Brie Gowen

If they’re quiet, hug your spouse. If they seem down, hug them. If they’re happy as a lark, hug them. If you’ve had a fight, hug them. If you want to make-up, hug them.

I have noticed an outbreak that is moving way faster than COVID-19, and it’s wreaking more havoc than Ebola ever even thought about.

Satan wants us tired, worn thin, and stressed. He wants us in debt up to our eyeballs, and our health failing because we can’t sleep enough, eat right, or handle our stress effectively. He wants us busy, but not productive. He wants our plates full, but our tank empty. We're not even trying to take a stand. This is hard stuff to think about. It’s taking everything we’ve called "normal" over the past few decades or more and realizing that it’s actually destroying the family unit.

"I think my stepdaughter might have assumed I changed my shirt because I’m old (in her eyes), and old moms don’t wear 'sexy' stuff. Or maybe it was because I was married to her dad and didn’t need to look sexy anymore. And while it was true that I respected her father, that was just the tip of the iceberg."

So many of us desire to be used by God, but then we say “well, except for that, Lord.”

Don’t miss the victory He has promised in your life. Don’t draw back your hand until the end.

"I don’t want you to be like her. I created you to be you. The things you see as flaws, I put those there. I thoughtfully formed your crooked nose and short legs. And even the flaws that the world has harshly placed upon you, I can work with those too. Don’t doubt what I can do."

I love my children so much, but if I’m laying it all out for you… sometimes I want to kill them. Like, shaken child syndrome, kill them.