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I’m Celebrating Spring with Another Kindle Giveaway!

Hi friends! I finally decided to take the plunge and set up a Facebook Page. That way, I can post all sorts of interesting insights, articles, book recommendations, and other stuff related to the topics I address on this blog without turning my personal profile into something resembling Equality Depot. To get it going, I [...]

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Walking on Rough Waters

My friend Pam and I spoke at a women’s conference in Moose Lake, MN last weekend, about the “waves of adversity” we all face in our lives. I’ll be posting follow-ups for the next couple weeks, so the women who were there (and anyone who wasn’t!) can continue to chew on and discuss the topic. [...]

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The Worthlessness of “Good Christian Womanhood”: A Remix of Philippians 3

Precious friends, I hope you live your lives in the joy and freedom of Christ. But just in case you need a reminder, I’m going to say it again: Watch out for those mutilators of the feminine heart, those people who say you must do this, must be that, must change who you are and [...]

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I need your help! Who are your favorite bloggers?

Hey friends! I need your help. I’m trying my darndest to go girl-boy-girl-boy on the editorial calendar for the Equally Yoked series, since marriage involves both women and men, and gender equity is kinda the point. But apparently I know more female bloggers than males, and the submissions have been–well–not exactly equal. I’ll need more [...]

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I’ve Been Accepted To North Park Theological Seminary!

I got the call yesterday. I’ve been accepted into the M.Div program at North Park Theological Seminary, my denomination’s school! *breathes into paper bag* I’m elated. And terrified. And praying HARD for scholarships, so I can afford to do this without taking out more student loans than I can pay off before retirement. (Laugh if [...]

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And the Winner Is…

And the winner of the Kindle is… *drumroll* Anonymous, because my subscription service only collects email addresses, not names. (Oops. Note to self: switch over to Mailchimp before my next giveaway. How anti-climactic!) I’ve emailed the winner for their contact info (not to mention their name), and will get the Kindle shipped out, stat! Update: [...]

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Last Chance to Enter the Kindle Giveaway!

Hi friends! Just a reminder, today is the last day to enter the Kindle giveaway. Sign up for email updates for your chance to win! I’ll draw the winner from the January subscribers first thing tomorrow. (Well, actually, I will be using a random number generator to choose the winner. But yanno…) Same deal for [...]

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Secret Ingredients for Super-Powered Chicken Soup

Between holiday merriment, the traditional Thanksgiving sickies (my family always seems to get sick around Thanksgiving), and end-of-semester busyness, blogging has taken a backseat lately. I thought I’d pop in to say hi, though, and share my “recipe” for super-powered chicken soup, in case anyone else could benefit from a batch. (And I use the [...]

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Blowing Off the Least of These? Giving Autistic Kids the Resources they Need to Succeed

Last night, I saw a video of an 11-year-old autistic girl singing a duet with Katy Perry. As usual, I smiled as tears streamed down my face, feeling that bizarre mixture of trauma and joy, terror and heady hope, that I imagine is the secret companion of special needs moms everywhere. But last night, for [...]

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Talking the Talk Without Walking the Walk: What I Learned from Sheryl WuDunn’s Response to Sociology Snobs

Last night I saw Sheryl WuDunn, co-author of Half the Sky, speak at a local college. While it was fun to see one of my journalistic and humanitarian heroes in person, what I found really interesting were the questions people asked her during the Q&A following the presentation. Perhaps the college atmosphere played into it, [...]

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Look But Don’t Touch? Adultery Starts Small, and it Starts in the Heart.

Hi all! I’m vacationing in California right now, and am thrilled to be featuring some great guest posts this week. Today’s post is from my friend Connie Jakab, writer, speaker, and hip-hop dancer extraordinaire. Enjoy! In today’s society it’s socially acceptable to have a “look but don’t touch” mentality when it comes to our marriages. [...]

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Duluth Underwater: Pray for Flood Victims in My Community

It hasn’t been raining for 40 days and 40 nights, but it’s been close! My house out in the country is high and dry, but the mayors of the Twin Ports of Duluth and Superior have declared a state of emergency due to flooding. Please pray–for our people, property, and local businesses. I’m afraid there [...]

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Controversy, Bible Bullets, and Godly Conversation (repost)

Quick: what’s your opinion on gender roles? The debt ceiling? Gay marriage? Politics? War? Predestination? Before you blurt it out–stop. Just stop. Think for a moment about the words that are about to leave your mouth. Are they kind? Thoughtful? Honoring to God? Think about the person who is asking you the question; their background, [...]

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Happy Mother’s Day to EVERYONE!

“Can a mother forget the baby at her breast, and have no compassion on the child she has borne? Though she may forget, I will not forget you!” – God, Isaiah 49:15 Here’s to a God who loves us even better than a mommy, weeds and all!  

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#Kony2012, Sour Fufu, and All God’s Children

In case you’ve been hiding under a rock for the last few days and haven’t seen Invisible Children’s viral film about Joseph Kony, I’ll embed it here. Go ahead and watch it. I’ll wait… Of course there has been a flurry of negative responses to the video too, some of them very valid. But seriously? [...]

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Living in the Mess: The Problem With Outcome-Based Christianity

My post about the orphan crisis and world missions is up at Red Letter Christians today. I’ve always struggled a little with that post, feeling that it didn’t quite express what I wanted to get across, so imagine my delight when a commentor said something that clarified the issue for me. “I think something else [...]

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Pride and Prejudice: How We Sabotage Ourselves Into Silence, and Why

Can I make a generalization? Women sell themselves WAY short. To themselves, as well as others. I remember the first time I wanted to teach a Bible study (and I use this term loosely) for adults. I was petrified. I reasoned that surely someone else could do it better than me. (But nobody was offering [...]

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Kim Jong Il, Horton the Elephant, and Human Nature

I hope you all had a fabulous Christmas! I had a wonderful time, and even realized that is possible–and rather relaxing–to go over a week without opening your computer (as long as you’re on vacation)!  The bad side of that is that you’re getting this very timely guest post from the wonderful Tim about a [...]

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Lamb Tongues and Watermelon Seeds: How Do Different Cultures Read the Bible?

My crazy schedule delayed me posting this, but here is the promised guest post by my fellow Redbud Vivian Mabuni. It ties in with my previous post on Christ and culture, and raises the question of how our cultural lenses impact the way we read and teach scripture. I love Vivian’s perspective! Lamb Tongues I [...]

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Christ and Culture: Can You Tell the Difference?

‘Tis the season for frantic busyness, so I’m recycling a post that I wrote about this time two years ago. Tomorrow, I will be featuring a related guest post from my fellow Redbud Vivian Mabuni. How much of our belief system is dictated by scripture, and how much is dictated by our culture? Can we [...]

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But He Never Hit Me: How Should the Church Respond to Emotional Abuse?

Emotional abuse is one of those sticky topics that Christians don’t like to talk about a lot. We prefer to stick to clear-cut, black-and-white issues, and emotional abuse doesn’t fit neatly into the categories most of us are familiar with. (Although I would contend that it does–check out Colossians 3:8, Matthew 20:25-28, Ephesians 4:29…The list [...]

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If I Wanted to Destroy A Woman…

Today’s guest post is from my fellow Redbud Connie Jakab, a writer, dancer and Culture Rebel from Calgary. I’ve loved her posts on bullying, and asked her to write something to share with you. THIS is amazing and insightful: If I wanted to destroy a woman…. I wouldn’t use physical pain. Women can get through [...]

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Why I’m Not Here

Hi cyber-friends! (Doesn’t that sound a little bit like “Spider Friends?” I loved that show when I was little–but if you’re under 30, and have no idea what I’m talking about, just forget I said anything, okay?) I thought I should tell you (now that it’s halfway through the week) that my parents are in [...]

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Why I Am (Almost) a Pacifist: Liberia and the View From Under the Bed

Liberia has not been leaving me alone for the last month or so. I haven’t been there since 1988, since I was a confused, hurting 11-year-old with nut brown skin and white-blonde braids. But it has been chasing me down. I have a post up today at Red Letter Christians that explains my thoughts about [...]

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Urgent Request! Stop Child Trafficking in Haiti

Hi friends, I have an urgent request for you. Jeff Goins has been popping up all over the blogosphere for the last several months, but I remember him as the sweet, red-headed guitar player from one of the CTI Music Ministries teams my husband trained back in the day. A nice kid, real sharp, with [...]

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Steve Jobs and the Missional Mom: Why the Church Needs To Get “Crazy” Back

Helen Lee, author of “The Missional Mom: Living With Purpose at Home and In the World,” wrote a fabulous post today about how Steve Jobs relates to missional living. The world needs more of the “crazy ones, the misfits, the rebels, the troublemakers,” as Steve Jobs referred to himself. Missional living, in my mind, is all about [...]

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What is Idolatry?

From one of my textbooks, “The God of Promise and the Life of Faith” by Scott J. Hafemann: “…In other words, idolatry is the futile way of thinking that results from mankind’s failure to honor the One who has revealed himself through creation ‘as God.’ To honor something ‘as God’ is to recognize it as [...]

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Attention Farmville Addicts, Blogoholics, and Facebook Fiends! I Need YOU!

Hi all! Sorry to be AWOL for so long, but in the time since my last post I have: Gotten through the JAM and all its attendant craziness. Applied to (and been accepted to!) Northwestern College. (Paperworkpalooza!) Started two new, large-ish writing projects. It’s one of the writing projects that I need help with. It deals [...]

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Heard at my House

Clay: *frantic knocking* “Jamie! Jamie! You’ve gotta come help Grant!” My ears perk up as Jamie growls at his annoying little brothers to go away. Grant “Red alert! Red alert!” I run to the great room to find out who’s in life-threatening danger, only to discover it’s Mario, of Mario Brothers fame. Clay dashes to [...]

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Remodeling…

I’ll be making some changes around here over the next couple weeks. Hold tight, dear readers, and don’t be freaked out if you log on and find something that looks completely different. Thanks! Read more at http://jennyraearmstrong.blogspot.com.

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