The gospel brings freedom and perspective to our holiday traditions as we intentionally choose what and how to celebrate in our homes.

The gospel frees us to chase after godliness and growth each new year without tying our identity or worth to our own performance.

When the holiday schedule gets overwhelming, reexamining the purpose of parties and our own family’s needs can help us decide what gets our “yes” or “no.”

With the gospel as our foundation, we’re free to enjoy the extra trimmings and traditions of Christmastime as biblical wisdom and personal conscience allow.

Historical church traditions can be helpful for intentionally weaving the gospel into our homes, but we can each exercise our convictions with freedom and grace.

As we enter into joyful celebrations with our children, we can reflect God’s overflowing heart of grace and delight towards his children.

Scripture helps us cultivate hearts of thanksgiving and worship to God, even through times of trial.

Mother’s Day can be a time to mourn over what is broken, rejoice over what is good, and look forward to God’s final redemption.

Resolutions can help us change, but only God can make us new.

Celebrating abundance can make us feel our lack and loss more deeply. But even in grief, we can give thanks to the Lord.

It doesn’t take long for us to realize that our fairytale visions of marriage are just that—a fairytale. In real life, marriage tends to be much harder than we imagined. But it can also be much richer. Here’s good news for real marriages.

October 31st is marked by falling leaves, buckets of candy, and adorably dressed children parading down neighborhood streets as animals, a favorite character, or, as I was for many years, a pumpkin. The anticipation of the 31st begins as early as stores release costumes and candy corn in the late summer months. But the 31st actually marks two holidays, and one – though lesser known – is extremely significant and exciting for all Christians. The final day of October is known as Reformation Day, where a surprisingly monumental decision was made in a little town in Germany in 1517 that would impact generations. And this year is the 500th anniversary.

Maybe you’ve never heard of Reformation Day or maybe you’re wondering how this relates to motherhood in 2017. Here’s really brief history lesson: