​Dear Moms and Dads,

As your kids prepare to go back to school, there's one preparation a lot of us forget. It's the reminder that every life counts.
Teaching our kids that every life counts is a reminder to our children to stick up for the kid on the bus or playground someone else makes fun of. It's as easy as teaching our children a simple phrase: "It's not ok to treat anyone that way."

My daughter told me one girl on her bus told another girl, "I can't be your friend if you're going to treat people that way." That's another great line.

Every life counts means finding the lonely kid in the lunch room and asking your friends to sit by him or her. At the very least it is taking the time to make eye contact, smile, and say, "Hello." Even better is saying a quick prayer that God would send a friend to that person.

Every life counts means helping the child with special needs. There was a special needs girl in my daughter's choir class one year. My daughter helped her figure out which song they were working on, and kept her on track.

Every life counts means trying to love the bully. My son was having a hard time with a boy on his bus. The boy made it his chief goal and object to annoy my son the whole way home. I suggested my son get on the bus, ask the boy how his day was, what subject he was struggling with, etc. It's not so fun to pick on a friend, and sometimes bullying is nothing more than a cry for attention.

Every life counts means teaching our children that teachers are people. It can be easy for our kids to discount older teachers who aren't as hip or into technology. It's easy to dislike a "mean" teacher. It's easy to talk badly about the new teacher fumbling around a bit. Now is the time to teach our kids that every teacher deserves our respect and honor and our prayers.

Being pro-life isn't just about caring for unborn babies. It's about caring for and about every life at every age and stage.

God bless your year.

Author: Amber Swenson

​Amber has a Bachelor of Fine Arts in Creative Writing and Literature. She has authored four books; two of them (Bible Moms and The Whisper Theory) are in print and two (The Bread of Angels and Ladies of Legacy) are in various stages of publication. Both her Bible studies and her novels are written in an effort to bring single, married, young and older women to a closer relationship with their Savior Jesus Christ. She also authors a weekly blog found on facebook under "Bible Moms" or at "biblemoms.wordpress.com".

I came across this music video recently. Thinking about our clients and how they have the same basic need as all of us...grace. Enjoy watching "You Are More" by Tenth Avenue North.

Author: Philip Meinel

A man who enjoys seeing the talents God has given utilized for His purpose.

My wife and I attended a wedding recently, and we both really liked how the pastor explained true love. Interestingly enough, the dictionary doesn't even have the definition of true love as one of the options under the word love. So the pastor offered up this definition in response to how God describes and demonstrates love.

Love is an action done on behalf of another.

We see the actions of God's love for us:

For God so loved the world that He gave His one and only son... John 3:16

But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us. Romans 5:8

He [the Father] will give you another advocate to help you and be with you forever— the Spirit of truth. John 14

So we reflect that same love back to God and to others:

This is love for God: to keep his commands. And his commands are not burdensome... 1 John 5:3

This is how we know what love is: Jesus Christ laid down his life for us. And we ought to lay down our lives for our brothers and sisters. 1 John 3:16

May God bless you and all those around you, as you read His word, remember His love for you, and share that love with those you know. You may also seek out new opportunities to share God's love. May you follow the Spirit's promptings, and find true joy, true peace, and true love in Him.

Again Jesus said, “Peace be with you! As the Father has sent me, I am sending you.” John 20:21

Author: Philip Meinel

Discovering ever more depth, height, and breadth of love in the cross of Christ. 

​Feeling sure that she stuck out like a sore thumb, she walked into the market, expecting any pair of eyes to be on her pregnant belly. That’s why she’d come so early – to avoid the crowds. Less eyes to see and judge. After several months of carrying a child – who the media and medical journals were telling her to just call a fetus – the shock and surprise had given way to fear and dread long ago. Her boyfriend had jumped ship as soon as she told him the news, and she’d never felt so alone. All she could think was it would just be too much to handle. After all, she had friends with kids and they seemed overwhelmed and inconvenienced by having children to take care of. Wouldn’t it just be the same for her? Wasn’t it the same for everybody, even if they wanted theirs?

Later, while she stood there checking egg cartons for the ones without cracks, these worried thoughts persisted. Then she heard a chorus of voices approaching from the next aisle. A mom pushing a cart full of groceries approached, with one toddler in the cart seat, and another trailing noisily behind on foot. Two kids, she thought. Man, that looks rough. 

“Evelyn…” the cart-pushing mom called loudly, but patiently. “I can’t see you back there, catch up!”

A third little girl skipped out from around the corner of the last aisle, and joined the rest, whining about wanting Fruit Loops this time. 

Ok, so it’s three. Even worse, she thought. How does she do it this early in the morning?

As she stood there, trying not to stare, but certainly no longer concerned with eggs in her hands, she watched this mother of 3 carry onward, then past her, then down the next aisle, then around the bend out of sight. The mother of 3 looked tired, and probably hadn’t taken more than two minutes on her makeup today, but her body language didn’t say defeat. Her words to her children were gentle and patient, even though firm. She tussled the toddler’s hair, held #2’s hand with her pinky while pushing the cart with her free hand, and when the straggling #3 caught up, her reprimand had been “I love you too much to lose track of you in here,” not “Why are you being such a brat?!” like some moms yell in stores. That mom of 3 had it together. 

Somehow, today, her eyes and ears were more open. So was her mind, and her heart. Something about this mother of 3 spoke to her. Maybe it’s not all bad, for all of them. Maybe it doesn’t have to be as horrible as I think. Maybe I could be a loving mom like that, in spite of the stress…. Maybe I could do this. 

Her mind was a buzz as she toyed with thoughts more curious than foreboding while finishing her grocery shopping. And when she got to the checkout, guess who was in the lane ahead of her. Mom of 3 was just putting the final bag in the cart and taking the receipt when she looked back, saw her, and noticed the baby bump. Mom of 3’s face crinkled with a smile that seemed to say Well, good for you! and then she was gone, out the door with her little noisy entourage of energy.

Hm….Good for me? Maybe…. It seems good for her. 

Walking in the grocery store that morning, her plan had been to go to Planned Parenthood next and consult about a possible abortion. Walking out, though….her plans had changed. Her heart was starting to change too. Maybe there was room in there for a child after all.

What if you or me could be the reason for a story like this? What if we who are parents chose to work on fashioning a view of our station as parents that emanated “It’s good for me” instead of “Man, what a burden!”? What if those who are single or are without children did what they could to uplift the prospect of having children before the eyes of society? 

Friends, we need to sell children! Wait, that came out wrong… What I mean is, we need to sell the idea of having children – as a great thing! And we need to sell it big! We need to all be like those celebrities or paid actors on commercials who endorse a product because it’s worked for them. We need to offer our own life situations as glowing testimonials for how parenting is not only NOT a horrible, scary, or burdensome thing – but a blessing! 

Because we never know who’s watching. 

Yes, we may have a hard time remembering that while we go through our busy weeks with screaming babies who are teething (like mine is now, plus colicky), fighting brothers, tattling sisters, the runaways, the don’t-eat-supper-ers, and the ones getting quite the attitude because they’re getting older and they know they’re smarter than you give them credit for. But even though all these hardships, and many, many, MANY more come with the territory of pregnancy and raising kids, we can still maintain a positive attitude and fight to keep our hearts light about the gift that children truly are. 

There can be thankfulness and joy over the kids we have been blessed to bring into this world. Why not think of them as essentially care packages sent down from the Lord of Heaven, to bless with something wonderful and memorable during this life – a legacy of our own! And no matter how these children come to be, we can focus on the beauty of life as miraculous design of the Creator himself. It’s possible to see children in this way, and we must see them this way so it can show before others!

We all know how hard the devil is working to use brokenness and sin in our communities and society to send the opposite message, and convince others that death is better than life. But our consistently joyful mindset and desire to raise great, godly children will send the right message to our world – a message direly needed to be broadcasted everywhere we go!

Our testimonials sell the awesome blessing of children. Let these testimonials-in-action be seen everywhere, and let them be real!

Because you never know who’s watching. ​

Author: Jeff Ulrich

Father of three, working on his selling points...

I know what it is to have an unexpected pregnancy. I was thirty-two years old and had three other children when I found out I was expecting another. 

I was already tired, overwhelmed and burdened by motherhood. I loved my children for sure. It’s just that they had so much energy, and an insatiable thirst for exploring and running and being read to and that meant I had to explore, run and read.

And then there was the embarrassment of the question that always followed when people found out we were expecting: Was this planned?

 We had been married long enough to know how things worked, and yet, somehow here we were, red-faced without a good answer. 

And then there was the pregnancy. I thought maybe if this pregnancy was God’s decision and not mine it would be easy.

It wasn’t. 

An eighteen inch rainfall left our basement flooded and after working all night to mop water down the drain and out of the house I started to feel weak, then feverish, then I developed a cough. 

It would take four months to be properly diagnosed as having walking pneumonia, and in that time I went from being an active mom to being a mom who couldn’t move off the couch and who was awake more of the night than asleep as coughing fits left me unable to lie flat in bed.

When it finally came time to give birth my baby nearly died. She was being strangled and the cord had to be cut even before she was delivered, and then her little face was bruised and puffy, and all that bruising led to jaundice and extra days in the hospital. She failed to thrive and didn’t eat. My milk didn’t come in. And if that wasn’t enough she couldn’t see. For six weeks we waved our hands in front of her little eyes and there was no reaction, only a blank stare. 

This pregnancy from God seemed more like a cruel joke than a gift. Except…

God was there every step of the way and God’s people restored my faith every time I started to lose hope. 

People I didn’t even know that well showed up at my door with meals, others sent notes letting me know they were praying, still others used every opportunity to encourage me and remind me something special was happening (when I didn’t see anything special happening.) 

When I lamented to a friend that I had no endurance and was weeks from delivering a baby, she sent me a necklace with a cross on one side and the word “Believe” on the other.

And when we finally admitted to our family and friends that we thought our baby couldn’t see there was weeping and praying, adamant praying, followed by eyes that were opened and a child who suddenly blinked as something came near her. 

I came to understand firsthand why the body of Christ is ever hopeful about the unborn: 

God doesn’t make mistakes.

There has never been, nor will there ever be a “blob of cells” that mistakenly attaches to a womb. There is only life breathed into being by God Himself. Scripture tells us as much. 

We’re told in the second chapter of Exodus that God allowed the midwives to conceive. In Genesis 20 Abraham’s wife Sarah ended up in a harem and God closed the wombs of all the king’s household until Sarah was safely back where she belonged. The accounts of Sarah, Rachel, Hannah, Elizabeth and Mary the mother of Jesus all show a divine plan when it came to conception.

David, inspired by the Holy Spirit, penned, “For you created my inmost being; you knit me together in my mother’s womb” (Psalm 139:13).

That little speck in your womb that wreaks havoc on your body is nothing less than the handiwork of God.

And it is the job of the body of Christ, EVERY MEMBER OF THE BODY OF CHRIST, to remind every woman carrying a child that she is blessed …

even if it’s unplanned,

even if circumstances aren’t ideal,

even if the mother is not in good health, and

even if the child has a defect. 

 My fourth child is a constant reminder of God’s goodness. We prayed for her to see and God gave her spiritual insight. She’s got a tender heart and a fierce temper. She runs harder and longer than any of my other children. She’s a mess maker who with a profession of love still brings tears to my eyes.

In short, she is a gift from God, a gift I didn’t know I needed. She shows me often that God blesses us with riches that have nothing to do with money, but that are far more valuable. 

So dear reader, whoever you are: If you have a child inside of you know you have been touched by God. He is the creator and sustainer of life. He does not make mistakes. And from my experience if there’s one thing that can make less than ideal circumstances better, it is to surround yourself with Christian friends who will remind you of the goodness of God in the moments when you can’t see it, and who will give help you find your hope in God in your most hopeless days.

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Loving Moms is growing & changing! We are seeing more moms, and want to enrich and maximize our time with them, so that we are truly helping transform families.

• Starting in June, the Tuesday group will be held every week.
• Classes on Tuesdays & Saturdays will begin at 10:00am
• A light lunch/brunch will be served each time. 
  
• There will be informal Jesus activities in childcare.

Can you help? More assistance will be needed for the Loving Moms. Perhaps you could work this into your schedule:

• Provide or serve simple refreshments (ideas: little sandwiches; mini-subs; bagels & fruit; cheese, sausage, & crackers; baked goods).
• Help with childcare activities.
• Help with the moms in class & shopping in boutique.
• Find out about being a substitute class leader.

​To find out more, talk to Pat Johnson (Pat@pregnancy-counseling.com, 414-416-9648).

Pregnancy declares war on your body. Babies bring sleepless nights. Toddlers ruin shopping trips. School-age kids whine; teens declare war on you. 

Honestly, why does anyone want a child? 

It's true that pregnancy brings its share of  issues; from nausea and vomiting, to weight gain, cramping, and discomfort. But it's also true that there is nothing quite like the feeling of seeing your child on that ultrasound. Our first child was obstinate. She wouldn't let the sonographer get the pictures he needed. Our second was sucking his thumb. Our third child waved and the fourth smiled. It was so cute we added it to our Christmas cards that year. 

When the baby hiccups, moves or kicks you are intimately involved. In fact, when the baby is born it knows the mother's voice and smell. He or she knows you. 

There's nothing quite like the unconditional love of a baby. Yes, their tiny stomachs need food every few hours, but when they see you for the first time, cuddle into you, and move their little mouth, you melt in a way you never have before. 

And when they fall down after their first wobbly steps and scrape their knee, they look to you. 

And yes, toddlers press the limits, but they also open your eyes to the beauty of everyday things you take for granted. They notice the flowers and the clouds and the sparkle in the grains of sand. They jump and dance in the rain you see as inconvenient and marvel at the glimmers in fresh snow. 

When they start school your heart breaks just a little. Oh, you are happy they are there to learn, but you are entrusting your child to someone else. There will be the tears of anger and grief when another child hurts your child, but tears of joy as they come home and read their first sentence to you. 

And there will be the teen years that your child suddenly thinks the world should dance to their beat, but there will also be the times you sing and dance and laugh together. 

And the day comes, (though it seemed for years that it would never come) when all the time and love and work you invested becomes more than you could have imagined. And your child, though still your child, is now your friend.

Motherhood is so much more than morning sickness and labor and sleepless nights. It is so much more than whining and crying and rebellion.

It is a new way to experience love, incomparable to anything you've ever experience, and incomprehensible. 

The only thing that comes close is the love God has for us. Despite our weaknesses and  failures, He's still happy to call us His. Despite our temper tantrums and rebellion, He's still there.

If motherhood has come to you, you are blessed indeed. Every season brings blessings and curses, but your momma heart will never be the same. And it's a good thing.

Author: Amber Swenson

Amber has a Bachelor of Fine Arts in Creative Writing and Literature. She has authored four books; two of them (Bible Moms and The Whisper Theory) are in print and two (The Bread of Angels and Ladies of Legacy) are in various stages of publication. Both her Bible studies and her novels are written in an effort to bring single, married, young and older women to a closer relationship with their Savior Jesus Christ. She also authors a weekly blog found on facebook under "Bible Moms" or at "biblemoms.wordpress.com".

​My chronological Bible combines the teaching of Matthew 22:34-40, Mark 12:28-34 into this:

One of the teachers of the law came and heard them debating. Noticing that Jesus had given them a good answer (concerning resurrection), he asked him, “Of all the commandments, which is the most important?”

“The most important one,” answered Jesus, “is this: ‘Hear O Israel, the Lord our God, the Lord is one. Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength. The second is this: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself. There is no commandment greater than these.”

“Well said, teacher,” the man replied. “You are right in saying that God is one and there is no other but him. To love him with all your heart, with all your understanding and with all your strength, and to love your neighbor as yourself is more important than all burnt offerings and sacrifices.”

When Jesus saw that he had answered wisely, he said to him, “You are not far from the kingdom of God.”

It’s not often Jesus is impressed with the answer of another. He was impressed because the teacher understood that loving God and loving others was more important than sacrifices and offerings.

We can live a moral life and completely miss loving others. We can put our time in at church and neglect a lot of people outside the walls of our congregation.

The parable of the good Samaritan shows the priest and the Levite (two moral men) walking past the man in need.

I can avoid the news, especially that heartbreaking news about people living in poverty, or children being sold into sex trafficking, or the disabled being abused in my own community, numbing myself with the lie that I can’t do anything to stop it.

I pass judgment on the child who is prone to disobedience or annoying behavior instead of loving them and meeting them with grace.

I let political arguments put walls between people I should be working with and become the reason I quit talking to others.

Where is the love that surpasses experience, disagreement, and my own arrogance to reach another?

It’s found in Christ. He didn’t mind talking to the outcast by the well and often found himself in the homes of “sinners.” His abundant love was available for whomever was ready to accept it.

Messy love can only happen with a dose of the Holy Spirit working in and through me. I want to be in the thick of God’s rule not only in my heart, but in my little section of earth, too.

Author: Amber Swenson

Amber has a Bachelor of Fine Arts in Creative Writing and Literature. She has authored four books; two of them (Bible Moms and The Whisper Theory) are in print and two (The Bread of Angels and Ladies of Legacy) are in various stages of publication. Both her Bible studies and her novels are written in an effort to bring single, married, young and older women to a closer relationship with their Savior Jesus Christ. She also authors a weekly blog found on facebook under "Bible Moms" or at "biblemoms.wordpress.com".

​

There’s a video going around social media. Maybe you’ve seen it (if not, you can watch it here.) It’s about why wedding rings are worn on the fourth finger. I’m not sure if it’s the actual reason, but it sure does bring home a point. When your hands are put together as shown in the photo you are able to separate your thumbs, (symbolizing your parents-”for this reason a man shall leave his father and mother” Genesis 2:24a) your index fingers (symbolizing your siblings) and your pinkies, (symbolizing your children) but try as you might, your ring fingers are stuck together. (symbolizing you and your spouse-”and the two shall become one flesh.” Genesis 2:24b) 

Our family tried this one night around the dinner table. My daughter pointed out that when your middle fingers (symbolizing yourself) are tip to tip (above others and your relationships with them), your ring fingers easily come apart. But when your middle fingers are down (serving others), your ring fingers are glued together.  “Therefore, what God has joined together, let no one separate.” Mark 10:9

Wow! What a picture of marriage. How close a husband and wife become. Not just physically, but in all areas of life-emotionally, financially, intellectually, spiritually, even recreationally. So close, that it takes a ripping of the flesh (and the heart) to separate them.  

Sometimes, as a wife, I get selfish. I put myself above my husband. Sometimes I put myself before my children, my parents and my sibling. Sometimes I like to think about what I want and need. Why didn’t they call on my birthday? Why aren’t they coming to visit? Why isn’t he coming home? Why don’t they just listen to me? Don’t they love me? It’s times like that when all the relationships in my life suffer, but especially my marriage. When I’m thinking of myself, my husband doesn’t look so good. But when I put myself last-let Christ fill me and let His love shine through me-it’s amazing how great my future looks! Empowered to take on challenges, able to see the blessings in the unexpected, willing to listen to my God and follow His lead. A marriage built on Christ is good indeed.

So what does all this have to do with living pro life?

“Two are better than one, because they have a good return for their labor: If either of them falls down, one can help the other up, But pity anyone who falls and has no one to help them up. Also, if two lie down together, they will keep warm. But how can one keep warm alone? Though one may be overpowered, two can defend themselves. A cord of three strands is not quickly broken.” Ecclesiastes 4:9-12

Unexpected pregnancies happen. They even happen within a marriage. An expectant mother with support is far more likely to carry her child. Maybe that support is her husband, maybe it’s her parents, maybe it’s you and your spouse. 

 The latest stats from 2014 show that married women are more likely to keep their child. 

Copied from WI Dept. of Health Services Reported Induced Abortions

A woman that has the proper view of marriage, and has had a good example growing up, is less likely to become pregnant before marriage. In Wisconsin in 2014, almost 78% of abortions were the choice of unmarried women. Model a godly marriage for your children-and all those around you.  Make marriage something they want, something they respect, something they’re willing to wait for. Build your marriage on Christ, putting yourself last (middle fingers down), and you will be a life-giving couple.

"Follow God’s example, therefore, as dearly loved children and walk in the way of love, just as Christ loved us and gave himself up for us as a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God." Ephesians 5:1

Author: Katrina Meinel

Katrina is super psyched for the WELS Marriage Enrichment weekend this weekend! 

Now that I've had four children I look at the Christmas account differently. The reality of the first Christmas was far from the sweet and sentimental, warm and fuzzy feelings that stores and magazines advocate.

Consider the implications of Gabriel's appearance in the life of a godly Jewish woman engaged to marry a godly Jewish man. 

His words must have brought excitement to be honored with such a blessing. But how do you tell your parents, neighbors, friends and future husband you're going to have a baby, knowing there's at least a chance some of them won't believe how it came about? 

It's often hard to explain the working of God in our life. Who is going to believe that the flower that bloomed in the yard in the dead of fall during the worst week of your year is the sign of God's faithfulness you know it to be? Does anyone else see the significance of your child reciting a Bible passage calling for trust at the very moment you've been doubting?

Now imagine delivering the news that you’ve conceived supernaturally and will be giving birth to the Savior of the world as told to you by an angel. Easy enough, right? Hardly.

Mary must have felt all the things women today who find themselves pregnant and unmarried or in any desperate situation feel: nervous, hesitant, afraid, alone.

Thank God for Elizabeth! Elizabeth was Mary's older relative. Mary went to her when she found out she was pregnant. For three months Mary lived under her roof, enjoying the company of a woman just a few months ahead of her in the pregnancy experience. Elizabeth was supportive, encouraging and kind. 

Oh, there would still be plenty of struggles ahead for Mary: a confused fiancé, a long journey, an overcrowded town. But God met each of those struggles with all that was needed at the right time. God spoke to Joseph in a dream, convincing him to take Mary as his wife. God brought Mary through the arduous journey in her last trimester. He provided shelter in a town already bursting at the seams.

Thirty some years later Jesus would teach His disciples to ask their Heavenly Father for their daily bread; for everything they would need to get through each day. This is our comfort through every stage of life. God provides what we need as we need it. He provides through people like Elizabeth who walk beside us to encourage and support. He gives us the strength to get through the hard moments of the journey and to stand when others don't understand what's going on. Sometimes He provides in advance. Other times His provision arrives hour by hour as we need it. 

It may not have been a very silent night in Bethlehem. I doubt the streets were still or that radiant beams glowed from anyone's face. But there was something even better. There was a loving Heavenly Father willing to do whatever needed to be done to make sure Jesus came into the world at just the right time and place so His plan of salvation could begin.

Your family may have more dysfunction than function. Whether your situation looks daunting or terrific, a little bit rowdy or a little too still; whether the road ahead looks rough or smooth or you are too weak to look more than a few feet in front of you; whether your house looks like it belongs in Better Homes and Gardens or it’s hard to walk down the hall without tripping over the mess, God sees you and is with you. He will walk you through the storms, the night, the chaos.    

We’re told when that first Christmas was over, “Mary treasured up all these things and pondered them in her heart” (Luke 2:19). She didn’t let the miracles slip by unnoticed or fail to see God’s provision.  

I pray you have the same experience this Christmas. May you be filled with wonder as you see all God has done in your life. May you notice the ways He’s provided at just the right time. And may you hold unswervingly onto His promise to be with you whatever comes your way. 

With this peace in your own life, help others see the works of God in their lives. Be an encouraging “Elizabeth” to that pregnant relative or that stranger in the checkout line.

Author: Amber Swenson

Amber has a Bachelor of Fine Arts in Creative Writing and Literature. She has authored four books; two of them (Bible Moms and The Whisper Theory) are in print and two (The Bread of Angels and Ladies of Legacy) are in various stages of publication. Both her Bible studies and her novels are written in an effort to bring single, married, young and older women to a closer relationship with their Savior Jesus Christ. She also authors a weekly blog found on facebook under "Bible Moms" or at "biblemoms.wordpress.com".