Julie Lowe opened the day with a session challenging us on how we nurture relationships. We should desire flourishing in our relationships and conversations. There are no ordinary people. Each person we encounter has a soul and eternal destiny. How do we give without expectations and strings attached? How do we have the mind of Christ… Read More »
Jayne Clark gave an encouraging message on how we should view singleness. Singleness is a universal experience and how we view singleness is important because it effects how we treat singles. Being single does not mean that you are broken because you are single. That is a lie that has done a lot of damage. … Read More »
Alasdair Groves gave an encouraging message on how God shakes up the family tree. If we are honest, we all have experiences in family life which are not what we had hoped for. For the church, this can be especially difficult because we have high expectations for family. But there is hope for those facing… Read More »
David Powlison set the stage for the CCEF 2017 Conference on the topic of family. He asked us how we can embrace the blessing of family and face the brokenness without becoming either idolatrous or depressed. In life there are really high joys and really low valleys. For example, Powlison shared how his daughter gave… Read More »
For those of you who missed #CCEF17, or this year’s Christian Counseling and Educational Foundation Conference, below are summaries of the main sessions. This year’s theme was “Family: Embracing the Blessing, Facing the Brokenness.” I hope these concise summaries will be a blessing to you. You can also purchase the conference audio here. There were a bunch of really good… Read More »
In his book, Union with Christ, Rankin Wilbourne reminds us of a key component of the gospel: our union with Christ. Rankin points out that the phrase “in Christ” is used over 160 times by the Apostle Paul. As Christians, Christ is in us and we are in Christ. Our union with Christ means that… Read More »
Recently I was amazed at our persecuted brothers and sisters in Egypt who were praying for the evildoers that sought to murder them. These Christians understood that evildoers can take their life but not their living hope in Christ Jesus (Matthew 10:28, 1 Peter 1:3-9). One persecuted leader, Fr. Boules George, explained that his prayer for his enemies was in faithful… Read More »
In the Christian life, we are often called to the business of waiting on the Lord. Some waits are shorter, like waiting for a child to recover from a cold. Other waits can last decades, like waiting for a spouse to change. Learning to wait well is an important discipline of grace that we should strive to… Read More »
This is the essence of marriage, a husband and wife, clinging together. Aaron Sironi delivered his general session at the CCEF conference entitled: For Better or For Worse: Emotions in Marriage. He challenged us to approach marriage counseling from the perspective of encouraging Biblical clinging. Aaron explained that emotions in marriage are powerful. They can tear a couple… Read More »
As those closest to me already know, my story has been marked with suffering as I faced the death of my marriage. Yet, through it all, I found myself being held and sustained by my Lord. His grace has been sufficient for me. As Joni Eareckson Tada expressed through her own suffering, “There is nothing more sweet than finding Jesus right… Read More »