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.
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
Article By: Sarah Koontz, Founder of Living by Design Ministries Exactly two days before the eagerly anticipated first day of school, my husband and I decided to homeschool our oldest daughter. She’s struggled with dyslexia the past five years and we just didn’t have a peace about sending her back to
A Guest Post by Karin Peters “That is not your circus and those are not your monkeys!” My mom’s favorite quote echoes in my mind when I feel suffocated by too many projects or the lack of checks on my to-do list. This is usually when I fall face first
When was the last time you thought about the Ten Commandments? I mean, really thought about them… God’s words, carved on stone by His own hand, a gift to His chosen people. I sometimes wonder what it was like to be one of the Israelites rescued from the house of
A Guest Post by Kate Hendrick When it rains, it pours. We’ve all heard the saying and most of us have experienced a few emotional and spiritual floods in our lifetime. A gentle rain quickly escalating to a full on deluge; gushing water sweeping us off our feet and
Article By: Sarah Koontz, Founder of Living by Design Ministries A 2002 study by the Southern Baptist Convention’s Family life Council found 88% of the children in evangelical homes leave church at the age of 18. Eighty-eight percent. Of those who leave, only 60 percent will ever return. Scary, right?!? This
A Guest Post* I’m sitting on the dry grass in front of the coop. The green flecks of spring are beginning to grow though the dead fall grass still lingering. Green life, reaching for the nourishment of spring sun. Kristopher always loved watching the chickens for some reason. Here, now,
Article By: Sarah Koontz, Founder of Living by Design Ministries I’ve been waiting ten years for this. That’s 3,650 days. 87,600 hours. More than 5,000,000 minutes. Waiting. Dreaming. Counting down…. But it’s finally arrived. A deliciously memorable motherhood milestone….. After years and years of “you must be within arm’s length” and “high-alert, don’t-look-away,
“Mommy, this was the best day ever,” my 8-year old daughter announced in between bites of frozen custard. It was our very first day of summer break, and we were making the most of it. After an impromptu playdate at the park with two of my best friends and their
A Guest Post by Gleniece Lytle There are many things we do, as moms, to keep our homes running smoothly and our families fed, clean, and content. That is part of what gives us joy and purpose. But what mom doesn’t crave those quiet, uninterrupted moments? Those chocolate-melting-in-your-mouth-with-your-eyes-closed moments. Those
Article by: Sarah Koontz, Founder of Living by Design Ministries Do you remember what Glinda the Good said to Dorothy at the end of Wizard of Oz? Dorothy was begging Glinda to help her get back home and Glinda’s reply was, “You don’t need to be helped any longer. You’ve
Article by: Sarah Koontz, Founder of Living by Design Ministries I’m not quite sure when I fell in love with my husband. It took forever, yet happened in the blink of an eye. Or something like that. We had been good friends for about a year before I allowed myself to
Article by: Sarah Koontz, Founder of Living by Design Ministries Why do humans complicate things so? Take babies, for example. They truly are the simplest of creatures. Eat. Sleep. Poop. REPEAT. That’s all they do! Yet I’ll never forget all the “must-have” gadgets cluttering my exceedingly small nursery when my
Article by: Sarah Koontz, Founder of Living by Design Ministries I press the button to end our call and brace myself for the tsunami of emotions that rush over me after a tense conversation with my mom. Disappointment. Sadness. Regret. Hopelessness. I had prepared the words beforehand; rehearsed them over and over
A Guest Post by Melody Quinn It’s not the memories of what I have done that plague me. It’s the memories of what I haven’t done. The conversations I haven’t had. The people I haven’t helped. The dreams I haven’t pursued. I didn’t know J.J. well, but I could tell that
Article by: Sarah Koontz, Founder of Living by Design Ministries Today I’m spilling my all-time, number-one, best-of-the-best secret to cultivating enduring friendships. But first, a confession… I am the only person I know who managed to get all the way through college without one single enduring friendship. Not. A. One.
Article by: Sarah Koontz, Founder of Living by Design Ministries With Easter just around the corner, I’ve been pondering the significance of the cross. Everything I am and everything I stand for is connected to the cross of Jesus Christ. His death gives me life; His resurrection gives me hope. I am
Article by: Sarah Koontz, Founder of Living by Design Ministries Photography by Kristi Foreman My husband and I are opposites. I am outspoken, he is reserved. I am a dreamer, he is realistic. I am driven, he is laid-back. I’ll never forget the friction these differences triggered early in our
Article by: Sarah Koontz,Founder of Living by Design Ministries I love it when my “everyday romantic” surprises me with flowers. This time the blooms are a refreshing mixture of vibrant tulips. I create a hodgepodge of floral arrangements – mason jars overflowing with inspiration – to set around my house
Article by: Sarah Koontz, Founder of Living by Design Ministries I ask you to think of today’s post as a duet—two distinct voices harmonizing within a melodious freedom message. I compiled a selection of my favorite quotes from Rebekah Lyons’ new book, You Are Free, and wove them into my own
Article by: Sarah Koontz, Founder of Living by Design Ministries The book of Psalms is my favorite place to go when I need a quick pick-me-up, but I rarely spend much time digging beneath the surface, searching for the treasure within. The sheer length of Psalm 119 has always deterred
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