Shortly after meeting Jesus as a college student, I learned that Christian women were expected, above all, to be gentle. Your beauty should not come from outward adornment, such as elaborate hairstyles and the wearing of gold jewelry or fine clothes. Rather, it should be that of your inner self, the unfading beauty of a gentle and …
Fruit of the Spirit: FAITHFULNESS
"But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control; against such things there is no law." Galatians 5:22-23 By Sunshine Metschke It was a season of deep sadness and grief. Our lives had just been turned upside down with a life-changing medical diagnosis. And as we were adjusting to the realities of our …
Fruit of the Spirit: GOODNESS
By Julie Luse I have to admit, as a kid I had a corrupt idea of what goodness meant. This could have something to do with my indoctrination into the myth of Santa Claus. As I understood it, if I tried harder I would gain my soul's delight, and this snitch Jesus guy was watching …
Fruit of the Spirit: KINDNESS
By Sheryl Murray “She opens her mouth in wisdom, and the teaching of kindness is on her tongue.” Proverbs 31:26 Be kind to your sister! Commit random acts of kindness! Thank you for your kindness! Kindness, like its more formal cousin, politeness, is the oil that makes a society run smoothly. To the modern ears …
Fruit of the Spirit: PATIENCE
By Julie Luse A brutally honest look at patience, and my lack thereof. I looked up some quotes on patience before writing this. Thought it would be a nice way to start. I was curious what ancient gurus and prolific writers have to say about it. I noted millions of quotes on patience. Everyone, from Saadi …
Fruit of the Spirit: Peace
Our fruitful summer of guest writers continues with Annie Rohde sharing this week. If you look back on the pictures I took my senior year of high school and freshman year of college, I am holding up a peace sign in 80-90% of them. One of my high school teachers gave me a book called …
Fruit of the Spirit: JOY
By Mary Wenzl “Joy unspeakable, joy unbelievable . . .” A remnant of a song runs through my head when I think of joy, but what do those words really mean? What is the definition of joy, specifically, Christian joy or divine /spiritual joy? Last week, Katie Kafka blogged about the first characteristic of spiritual …
Fruit of the Spirit: LOVE
By Katie Kafka At the top of a list of attributes there is love, followed by seven additional qualities that become the trademark of someone walking in freedom. Joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control; each one endearing qualities that this world needs more of and yet, love is at the forefront of …
The Secret to Fruit
“But the Holy Spirit produces this kind of fruit in our lives: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. There is no law against these things!” Galatians 5: 22-23 Today we start our new summer blog series diving deep into Galatians 5:22-23 as we discuss the Fruit of the Spirit. I’ve been thinking …
Humbled and Learning
By Jeanne Johnson This last semester of Equip Her I attended the class, “The Daniel Prayer,” a study written by Billy Graham’s daughter, Anne Graham Lotz. As I was praying about this blog, I clearly heard God speak. And, well, can I be real transparent? What God revealed to me hurt. I was sad, humbled …
Equip Her 