This week on the podcast, Mark and I get to dive deep into our own story in an incredible conversation with Shivonne Davis. Recently, Shivonne asked if my husband, Mark, and I would be willing to do an interview with her for her online Masterclass summit called The...
Marriage is our passion. When Mark and I went through our marriage crisis now almost 10 years ago, we weren’t sure what the outcome would be. Trust had been broken. Tensions were high. (You can find the full story here.) But as we’ve experienced healing and now...
I remember sitting in the church nursery nursing my firstborn. Another mom and I were visiting as we rocked and nursed our little ones. “Are you praying for her future spouse?” the other mom asked me. I was surprised by her question. I had never thought to...
What if we could become experts at seeing joy in the mundane? Think about it. We’d likely learn to see the silver lining in the clouds. We’d identify blessings even in hard seasons. We’d view life through the possibilities rather than through the liabilities. I...
When my husband and I moved away from our hometown, my parents worried that their relationship with my kids wouldn’t be what they imagined. However, my parents did a fabulous job of staying connected to their grandkids despite the distance. Today we’re going to...
Mark and I have the opportunity to host marriage intensives in our home, and it is truly one of our favorite aspects of the ministry we do. Today I want to share with you why that is. Our marriage intensives are a 3-day marriage retreat spent at our home here in...
Dear Jill: Our adult daughter has chosen to walk away from the faith she was raised in and all that we taught her. She’s also come out as gay. I have grieved deeply, lost much of myself along the way, and find myself struggling to know how to connect with my daughter....
Have you ever wanted to write a book? if so, this episode is for you! Over the years, I’ve had the opportunity to author 14 books (still kind of crazy to think about, honestly!) and learned quite a few lessons along the way. There is rarely a week that goes by...
Your kids are spreading their wings and starting to head out on their own… Are you ready? Do you struggle to know how to parent teens at home and young adults away from home at the same time? Is it a challenge to find a good balance between boundaries and...
Mark: Have you ever felt like your spouse is slow at making decisions? Or have you ever been on the other side feeling like your voice isn’t being heard when a decision is being made? Do you ever sit down to have a discussion and end up arguing over whose...
Dear Jill, My daughter is heading off to her freshman year of college. There’s no doubt she’s going to do well. However, it’s me who’s a mess. She and I are very close and the loss is tangible for me. I’ve ordered your Empty Nest Full...
“I had cashed in all of these blessings, all of this protection, this institution and community that God had given me to be safe in. And I exchanged that for what I wanted, for my selfishness.” – Chris Teague You know, there is nothing better than a story...
Have you ever met someone and felt like you could talk for hours and hours, and especially if you lived closer, would be great friends? Well, that’s what I experienced in this conversation I had with Maggie Graham, a homeschooling mom of 11 children that today range...
Mark: When marriage gets stale (and it does for all of us!), there’s a temptation to check out. We reason that if it feels like our spouse doesn’t care, then we won’t care. Or we tell ourselves that we’re the only one trying and we’re...
A couple weeks back, Mark and I hosted our second annual Cousin’s Camp. I shared about it over on Instagram, and had so many people reach out interested in learning how to plan their own for their grandkids! I grew up around my grandparents and spent time with...
