Just for Women 2021 Archives

This Light: Emmanuel

I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will never walk in darkness, but will have the light of life (John 8:12).

Melissa Troyer is moved by a family and church celebration of Jesus as the Light during Advent season and reflects on what this means to us all.

12/23/2021 by Melissa Troyer

Mothers Pray for Their Children

What is more powerful in shaping the heart and faith of a child than a mother who prays for her children?

Melissa Troyer shares a prayer all mothers of deep faith can pray over their children, and the children of others.

12/02/2021 by Melissa Troyer

Stooping to Serve, Not to Shame

God brings me to my knees, both in honesty and in choosing joy, as I pick up a careless mess made by the precious, but oblivious little stampede that lives within my walls.

Melissa Troyer shares the worship in stooping to clean up the messes that are part of a mom's everyday experience with little children she is trying to mold into followers of Jesus.

11/02/2021 by Melissa Troyer

Melissa Troyes writes with beauty about God’s touches of grace on a trip to New England with her family as she wrestles with the grief over an aunt who is gone too soon and the uncertainty of the future of her family and where they will live.

10/12/2021 by Melissa Troyer

Run Away Like Jonah Days

Perhaps the biggest gift of

Melissa Troyer is having one of those days where you want to run away and hide and yet has a young child that demands attention, driving Melissa back into the strength of God!

09/14/2021 by Melissa Troyer

Made for This!

All too often we cringe at the role we find ourselves filling, and filling beautifully, when in fact this is the role God made us to fill!

Melissa Troyer writes about the challenging realities of the roles we have to play and have to fill and then wonders, and embraces, that maybe these are exactly the roles God has made to embrace and fill.

08/31/2021 by Melissa Troyer

A Breathtaking Mystery

The more I discover, the vast possibilities ahead yawn even wider before me.

Melissa Troyer reminds us of the breathtaking partnership we have with Christ to remain in the process of transformation.

08/10/2021 by Melissa Troyer

Where to Reach

I knew the picture looked different zoomed out.

Melissa Troyer reminds us of those mistakes made by our little ones when they are in their early exploration modes and how our job is not to load them down with rules but to show them where to reach.

07/20/2021 by Melissa Troyer

I Remember Mimi as the Fireflies Dance

I still remember the feeling of holding my mouth perfectly still while she put lipstick on my lips, the smell of the old wig on my head making me want to sneeze.

Melissa Troyer shares her memories of her grandmother, Mimi Margaret, and tells her children about the safest place of her childhood.

07/06/2021 by Melissa Troyer

This Sanctuary

I think if I had known all we would face, I couldn't have breathed. Except for one thing. God would be with us.

Melissa Troyer writes powerfully and poignantly about the journey she and her husband, Daniel, have traveled to live love and mission and family, together, finding God as their sanctuary.

06/08/2021 by Melissa Troyer

What Really Matters

What would you take if our house were burning down, and, if everyone were already out of the house?

Melissa Troyer reminds us that things are just things, but if we have people we love then we have what matters most!

05/25/2021 by Melissa Troyer

Please...

Stop trying to be 'every mom'!

Jordan Harrell leaves us with a powerful and beautiful reminder of God only calls us to be who he made to be in the situation he placed us!

05/04/2021 by

When Easter Feels Messy

Maybe your Easter was picture perfect and everything you hoped it would be. Or, maybe you found yourself too far away to see or hear anything clearly.

Melissa Troyer shares her busy and messy Easter morning when she arrived in a mess and exhausted from the messiness of the morning only to meet Jesus there.

04/06/2021 by Melissa Troyer

Let Love Lead the Way

We all need to spend days in a rock tumbler, thrown and tossed against other hard objects till our broken edges are softened and our hearts are reawakened.

Melissa Troyer reminds us that the only way out of the mess we now find ourselves in is to start our own movement of grace.

03/23/2021 by Melissa Troyer

To the Girl on the Elevator

I wish I could have hugged the girl on the elevator.

Teresa Bell Kindred shares an emotional story from her experience caring for her husband in his two-plus month battle with COVID-19 and invites us to pray God's blessing into the life of an unknown young wife whose husband is in ICU.

03/09/2021 by Teresa Bell Kindred

I'm Done and That's Good!

Instead of getting frustrated and pushing the assignment, I sat down with him at his desk in his superhero bedroom.

Christine Derengowski writes frankly and truthfully and encouragingly about dealing with our superheroes who have had to conquer forces unseen before for school kids in this crazy COVID world!

02/23/2021 by Christine Derengowski

Because You Know!

God says: 'There is no race too long, no wall too high, no gap too wide, no shattered thing too broken to strip you of my HOPE.'

Jordan Harrell reminds us to not listen to the lies of Satan but instead remember who God is, what God has done, and what we know of God, and trust God's voice and not the lies of our circumstances, problems, pandemics, or hopelessness.

02/09/2021 by

In the Face of Uncertain Odds

Don't focus on the building waves or let the pitching boat convince you otherwise.

Melissa Troyer reminds us of Jesus who brings peace in the worst of storms, both the early disciples in a boat and us in our troubled world.

01/26/2021 by Melissa Troyer

Escaping the Dark, Lonely, Hole of Depression

Find someone you can talk to. Don't wait any longer. Get the conversation started!

Teresa Bell Kindred opens up about her struggle with anxiety and depression, a secret hidden in her family for multiple generations, and she urges us to open up and get help.

01/12/2021 by Teresa Bell Kindred