There’s value in taking time to re-evaluate and ponder what someone’s words could have meant before criticizing them. We should listen to a person’s story before voicing our counsel, and hear what others may have to offer for advice first. 

I fear vomiting. I have my entire life. Yet God has proven faithful time and time again, even though I continue to struggle with this overwhelming fear.

Dear Seasoned Woman, the truth is I actually don’t know it all. I can gain some knowledge through Bible study and reading solid books, but there is a special kind of wisdom that comes with experience that I can never fake.

My anger acts in a similar way at times. It screams and refuses to be overlooked until it gets what it wants. It demands to be noticed. What do we control our anger when it demands its way? How can we submit it to God’s commands to be patient, loving, and kind? We begin in our hearts. 

In her book Idols of a Mother’s Heart, Christina Fox sets out to help mothers recognize the idols they have stored away in the corners of their hearts. But she doesn’t leave us mothers there with a pile of idols to clean up on our own—she guides mothers how to turn from those idols and back to God.

In motherhood, there are many things I want control of. I want to control my child’s health and safety. I want to control their future happiness. I want to control their behavior. I want to control their salvation and ensure that they become believers. Yet I need to entrust those to God.

How do we encourage and counsel one another in killing sin? We avoid becoming graceless judges, be a merciful siblings, and dodge vicious dogs and trampling pig. 

Decision-making can fill us with anxiety. What if I make the wrong choice? Sometimes we extend the necessary time to make a decision out of fear. What if I told you that as believers we have God’s Word as a perfect standard to bring our questions to? What if I told you that despite what you choose, it is still entirely in God’s hands?

God commands us to be quick to hear, slow to speak, and slow to anger—we are to study God’s Word with eagerness, patience, and diligence before teaching it to others, and accept what it teaches us rather than rebel in anger. Unsure how to do that? Here are a few steps you can take each time you prepare to teach on a passage of Scripture.

Does motherhood feel more fearful that joyful? It did for me, and here’s how God comforted me in my unending anxiety.

First time pregnant wife, do you know the guilt of having a messy home but being too tired and sick to clean it? It doesn’t need to stay this way. I want to offer you true change and hope from the Bible that I had to work through in those early months of pregnancy as a housewife.

My dear sister who loves theology, I must ask: Has this knowledge and theology changed you yet? Has your abounding comprehensionfound its way to your heart so as to shape your life? Do the words you speak, the thoughts you think, the actions you commit represent the information in your mind?

What’s wrong with self-sufficiency? The problem is that we are far from capable of doing it all on our own. This misplaced desire to be self-sufficient causes a number of problems: legalism, broken community, and idolatry.

Though I now laugh at my childhood (and adulthood) paranoia, many of us fear our own death. We consider this a normal fear—and if someone didn’t share in this fear, we may consider them odd. But does the Bible promote this attitude? Perhaps we should consider our fear and see what God’s Word has to say about it.

We want hope that will help us persevere in the suffering that will inevitably come. But for our hope to do this, it needs to be set on something. Friend, which kind of hope do you have? Is your hope sure, or does it only lead to more pain and anxiety?

As well as we know the sting of the unfaithfulness of others to us, we also know of our own unfaithfulness. Who can be trusted? If even those who love us most will still be unfaithful due to their sin, and we ourselves cannot be trusted because of our sin, is there anyone who we can look to that will be steadfast?

In a perfect world, social media would be a place of smiles as we connect with friends and share memories. But we don’t live in a perfect world—we live in a world tangled in the thorns and thistles of sin. And in this world, social media can be a place where anxiety flourishes.

Have you ever compared your suffering with the suffering of others? My grief isn’t as bad as hers. Yet your suffering is minimized, and true sorrow is neglected rather than tended to.

What we don’t think about is the possibility that we may not always enjoy motherhood. That motherhood isn’t all bliss and sloppy kisses. I experience days like this, and I know the only thing sustaining me is the grace of God. If motherhood has taught me anything, it is that God will hold me fast. 

Though I told people I lived a healthy lifestyle in order to tame my anxiety and to make me feel better, that wasn’t my true motivation. I was motivated by idolatry. Any motive or desire left unchecked, whether godly or vain, can become an idol—something more important than loving and obeying God.