True life—abundant life—can only really be experienced through Jesus Christ. He willingly laid down His own life so that we could truly live. The moment we accept Jesus Christ as our Lord and Savior, we pass from death into life. Colossians 1:13-14 (NLT) says, “For he has…
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Learning Self-Control Before Marriage
More Than Waiting for the Right Person When it comes to marriage, just about every woman I know wants the whole package. And by that, I mean a man that looks the part, is financially secure, responsible, intelligent, and loves the Lord. He’s kind but firm, generous but not wasteful, and loyal to the core.…
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Learning Forgiveness Before Marriage
Before You Say “I Do” Series Before God Gives You a Marriage, He Prepares You for One Before you ever say “I do” to another person, God desires your heart to remain surrendered to Him. Not because He is waiting for you to become perfect, but because He loves you enough to continue shaping you…
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You’re Not Single, You’re Reserved
Understanding God’s Purpose in Your Season of Singleness Romans 8:29 (NLT) says, “For God knew his people in advance, and he chose them to become like his Son, so that his Son would be the firstborn among many brothers and sisters.” Before we ever understood our purpose, God already knew the work He desired to…
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Walking Together Begins with Walking with God
Sometimes we think that once we become born-again believers, life should automatically fall into place. We may believe that because we pray, seek God, and desire to honor Him, the things closest to our hearts should happen in our timing. I know many single believers have marriage at the top of their prayer list. And…
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Not Every Husband Loves the Same Way
When the Man Who Loves You Doesn’t Always Understand You Sometimes the hardest part of marriage isn’t wondering whether your husband loves you. Deep down, you know he does. The hardest part is realizing he doesn’t understand what just happened. You walk away from a conversation thinking, Did we even have the same conversation? You…
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You Have Been Set Free
How the Truth of Jesus Christ Breaks the Lies That Keep Us Bound John 8:32 (NLT) “And you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.” We can’t get any plainer than what our Master Jesus has said in this simple yet extremely powerful verse. The truth sets us free, and when it…
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When You’ve Fallen, Get Back Up
Why Your Past Doesn’t Have to Define Your Future Every believer has a moment they wish they could take back. A decision they regret. Words they wish they had never been spoken. A season when they knew they wandered from God’s best. If you’ve experienced this and walked with Jesus Christ for any length of…
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The Weight That Keeps You From Rising
Hebrews 12:1–2 (NLT) “Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a huge crowd of witnesses to the life of faith, let us strip off every weight that slows us down, especially the sin that so easily trips us up. And let us run with endurance the race God has set before us. We do this…
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Christians Are Imperfect, But We Are Being Perfected
Matthew 9:12 (NLT) “When Jesus heard this, he said, ‘Healthy people don’t need a doctor—sick people do.’“ One of the greatest misunderstandings about Christianity is the belief that following Jesus means we become perfect. Some people look at Christians and expect us to always say the right thing, make the right decisions, and never struggle…
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Are You Becoming What You’re Praying For?
Hebrews 11:6 (NKJV) “But without faith it is impossible to please Him, for he who comes to God must believe that He is, and that He is a rewarder of those who diligently seek Him.” Most of us have something we’re believing God for. For some, it’s a godly husband. For others, it’s healing, financial…
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Relationship Requires a Response
God Gives First. We Respond. Our Heavenly Father has established the universe according to His perfect order, and understanding that changes the way we see our relationship with Him. From the moment He spoke creation into existence to the way He calls us to worship and live each day, everything God does is intentional, purposeful,…
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Before You Give Him Your Heart
Why putting Jesus Christ first changes everything Before you give your heart to someone else, there is a question that deserves your honest attention. It’s a question that should come before the attraction, before the excitement of a new relationship, and before you begin imagining what the future might look like together. Has your heart…
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The Stronghold of Fantasy
When the Life You Imagined Competes With God’s Will There was a season when I lived more in my imagination than I did in reality. I wasn’t daydreaming for fun. I was building a life. I had the timeline, the relationships, the victories, and the happy ending all mapped out in my mind. Somewhere along…