Turn Your Mess Into Your Message

How did you get started speaking and writing? It’s a question I’m asked quite often. Honestly I kind of came in through the back door. I wasn’t looking to speak or write but with the growth of the Hearts at Home conference, I was given the...

New Years Eve and did we miss you?

So tomorrow is New Year’s Eve. Tonight Erica listed off the multiple invitations she and Kendall received to New Year’s Eve parties and then asked if we could care for  our granddaughter, Marie, for the night. Mark looked at me and said, “So Jill,...

The One Question You Must Ask Yourself Today

It was a suggestion Dr. Kathy Koch made at a Hearts at Home conference that changed my after school question. Instead of asking, “How was your day?” I began to ask, “Who were you today?” Because our daughter, son-in-law, and granddaughter live...

Love Lived Out

Today I have the privilege of encouraging several hundred aspiring writers and speakers at the Proverbs 31 She Speaks conference in Concord, North Carolina. As I was preparing my keynote message for the writers today, God inspired me to drill down I Corinthians 13 to...

I Want All The Answers NOW!

I first met Karen Ehman 23 years ago when she had registered for the first ever Hearts at Home conference and I was reviewing some of her registration info on the phone. I covered my questions with her and then suddenly she gasped. You see she was pregnant, due any...

What Easter Is All About

“I just can’t believe your skin can stretch like that!” my husband declared one day in my ninth month of pregnancy.  Honestly, I couldn’t believe it either.  I was long past being able to see my feet, my ankles were swollen, and I was definitely feeling like a beached...

Are You Looking At Life Through A Peephole?

Today’s post is from Julia White, an energetic warrior mama who loves to inspire the hearts of women with faith and encouragement. When Julia is not running back and forth to her two kids’ activities, she loves reading, music, and sharing stories with friends....

Be Still and Know

It all started with the Willow Creek Global Leadership Summit in August. Several speakers talked about the value of getting alone with God.  However, it was the statement that several speakers made about “not being able to hear God until the 3rd day,” that...

Quote of the Week

“Today is mine. Tomorrow is none of my business. If I peer anxiously into the fog of the future, I will strain my spiritual eyes so that I will not see clearly what is required of me now.”                                                                        ...

Quote of the Week

“Extraordinary moves of God begin with ordinary acts of obedience.”                                                                  ~Steven Furtick

Doubt’s Path to a Deeper Faith

Have you ever experienced doubt in your faith journey? If we’re honest, I think many of us do! Today’s post is from Ann Sullivan, the author of Permission to Doubt: One Woman’s Journey into a Thinking Faith. I met Ann years ago when she was working...

The Human Side of Easter

Every author has one or two of their books that are personal favorite.  My book Real Moms…Real Jesus: Meet the Friend Who Understands is one of those for me. It came out of a dark season of my life where I felt like God was so far away.  Because I love...

Why God Does Want Your Messy Heart

Today’s post is from Maggie Paulus’ new book, Finding God at the Kitchen Sink: Search for Glory in the Everyday Grime. This is a book that  just causes you to exhale…I’ve never read a book that actually destresses me while I’m reading it....

Got an organizing tip?

Over the holiday break I cleaned out my pantry for our new healthy eating journey. (More about that later!) When I was trying to figure out what to do with my aluminum foil, saran wrap, wax paper and such that had been taking up precious storage space on my pantry...

Exercise Your Grateful Heart

Do you have something you find yourself complaining about a lot? Is there a stress in your life that doesn’t seem to go away?  Do you have one person who will be coming to Thanksgiving dinner that just grates on your nerves? How about a hard place in your life...