Fear of the Lord
“Let us hear the conclusion of the whole matter: Fear God, and keep his commandments: for this is the whole duty of man. For God shall bring every work into judgment, with every secret thing, whether it be good, or whether it be evil.” Ecclesiastes 12:14 The fear of the Lord can be defined as […]
Age of Rage
A staff member walks by my office door, visibly upset: crying and shaking. My protective boss lady mode is immediately activated as I jump up from my desk and follow after her. I ask her what’s wrong and her story unfolds. She tells me a client had just aggressively berated her over a policy. The […]
Recipe for Good
“When wisdom entereth into thine heart, and knowledge is pleasant unto thy soul; Discretion shall preserve thee, understanding shall keep thee: To deliver thee from the way of the evil man, from the man that speaketh forward things:” Proverbs 2:10-12 Over the years, I’ve read these verses hundreds of times, and always thought they meant […]
Jealousy
“He delighteth not in the strength of the horse: he taketh not pleasure in the legs of a man. The Lord taketh pleasure in them that fear him, in those that hope in his mercy.” Psalm 147.10-11 Jealousy gets a bad reputation. But did you know that God is a jealous God? There are sixteen […]
Words without Purpose
“In the multitude of words there wanteth not sin: but he that refraineth his lips is wise.” Proverbs 10:19 The technology of our day has increased our ability to communicate to such a level that as a society we have nearly instant access to each other. Yet, despite the advancements of technology, our ability to […]
Soul Strength
“In the day when I cried thou answeredst me, and stregthenedst me with strength in my soul.” Psalm 138:3 It is humbling and marvelous to realize that God listens to me, answers me, and gives me strength when I ask. Some days my soul is weary. It feels like my heart is heavy in my […]
Confronted with Falsehoods
Standing by my door, keys in hand, ready to start a fresh day. I remembered a task I needed to complete and popped my email open to send myself a reminder. My eye was drawn to an email from an unexpected source and even though I didn’t have time to be checking my emails, my […]
Future Self
by Dr. Amanda McElroy “Boast not thyself of tomorrow; for thou knowest not what a day may bring forth.” Proverbs 27:1 Have you ever had an important task you needed to do, that you didn’t feel like doing, even though you have the time that day? You choose to push the task off until the […]
Jesus Loves Me
by Dr. Amanda McElroy There are several children’s songs that speak of Jesus’ love for us, we teach them to young children, hoping the words will become part of the fabric of their being. We know it’s important for the children to learn that Jesus loves them. How often do we adults take a moment […]
Sweet Moments
by Dr. Amanda McElroy “What time I am afraid, I will trust in thee.” Psalm 56:3 Fear can be healthy and normal, and it can be excessive and illogical: whichever the case, we cannot walk through life wholly avoiding any facet of fear. The question today is not, “How do I avoid fear?” The question […]
Humble Hearts
by Dr. Amanda McElroy “Create in me a clean heart, O God; and renew a right spirit within me. “ Psalm 51:10 Every Christian has two natures inside our hearts that both want to be in control. We are born with a sin-nature, often referred to as our ‘flesh’ and when we ask Christ to […]
Sharpening Friends
by Dr. Amanda McElroy “Iron sharpeneth iron; so a man sharpeneth the countenance of his friend.” Proverbs 27:17 Fear of conflict has become a reality in our society. Instead of having heartfelt, kind, compassionate conversations with each other when we see need for improvement, we avoid and ignore. We ignore growth opportunities with each other: […]
Do Right… With a Right Attitude
by Dr. Amanda McElroy “Withhold not good from them to whom it is due, when it is in the power of thine hand to do it.” Proverbs 3:27 My heart is squeezing in my chest, emotions are flooding through me: grief, anger, sorrow, love. I feel like a pinball machine – the little metal ball […]
I’ve Got Peace?
By Dr. Amanda McElroy Returning from a trip a few days early, excited to surprise my staff. They were expecting me to be out of town for a week at a training, I’d only been gone two days. The training wasn’t as intense as I anticipated, prompting me to evaluate if the return on my […]
Christian Energy
There is a lot of content discussing masculine versus feminine energy and why we jump from one category to the next based on the individuals we are around and our environment. What we don’t see is discussion about Christian energy. Independent women explain how they live in their masculine energy because they are fulfilling the […]
Be in the Way
by Dr. Amanda McElroy “And I being in the way, the Lord led me.” Genesis 24:27 Life is full of decisions that will alter our path and our future. Knowing one is making the right decision can be intimidating, and sometimes downright scary. I often feel like I am being pulled in too many directions […]
Trust but Verify
by Dr. Amanda McElroy Have you ever made a decision, thinking you had all the facts, only to discover afterwards that not only were you not in possession of all the facts, but that had you been you would have made a different decision altogether? Mercy me, I have. With the prevalence of social media […]
When Enemies Prevail
This past week, my state Licensing representative informed me that she chose to cite my center as deficient of complying with state law regarding how much time I am present at the center during business hours conducting director-related tasks. The requirement is 75% of operating hours minimally. Based on interviews with a few parents and […]
Battle Weary
“My flesh and my heart faileth: but God is the strength of my heart, and my portion for ever.” Psalm 73:26 My soul is tired. My heart is tired. My mind is tired. I feel like an overcooked noodle. Recently, my pastor preached on persisting in the spiritual battle, especially when we are weary. He […]
Prayer and Praise
By Dr. Amanda McElroy Social media strikes again. A notification pops up on my phone: someone who cares is warning me that my company is being slandered on social media. My heart drops a little in my chest. My staff and I are intentional about striving to treat everyone excellently. My mind goes to “what […]