The Living by Design Blog
The Bible is packed with the spiritual nourishment your soul craves. Our aim is to provide resources to help you break it down into bite-sized pieces that are easy to digest. Articles on the Living by Design Blog are packed with heart-focused content, practical solutions for real life, and Bible-based training. Since launching this blog in 2014, we’ve featured more than 100 guest contributors. If you’d like to submit an article for consideration, please review our submission guidelines.
Article By: Sarah Koontz, Founder of Living by Design Ministries In the past week, I’ve had a good long cry, written several apology letters, and spent countless hours on the phone trying to safely navigate the messy side of ministry life. I’m tired. I’m hurt. I’m sorry. When I made the
A Guest Post by Natalia Drumm An excellent wife who can find? She is far more precious than jewels. The heart of her husband trusts in her, and he will have no lack of gain. Proverbs 31:10-11 ESV Excellence. It’s a word that we use frequently, but very few people
A Guest Post by Michele Morin The insistent tone of my cell phone’s timer carried through floorboards to our basement schoolroom – another call to prayer unanswered. I sighed, turned the page, and continued with my sixth-grader in a lesson on fractions. I had been reading about the historical practice
Wisdom Whispers will take you on a 31-day journey through the life and writings of King Solomon and will teach you how to listen for the whispers of wisdom in your life. King Solomon began his reign with wisdom and ended it with folly. We will explore what went wrong
One of our very favorite Bible verses to pray over our Living by Design community is Ephesians 1:17, ” I pray that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the glorious Father, would give you a spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of Him.” The Holy Spirit is our
A Guest Post by Stacy Pardoe The white winds of winter pounded the westward side of our house as I stared into the monotone grays and ivories of the season. In five short months, our little family of four had endured more loss than the past decade; it felt like
Article by: Sarah Koontz, Founder of Living by Design Ministries Have you ever been stuck in the mud? I’ll never forget the day my second grade class took a field trip across the highway to April’s house. April’s dad had been the pastor of the little Baptist church that housed
Important Announcement: Our Prayer Wall is Closing on March 1, 2025. By the grace of God, our team has faithfully supported this prayer wall since February 2018. Words cannot express our profound gratitude for the opportunity to help our community in this manner for so many years. Sadly, this chapter
Article by: Sarah Koontz, Founder of Living by Design Ministries Are you looking for a way to serve God in your everyday—an opportunity to grow God’s kingdom from the comfort of your living room? What if there was a way for you to play an integral role in an exciting
A Guest Post by Andrew Jewell It’s one of those days when you hear that familiar growl coming from over your shoulder. You sense its red eyes boring into the back of your head and feel its hot breath against your neck…the black dog of depression is back! We’ve called
Article by: Sarah Koontz, Founder of Living by Design Ministries This time last year, I decided to start a yearly Bible reading plan. I honestly didn’t think I was capable of sticking with it. But I wanted so badly to read my Bible in a year. So I tossed my
A Guest Post by Chioma Oparadike Have you ever experienced a season full of such difficulty and discouragement, you struggled to remember the good times? Struggled to find God’s goodness in the midst of all your worries, heartache, and pain? When we are in that dark place, it’s easy to
Article by: Sarah Koontz, Founder of Living by Design Ministries Are you a Christian woman longing for more of God in your daily life, yet inexplicably stuck in a spiritual desert, struggling to find your way back to the Living Waters? I’m here to say, you are not alone! Sadly,
A Guest Post by Liz Petruzzi Jesus wept. –John 11:35 God of the Universe. Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the end. The Great I AM. These are just a few of the words used to describe God. Yet, even in all His glory, God didn’t exempt Himself from suffering.
The final chapters of Ephesians contain the Bible’s most comprehensive teaching on marriage and family followed by a strong warning to beware of the invisible battle. Ephesians 6:12 says, “For our battle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the world powers of this darkness,
Because of underlying health issues, my body craves rest and often demands it. This used to frustrate me to no end. It made me feel weak, less-than, incapable, a burden to others. I would push through all of the signs of fatigue, striving to be the person I thought everyone
Healthy is a synergistic concept that requires body, soul, and spirit to accomplish. It is a filter that you use to make each and every decision in your life. It is something you work towards and rarely ever achieve, but your efforts are never in vain. Each healthy choice you
Most people treat spiritual growth like a big juicy apple when they should be treating it like an onion. Rather than working their way towards God’s design for their life one layer at a time, they take big bites and often lose interest after just a few mouthfuls. The purpose
A Guest Post by Jodi Fairclough Recently, I witnessed a friend experiencing a depth of pain that caused my heart to shatter in sympathy. Her struggle touched a place in me that remembers, all too well, how debilitating and life altering pain can be. Her pain was ugly, unfair, and
Faith-filled podcasts are warm and inviting like a steaming cup of Earl Grey tea on a brisk fall afternoon. A simple invitation to rest awhile in the company of new friends. I’d love to have my own podcast someday. But until that day comes, I’ll continue to find great joy
My Worthy of the Calling free online Bible study launches today and I am overwhelmed with gratitude for this glorious calling God has placed on my life and all He has done to make me worthy of it. As it is with any writing project, things have not gone as I
Important Announcement: We recently updated and re-released our Worthy of the Calling Study. Not only did we go back through and update the study material, but we also created a printable version, a going-deeper guide, and an audio version. We hope that these additional resources will help even more people
When I found out I was pregnant with my second child a short 6-months after my first was born, I made two promises to myself. Once this baby was born… I was going to get a really cute new haircut. I was going to start taking Zumba classes at a
A Guest Post by RebeccaLynn Dikeman Motherhood threw a curve ball that knocked me flat on my face. I sat in the dark room, sobbing and begging God for help. My first-born lay beside me, eager for his midnight feeding. As looked into his blue-grey eyes, I grieved as feelings
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