• Relationships & Peacemaking

    To not refuse counsel …

    I was incredibly blessed (and helped!) by all of the people who took time out of their busy schedules last week to help me with my dvd project. (Thanks again, all!) But I’ve been reflecting for the last few days on how it was HARD to receive the … well … constructive criticism. Even from friends! Dear, wonderful, giving, wise, loving FRIENDS who I HAD APPROACHED and ASKED for their counsel. (!!) Isn’t that just crazy? (OR … isn’t that just a great example of our depraved hearts and how desperate we are for Christ?) Anyway … thankfully … God graciously gave me a teachable heart and I SLOWED DOWN…

  • Sin & Repentance

    The scarlet “D” …

    This morning, Fred will again teach our church’s teenagers on the topic of financial stewardship. (I continue in my role of “color commentary” and “case study of what NOT do to as a young adult concerning money.”) To prepare, Fred not only prayed and studied Scripture, he spent a lot of time looking at online loan calculators, investment return resources, and other sites that might help him illustrate his teaching point. Looking at all of those topics related to DEBT truly reminded me of the old “Scarlet D” I used to wear on my chest … How, when I met Fred in grad school, in addition to the “Scarlet A”…

  • Uncategorized

    The only enduring motivation …

    I thoroughly enjoyed reading Jerry Bridges’ book, “The Gospel for Real Life: Turn to the Liberating Power of the Cross … Every Day” and I wanted to share a brief quote with you: “The gospel believed every day is the only enduring motivation to pursue progressive sanctification. That is why we need to ‘preach the gospel to ourselves every day” Amen, Mr. Bridges! And thank You, God, for giving us the grace to believe Your gospel!   Blessed, Happy Saturday to you all– Yours, Tara B.  

  • Uncategorized

    Bathroom Re-Do is (almost) Finished!

    Well–we still have to wrestle with some sealants around the new sink … and the hinges are giving us a bit of a struggle … BUT … I am so happy to report that our BEDroom is toilet free for the first time all week (hooray!) and we’ve officially moved out of the basement bathroom. (Oh–as an aside–it was GREAT to use our guest bathroom all week because we discoverd some things that must have been SOOOOOOOOOOOO inconvenient for our guests. (Like the shower head that was SO not working properly. Eeeeek!) But now we’ve fixed ’em, so that’s great.) Anyway … I thought you might enjoy some before and…

  • Uncategorized

    Email is STILL on the FRITZ!

    Hey friends! Please note that my email accounts at tarabarthel.com are STILL ON THE FRITZ. So if you’ve sent an event inquiry or conciliation form–I probably have not received them. Fred spent an hour on the phone with technical support yesterday and he’ll wrestle with them some more this morning … But in the interim, please re-send anything you may have sent to tara “at” tarabarthel.com using my JUNO or YAHOO accounts.   (tarabarthel “at” juno.com or tarabarthel “at” yahoo.com) SO SORRY for the inconvenience! Happy Friday and God bless you– Tara B.  

  • Uncategorized

    Second Draft of DVD Session Titles & Descriptions

    I received some GREAT feedback and got rid of the “stodgy theological terms.” 🙂 !! So here is my second draft. Thanks for letting me know what you think! Yours, Tara B. Becoming Who You Already Are—Living Life Wholly Defined by the Gospel 1. Who is God? I know how to say all the right things about God … but how do my thoughts, emotions, and actions reveal what I really believe about Him? What does the Bible say about Who God is? And why does it matter? 2. Who am I? Often it seems like I am defined by the jobs I have, the feedback I receive from other…

  • Uncategorized

    Would YOU come to this study? (Or send your daughter, wife, friend?)

    (As previously mentioned) … my January 31 deadline is LOOMING and I have to finalize the twelve 30-minute sessions for my DVD project (that will be recorded/produced in March). In order to IMPROVE MY FEEBLE EFFORTS, I would LOVE to hear your thoughts on my first draft attempt at organizing the ‘flow’ / order of the 12 sessions. Specifically: 1. What do you think of the CONTENT? (I tried to include the topics that I thought were indispensable for such a resource for women—but what do you think?) 2. What do you think of the TITLES/DESCRIPTIONS? (Would you want to attend? Would you want your wife/daughter/friend to attend?) Please respond…

  • Uncategorized

    Please re-send any emails!

    I’m having MAJOR email troubles to my “tarabarthel.com” email accounts. So if you’ve sent any emails or speaking/conciliation forms–PLEASE RESEND THEM. (Or if you want to be super-careful, please send them to tarabarthel “at” juno.com. Just replace the “at” with the @ sign –I’m trying to avoid SPAM.) I’m so sorry!  Ahhhh–technology. Thanks, friends! — tkb  

  • Uncategorized

    WATCH THIS SPACE!

    Do you ever see billboards that say that? “WATCH THIS SPACE!” (To try to entice us to CHECK BACK once the advertisement is actually there.) Well … if you’re a “check Tara’s blog once a day” kind of person, I’d like to ask you to pretty please CHECK BACK later on today. My DVD session titles are due to the producer/director/whomever is doing all the hard work on this super-fun-but-VERY-HARD-for-“never done this kind of thing before Tara”–and I would REALLY love to hear your thoughts. Remember … I’m taping my first DVD series this MARCH in South Carolina …12 thirty-minute sessions that will hopefully be useful/encouraging for small groups /…

  • Relationships & Peacemaking

    Why some of us don’t have friends …

    Would you like a sweet reminder of what Christian friendship looks like? Are you curious as to why some of us don’t have friends? If so, please take just a few moments this morning and read this essay by Betsy Childs: Side by Side (Again, the writers at Ravi Zacharias International Ministries have hit it out of the park with their daily devotional.)   I’ll tempt you with just a few lines: “We must resist the temptation to hope that our friends will come to depend upon us and instead hope that knowing us will help them become more dependent upon God. If you have been on the receiving end…