• Uncategorized

    When we disagree …

    I was reading through some of the overtures for this year’s General Assembly (our denomination’s annual gathering) and even as I continued to pray for our leaders, my heart began to sink at the incendiary language in some of the proposals. Having nothing personally to do with any of the conflicts, my hair STILL stood up on the back of my neck as the adrenaline began to flow. I feel the same “sick in the pit of my stomach” feeling when I talk with (or receive emails from) women who have been hurt (terribly!) by our beloved pastor overseers. Life hurts! Terribly! ESPECIALLY when we are suffering at the hands…

  • Uncategorized

    Hi! to Delaware / Philly / Maryland

    Just a quick note to say hello to my new friends in Delaware (where I taught, right?), Philly (airport arrival & departure), and Marlyand (where I’m pretty sure I slept)! It was wonderful to spend time with you all — and I do hope that we will stay in touch via this blog and our (hopefully improving!) discussion boards too. For those of you who placed “orders” (when we ran out at the booktable), please know that they have ALL been shipped out — some on Monday and the rest on Tuesday. I hope the (biblical! practical!) resources are a blessing to you and your families. You guys blessed my…

  • Uncategorized

    Peacemaking for Toddlers & Preschoolers

    I received this email yesterday (the most recent one in a number of similar inquiries) and I’m thinking that I might try to put some proposals together for books for toddlers and preschoolers that emphasize peacemaking and relationships. Here is the email: Hi Tara, I pray you are doing well this afternoon. Thanks for all the work you do to share the work and ministry of peacemaking women with all of us… I’m thankful for what I’ve learned from your ministry. Hey, I’ve got an idea for a topic that might be a great future book, discussion topic for your discussion board, blog entry, whatever. I’ve got three daughters, ages…

  • Uncategorized

    DISCUSSION BOARD!!!!

    Hey!! We have a VERY VERY ROUGH DRAFT not thought through JUST getting started DISCUSSION BOARD for YOUR brilliance!!! 🙂 Check it out: Our Peacemaking Women Discussion Board And then let me know how to make it a GREAT place for women to gather share wisdom encourage one another in REAL relationships biblical peaceamking etc. etc. etc.   Great theology! Practical help! Heartfelt and prayerful encouragement! I’m psyched to work on it — but I can’t get to it this week. (One more trip out of state and then I get to be home for more than seven consecutive days — whoo hoo! It’s been months since I could say…

  • Uncategorized

    Advanced Retreat?? PLEASE Share Your Wisdom

    OK, OK — better to post this on our discussion board … but since it’s not live YET … 🙂 Would you please share your wisdom with me? I’ve received a few requests for a FOLLOW-UP (or second) RETREAT … That is, churches or ministries have had me out for my “standard” women’s retreat (see Speaking Events for more details) and THEN they are interested in inviting me back. (Super fun! What an honor!) Here’s the scoop … I’m trying to figure out what a “follow-up” or “second” or “advanced” retreat might look like. I have some ideas, but I’m thinking that it will take some serious prayer and thinking…

  • Grace in Daily Life

    Nightmares

    What is it with nightmares?? I just had one last night and I woke up quite disturbed … Like most of the ones I have experienced, this one had just enough truthful reality to feel very, very real. Sort of like a scary story … you think, “This COULD happen. Maybe this IS real!” (Sort of like “The Da Vinci Code” that I see tucked under arms in airports all the time.) How grateful I am that real Truth is a Person.   And because of His perfect life, atoning death, and saving resurrection — I need not fear. Perfect love casts out all fear, right? (1 John) Thank God…

  • Hope in Suffering

    On Suffering …

    From the end of the Ravi Zacharias International Ministries devotional email this morning … Corrie Ten Boom (a woman who was no stranger to suffering) writes, “God has plans—not problems—for our lives.” Amen! Amen!   (To subscribe to this devotional, send an empty email to: slice-html-subscribe@lists.rzim.org. I don’t have time to read anything extra! But this I read every day M-F. So good! Thank you, Dr. Zacharias! 🙂 )  

  • Singleness & Marriage

    What would I do if my husband were unrepentant?

    I was looking for an old email this morning and I came across this letter that I had written in response to a dear, precious, godly, wise woman who was struggling in an unhappy Christian marriage. Since I’ve already posted some blogs on ‘Miserable Christian Marriages’, I thought it might be helpful to share this letter with you. Hope so! (Please note that OF COURSE, all identifying information has been changed to protect her confidentiality. I’ve also deleted some of the letter because it was not directly relevant to this topic and I’ve also taken the editorial liberty of adding some clarifying details.) — Dear Patricia, Thank you for sharing…