by Janel Breitenstein | Aug 16, 2016 | closeness and intimacy, discouragement, encouragement, faith, methods, practical, prayer, prayers, Questions to take your relationships deeper, rest, time alone with God, time management
Go for a different form of fasting. You might fast from that particular sin, worry, or burden whose tangle you just can’t seem to comb from your brain. You might choose a fast of simplicity, where you take your schedule down to the bare bones, or step away from all...
by Janel Breitenstein | Aug 12, 2016 | Africa, challenging, current events, difficulty, poverty
It’s a bold team, considering the climate of politics this year. Well. It’s a bold team, considering the brash confrontation of reality required for these athletes to simply step onto the stadium’s spongy track there in Rio. After all, beneath whose flag would they...
by Janel Breitenstein | Aug 9, 2016 | challenging, difficulty, discouragement, encouragement, enduring love, failure, faith, fear, God's will, Marriage, Marriage Revolution, relationships, staying in love
I think perhaps a reader phrased it best a few weeks ago: [My husband] and I have wrestled with our “calling” to adopt years ago. We clearly felt it, and we have second guessed it almost every day since then, wondering what were we thinking? Did God...
by Janel Breitenstein | Aug 2, 2016 | Africa, beauty, faith, Gratitude, Home and Hospitality, prayer
The landscapes of my childhood are so different from those I view through my artfully barred windows. Instead of the lush, rolling hills carpeted with banana trees—Lake Victoria a slice of silver peeking from the top—our farmhouse rested in the center of miles of...
by Janel Breitenstein | Jul 30, 2016 | beauty, faith, fear, guest post
It was my freshman year of college. I stood nestled in our college choir with the second-altos, clad in a uniform dress that somehow carried the ability to transform my appearance into that of a black olive. The first few notes of the piano introduction were lilting...
