Just for Women

The Hands that Helped Formed Me

It's not in my most mountain top moments, but in the desolate, agonizing ones of inability where I've found that infilling.

Melissa Troyer shares the challenging and agonizing and glorious moments of giving birth through several difficult deliveries and remembers all the key people who have formed her into the woman she has become.

05/28/2024 by Melissa Troyer

A Mother's Day Surprise

What is the best you can do today on Mothers' Day?

Some surprises on mother's day are not wanted.

05/12/2024 by Alan Smith

They Danced!

They danced while still not knowing exactly where they would even sleep that night.

Melissa Troyer reminds us of the importance of marking each stage of our deliverance and our journey with God, with joy and dancing!

05/07/2024 by Melissa Troyer

The Vast Sky Was My Teacher

The vast needs that spread wide before us? They are already in His hands.

Melissa Troyer draws on her life of experiences with the vastness of our universe and her need and thanks God for always knowing and seeing and caring and planning for us.

03/05/2024 by Melissa Troyer

The Blessing of Raising Teens?

Parenting teens is one of the best, hardest, most growing things I've ever done.

Melissa Troyer is back living in her crazy world with grace and reminding us that raising teenagers can be embraced as a grace from God despite being hard if it calls us to look at our brokenness and weak place.

01/16/2024 by Melissa Troyer

It's the Little Moments

He grasps those little moments so well. Pulls the kids close, chooses to go play frisbee or a game of Uno, just because.

Melissa Troyer writes insightfully about her husband, Daniel, and his way of seizing small moments to be there for his family despite being in a very stressful time in grad school.

12/05/2023 by Melissa Troyer

In Everything Give Thanks... in EVERYTHING!

And there I began hunting out places of worship through tears of joy in pain.

Melissa Troyer reminds us that giving thanks -- and finding reasons to give thanks -- is a decision we make every day in all circumstances, especially when it is hard to be thankful!

11/21/2023 by Melissa Troyer

The Mystery of the Fall Season

God is inviting us to grow, to let Him cultivate deep and unseen yet intimate connection through those 'barren

Melissa Troyer reminds us that fall beckons us to grasp the last beauty and color of the season before winter overtakes us and to celebrate God's goodness in the changing of the season.

10/17/2023 by Melissa Troyer

Gardens All Along the Way

It is the glory of God to unveil His mysterious ways to us, one day, one garden at a time.

09/05/2023 by Melissa Troyer

Where the Lines Blur

But here in the place where lines blur, between land and sky, that small fold between day and night, the very place where great danger lies, it is here where we experience God's presence like never before.

Melissa Troyer is on the road with her family visiting West Texas where she was raised and she and her family encounter God in an old rest stop where earth and sky meet in a glorious gold, pink, and orange reminder of God's presence.

08/22/2023 by Melissa Troyer

Until...

I dreamed of traveling the world, getting married, and sailing off into the horizon. And I am, only it's a whole lot nittier and grittier than I imagined.

Melissa Troyer looks at her life, the gray in hair, the wrinkles around her eyes, and reflects that things are not quite what she dreamed, but then, in a way, they are better and God is not through with her yet.

07/11/2023 by Melissa Troyer

We Were Made for This!

There are a million little moments that really matter, and you DO have what it takes to give.

Melissa Troyer shares her heart about the strength, faith, and love that it takes to get through hard things and hard times together.

06/20/2023 by Melissa Troyer

Real Peace

Do you know peace in your life?

Do you know peace in your life? Or, do you find your days filled with conflict? Are you often belligerent and contentious with those around you? Find real peace in Jesus.

04/18/2023 by Melva Cooper

We'll Never Be Happy Here (And That's Okay)

We love glorious moments, but they don't last that long... until, with Jesus, they last forever.

Michele Howe reminds of that glorious moments are precious and fleeting, until they last forever with Jesus in glory.

02/21/2023 by Michele Howe

Considering Valentine's Day

So what's really the deal with Valentine's Day?

Sarah Stirman talks about Valentine's Day and what it means to be really in love and to share love.

02/14/2023 by Sarah Stirman

Hope in our Messy Days

Parenting cuts deep to the core. It lays open our needs before God, and we can either resent it or embrace the powerful cleansing that comes from God's purifying fire

Melissa Troyer reminds us that life's messes should drive us to our knees and open our hearts to the love, grace, and freedom of God!

01/24/2023 by Melissa Troyer

At the End of Ourselves

Why do we limit our lives to the mundane of only what we can see? Why, oh why, do we cling to safety over being truly alive?

Melissa Troyer talks about coming to the end of our own abilities, resources, and power to fix ourselves, our problems, and deal with our difficult situations on our own, and then we ask for help and prayer.

10/18/2022 by Melissa Troyer

Sky, Dirt, and Dreams Unfolding

Buried deep in the earth of our hearts, God has buried dreams and hopes. While they lie under the surface, they ARE there.

Melissa Troyer shares her insightful, home-loving momma whose meditations about life, family, and faith help us grab what is most important in life.

08/02/2022 by Melissa Troyer

Peace in This World?

We were not created for war, fighting, and death. No wonder our souls gasp for justice and a peaceful community.

Melissa Troyer reminds us that our world is broken and full of chaos, but we can find peace in this world in Jesus.

07/12/2022 by Melissa Troyer

Our Holy Mundane

Children, chores, and never-ending responsibilities bring opportunities to turn our selfish hearts back to God.

Melissa Troyer writes about the pressures of daily life for a mom whose husband is in P.A. school, money is tight, and children are calling, all the while Jesus is near.

06/14/2022 by Melissa Troyer

Behind the Well-Known Story, There’s More

God places value in our journey and the discovery of age-old truths that are vibrant and life-changing for us here in our specific new season.

Melissa Troyer writes with her unique and young mothering grace as she discovers new truths from an old familiar passage to discover, old stories have new truths when we come with fresh eyes and from a new place in our lives.

05/24/2022 by Melissa Troyer

Hearing Silence

It's good to embrace seasons of quiet.

Melissa Troyer urges us to listen to the silence so we can hear the voice of God calling to us in the gentle slosh of the paddle slide through the water and the whisper of a gentle breeze.

04/19/2022 by Melissa Troyer

To Your Advantage?

It was in the middle of one of these nitty-gritty down-to-earth conversations between Jesus and His disciples that He fleshed out the secret.

Melissa Troyer reminds us of Jesus' strange promise of going away being better for His disciples than staying with them.

03/29/2022 by Melissa Troyer

But God!

In a world swirling with heavy clouds and looming headlines, we mothers hold a massive opportunity!

Melissa Troyer looks at everyday life, her children, and the horrifying images and videos and cries of mothers and children, and sees an opportunity to teach our children to say, But God!

03/15/2022 by Melissa Troyer

Hope Is

Hope is the life in our veins, the breath in our lungs and the courage for tomorrow.

Melissa Troyer looks at our cold world as we ensure the cold of later winter and trust life will come back in the Spring and reminds us to trust life is coming.

03/01/2022 by Melissa Troyer