Being Thankful as a 5-year-old
By Joy Miyake My son just turned five. Every time my husband and I look at him, we muse to ourselves, “When did this happen?” We know that the...
The Power of Verbally Expressing Gratitude
One morning, as I was moving clean plates and utensils back to their respective places in the cabinet, I found myself saying, “Thank you!” to each...
Trail Prepared by God
By Mark Sano In November, my family went hiking with 3 other families in western WA area. The hike took place during a rainy season when it rained...
Serving Together With God
By Mark Johnson Families or individuals who serve as a way of life usually do so due to the example that their parents, family members or mentors...
Putting Love into Action in the Community
By Mike Yakawich My wife, Yukiko, and I have raised five children in Billings, MT. We had a wonderful journey living on the South Side where Yukiko...
12 Days of Christmas
(Photo Credit: Shutterstock) I remember vaguely hearing that the 12 Days of Christmas was a hidden code for Christian teachings. Like most people, I...
Attitude of Gratitude
By Keith MacMurdie The attitude of gratitude or the state of being grateful in all circumstances is an important component in our life of faith and...
Gratitude in the Month of November
By Karilee Aoki This year, November has arrived in full Seattle fashion -- grey skies with a 100% chance of rain. We had many more puddles and more...
The Thank You Letter
A heartwarming story by Jane Cabrera that reminds children and adults alike that there is so much to be grateful for in each day, if we just keep...
True Love Is Living in Service to Others
By Alan Inman ALIVE is the name of the organization in Alexandria, VA that for 25 years has served food and other care to those that have found...
Building the Foundations of Freedom
Six Boy Scouts were getting their Eagle – the highest rank for the Boy Scouts of America. It was a long day. At the close of each ceremony, two...
Building a Family that Serves Together
Reflections by Nathan and Maruko Breland We can’t help but feel that God designed the family to serve the world together. When a family serves...
“I AM GOD’S MIRACLE!!”
By M.M. God makes miracles happen.I am 11 and I know I am God’s miracle.And I want to tell everyone, we are all GOD’s miracles! Every single one of...
Investing in Something Lasting: Lessons from Cow Herder Huts
Photo Credit: Keith MacMurdie You see them frequently dotting the fields in Montana: uninhabited wooden huts rotting away in the sun and snow. You...
We All Need God
I want to make a case for why we need God. It’s quite simple. When I see my son growing up, I had a deep realization that for men, they need someone...
Carry Your Filters with You Every Day
We went camping last summer. It was a campground with no running water, no electricity, and no Wi-Fi or cell phone coverage. We had to drive 30...
Plugging into God’s Plan and Power
By M.T. One Sunday service was about “five percent responsibility”. My mother was trying to explain our responsibility to connect to God’s plan and...
Discovering Gems
By T.K. A mom friend recently lent us a book on gemstones. When we got home, my kids eagerly went through each page, exclaiming over their favorites...
Sunday Best
I used to think dressing up on Sunday was overrated. Too much trouble for too short a time. My mom and I would always fight over what I would wear....
A Global Revival
By H.T. Did you know? COVID-19 started a revival. The global pandemic forced us to reach out to God, seek out His Truth, His Love, His Goodness, His...
Life Lessons from the Road
I don’t like driving. But I value the many lessons that driving has taught me. Here are seven. Maybe you can relate with a few of them. 1. Remember...
Studying God’s Loving Design: Caterpillars
If you do a Google search for “caterpillar to moth”, there are nearly 150,000 videos. And there are almost half a million videos of caterpillars...
How a Millenial Gamer Came to Know God
By Nathan Breland It is said that God works in mysterious ways, and while I don’t want to discredit that perspective at all, I would also like to...
Tending Our Gardens
We have a beautiful yard at the house we are currently renting. I always feel it was clear this was a haven of beauty and serenity for the previous...
I Want to be like Simon Cowell: Seeing and Drawing Out Innate Potential
I just want to share a link I hope you all will find as inspiring as I have: Simon Cowell’s Top 4 “I Know What I’m Doing” Moments This is Simon...
Finding God Every Day
By Ken Bates I’ve never seen a golden stairway into the heavens, or radiant angels with impressive wings. No booming voice from the clouds that...
Letter to My Children
My dear children, This world is not the world I wished you would have to grow up in. I look to the future, and sometimes it looks so uncertain. I...
Raising Our Children to Become Co-Creators
We are raising co-creators. So let’s let God’s creativity shine. Parents are such a big part of nurturing this. Parents encouraging creativity is...
Inviting God in for a Run to Remember
It’s hard running in the winter, especially living so far up north. It’s cold, and while it never quite snows, it’s always damp, and oh so dark. But...
Going Beyond Mindfulness
"Gratitude can transform common days into thanksgivings, turn routine jobs into joy, and change ordinary opportunities into blessings." (William...
A Testimony of True Love
By Dennis Jamison Not long ago, I described an experience to some people in which I was awakened at about 2 AM. In the fog of my mind, I noticed an...
My First Encounter with the God of Love
This is a short excerpt of an interview Rev. Chung Hwan Kwak had earlier this year. In this excerpt he shared his first encounter with the living...
The Living God is Always with Us
By Howard Self My name is Howard Self. I was asked to share some testimonies about God’s presence and work in my life. As I reflect on my life, I...
Potty and Perfection
My son is in the middle of potty training. He is getting pretty close to achieving “fully trained” status, but not quite at 100%. We started with...
A Thanksgiving You Can Trust
By Kenneth Bates There are certain things you can count on. Spring follows winter, every dark cloud has a silver lining, and what you give out comes...
The God of Creation and Me
Clear skies during the Northwestern Autumn are few and far between. Last night, the thunderstorms in the morning had cleared just long enough for my...
Pink Donuts and Finding All the Ways We Can Be Grateful to God
We hadn’t gone to 7-Eleven in a while because of the quarantine. But on the way home that day, we decided to stop by to get my little girl a treat....
Start With Making Your Bed: Taking Time to Build Good Habits
“If you want to change the world, start off by making your bed.” These words from Admiral William H. McRaven at a commencement ceremony made such an...
5 Ways Your Family Can Carry on the Spirit of the Memorial Day Holiday
We have always celebrated heroes throughout human history. In stories and in real life, those we consider ‘heroes’ have always been the brave men...
Change Your Context
Our family recently moved to another country late last year. It was a move from one of the most developed nations in the world to perhaps one of the...
Easter, Passover, Ramadan: Faith Traditions and God
April is a special month for many faiths. Holy Week begins with Palm Sunday into Maundy Thursday, Good Friday, ending on Easter Sunday. The Jewish...
Nurturing the Heart of Service
10 Service Project Ideas to do with your family during COVID-19 to help your community Service projects can be such a beautiful learning tool. Your...
Try, Try Again
Parents, Be Ready to Fail a Few Times and Get Back Up Be Ready to Fail a Few Times and Get Back Up It’s easy to give advice, harder to take your...
The Hard Thing About Easy Things
In a time of “life hacks” and all the alluring conveniences we see cropping up in every corner of our lives, it becomes ever more important to step...
Discussion and Activity for the Family: Who Am I?
Part 1: Identity, Meaning and Purpose Do you know who you are? Why would knowing “who I am” be important to how we live our lives? Consider this...