Happy New Year! 2025 is especially exciting for our family because our daughter graduates high school this spring! As a homeschooling mom, this is extra exciting for us all! Since 2012, I have sought the Lord for a word of the year and an accompanying verse. Some years, the word comes easily, and others require […]
Read More A Mystery Worth Pondering in 2025I’ve meant to write an update on The Bible Recap (TBR) for months. I am still keeping up with the plan and enjoying it very much. It is a chronological Bible plan to complete the Bible in one year. I access the plan through The Bible App but check out https://www.thebiblerecap.com/start to learn more. The […]
Read More Update: Day 348 of 2024I never intended to be away this long. I have been busy with life, ministry, and fostering kittens. (The last kitten went to its forever home this morning.) I’m still enjoying The Bible Recap and just finished Day 181! My daughter’s junior year of homeschooling kept us quite busy. In addition to homeschooling, I facilitated […]
Read More I’m Back! (Update)I wanted to share some of my thoughts about my experience with The Bible Recap (TBR) since January 1st. I’m enjoying it and learning a lot. I was a little nervous about reading three or four chapters of scripture daily. I understood it thanks to staying connected to the overarching theme of scripture and the […]
Read More Update: 18 Days Into 2024 & Tending My Heart MoreHappy New Year! It is the first day of 2024, which can bring various feelings, depending on the previous year and your emotional state. I’m recovering from a cold that passed through our kids and, despite my best attempts at immune-boosting supplements, rudely interrupted my weekend. A slower pace after the busyness of Christmas and […]
Read More Tending the Garden of Our Heart More in 2024Today is Reformation Day, often overshadowed by other cultural festivities that involve costumes and candy. 😀 On October 31, 1517, Martin Luther released 95 powerful statements defending authentic Christian faith against misleading religious practices. His actions inspired countless believers to pursue true repentance and a biblical foundation for their faith. Luther recaptured the biblical view […]
Read More Don’t Forget to Celebrate ThisThese are sobering times to be alive as the cosmic struggle between good and evil, as laid out in the Bible, is displayed. As Western Christians, we have primarily lacked the understanding of the Bible, how it relates to current events, and where the world will end up. Contrary to popular belief, the Bible has […]
Read More Pray for Israel: How To Resist Fear In Troubling TimesI love words, as most of us who write blogs and share our thoughts and observations do. I am such a visual learner, so I prefer seeing the words, then only listening to them. However, I know there are many (two in my household) who have had a complicated relationship with words due to learning […]
Read More The Call to Serve: Will You Join Me?Have you ever felt like you “stumbled” into something only to find out later that God chose you for it? That’s how I feel about discovering Song of Songs and its life-changing message, which led to this blog, Secret Spring. It was a slow process of progressive revelation, and after eight years, it is starting […]
Read More Pregnant With Purpose: What Are You Carrying?I have been most excited to share this goal because I believe it is at the heart of this community and truly sets it apart. Secret Spring comes directly from Song of Songs 4:12. It is about the journey of the Shulamite growing in her relationship with Jesus and discovering His passionate love for her […]
Read More Goal #3: Living with Purpose & PassionPlease take a moment and think of a Christian you respect and admire, someone worthy of emulating for how they follow Jesus. Seriously, picture this person and think about their testimony. I’m guessing they have walked through challenging seasons and overcome a thing or two or ten! They paid a price for the wisdom they […]
Read More Goal #2: Resurrection Power & SufferingI don’t watch the news, but plenty of negative reports flood social media about all the bad in the world —what the enemy is doing. The world’s cries flaunt death, turmoil, chaos, wars, and rumors of wars ad nauseam. It is far too easy for even Christians to get caught up in the current negativity […]
Read More Goal #1: Boast In Jesus & Grow In KnowledgeIt has been in my heart to share my hopes for building a community of believers in Jesus to encourage each other to go deeper and after ‘the more’ of God so we can better serve our families, churches, and spheres of influence. I am a member of a beautiful, life-giving, Christ-honoring home church (North […]
Read More Vision: More Than a Blog, Building A Faith CommunityI’m convinced now more than ever that Christians need accurate theology and biblical understanding for this unique historical time. We need to clearly understand the worth of Jesus and give our full yes to following Him no matter the cost, like true disciples. Claiming the name of Christ is an act of war in the […]
Read More The Reality of Spiritual WarfareIt’s so easy for Christians to be overly focused on who we are as people in the natural that we forget the reality of who lives in us and that we have been born again as a new creation in Christ (2 Corinthians 5:17). We are NOT who we once were, and that is why […]
Read More Reflections On The Fire WithinEveryone has a breaking point, which is good and necessary for maturity in Christ. I know because I have been broken, shattered beyond what I thought was repairable. Something happened when I realized I was in a process beyond my control. I surrendered to Jesus in a new way, yielded because I had come to […]
Read More Reflections On Reaching A Breaking PointWay back in high school, I remember when they took the roof off of our house and added three bedrooms and a bathroom. The framing of this new level went up before our eyes, and it was so exciting to see so much progress so quickly. Then the windows went in, and the siding went […]
Read More Tips For Remodeling Your Interior WorldI was listening to the newest album released by Jesus Culture entitled Why Not Right Now? and was stirred by an interlude by Corey Russell. He shared that God honors hunger and that those who hunger and thirst for righteousness shall be filled (Matthew 5:6). In Matthew 5:3, it states, “Blessed are the poor in […]
Read More How Needy Are You?This morning I was reflecting on how quickly life flies by. It led me to remember a quote from Ferris Buehler’s Day Off. “Life moves pretty fast. If you don’t stop and look around once in a while, you could miss it.” Ferris Buehler It’s too easy to get caught up in the busyness and […]
Read More Do You Need To Slow Down?The older I get, the more I cherish quality food. When I was young, I rarely enjoyed eating and only ate because my body required it. I was too busy playing soccer or softball. When I became a Christian at age 18, during the fall of my first year of college, I quickly discovered spiritual […]
Read More How Hungry Are You?Our church, North Jersey Vineyard, has a beautiful tradition of having Pastor Charles recite one of Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King’s sermons in character for our sermon. Rev. King preached the scriptures and the gospel of the Kingdom of God unapologetically when it was not easy but necessary. It was so powerful to hear his […]
Read More MLK: Carrying on His Quest for Truth and JusticeIt doesn’t require a prophetic gift to discern all of the problems and evil in our world. Now, more than ever, it is clear that we are not living in neutral territory. This raging war is of biblical proportions: between good and evil, light and darkness. For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, […]
Read More Bearing Fruit from the Past Three YearsI have allowed the craziness to push me closer to Jesus and understanding who He is and the Kingdom of God that He reigns and invites us to reign with Him. I can’t be passive or casual with faith in these times. I must be rooted deeply in the Word of God so the circumstances […]
Read More My Response to Living in an Unraveling WorldThe doorbell rang in the hustle and bustle of returning home and in a race to make a quick dinner to ease my teenagers’ hunger. It was October 31, so we assumed there were kids dressed up in costumes seeking candy at the door. Surprisingly, a neighbor dropped off money for our son, who had […]
Read More A Tale of MeatballsAs a newlywed, I was captivated by the nurturing of a mother bird raising her young right outside our first humble apartment. We even rescued two baby birds on separate occasions, a starling, and a sparrow, when discovered on the driveway with no nest in sight until they were mature enough to be released back […]
Read More Locking Eyes with Momma CardinalWisdom says that we must have rest and play to offset all the hard work and stress from our daily lives. This has been increasingly important as stress levels have exponentially increased due to the pandemic and other stressful world events. We all must find a few ways to relax and fill our “emotional tanks” […]
Read More What Puzzles Taught Me About Kingdom Living
A Secret Spring 