Wow! It’s already February! We enjoyed a full but fun January. How did your January go? Today is my monthly Friday Favorites post where I share my five favorite things from the previous month. Creating a Vision Board, Unscripted, and Refuel Conference are just a few of my favorite things from this past month. Read on to see what my other favorites are. I’ll also share about a book I read this month.

It’s that time of year when the weather is cold, we don’t see much sun, and we are often stuck inside. This is the time of year people struggle with feeling down. The winter blues are a reality for so many.

If you haven’t picked a Word of the Year for 2022 yet, no worries! There is still time to pick your word. I first learned about the Word of the Year concept in 2018. Several of my friends had one and I wanted to know what the hype was. I learned that a Word of the Year gives you a growth focus for the year.

Let’s use God’s Word to pray over our children as they head back to school. This is one of the most powerful ways we can pray. I created the Back to School Challenge to lead us through 21 days of praying over our children.

The Lord says, “I will guide you along the best pathway for your life. I will advise you and watch over you.” Psalm 32:8, NLT “Put your left leg in the stirrup, grab a hold of the saddle, and swing your right leg over.” The horse barn worker made it sound so simple to get up on a horse. With the grace of a cowboy--oh wait, I mean a cowgirl!--I made it to the top of the horse.

About a week and a half ago, I got my third tattoo. I believe that tattoos tell a story. In my case, tattoos are a marker of what God has done in my life. At each turning point in my life or a big shift in perspective, I enjoy having a spiritual marker of some sort. Over the years it has been a bracelet, ring, necklace, or a verse on a plaque to remind me of what God has taught me.

Guest Post by Micah Ruth He heals the brokenhearted and bandages their wounds. Psalm 147:3 I sat outside my shed that beautiful June morning to heal from the wounds in my past. God had asked me to take a week off to reflect on the wounds I had been trying to hide. It had become all too clear that stuffing them into the corners of my broken heart was not working. A new trial our family was going through that season had just bubbled them all up to the surface again.

Keep on praying. I feel like this should be a song or something. An anthem. A reminder to keep on praying. Why? Because prayer is powerful. The Bible is filled with Scriptures about the power of prayer. When we keep on praying, God uses our prayers to move mountains, to change hearts, and to draw us closer to Him. Today, we are going to talk about one way to keep on praying for your children.

It’s hard to believe that this year is almost over. I don’t know about you, but 2020 was a really different year. It went really slow but also at points really fast. Next week, the year 2021 begins. Before you jump into the new year, I encourage you to take some time to reflect on 2020. On the blog today, I share seven questions to reflect on the year and my answers to each.

I absolutely love Christmas for so many reasons. The first reason is that we celebrate Jesus’ birth. He stepped down from heaven so that we could have eternal life. Now that’s the greatest gift of all. I also love Christmas because of traditions.