Heather Kaufman's Blog

I’ve always loved a good story. I was the girl with the flashlight under the covers furtively reading past her bedtime. I was the teenager saving her babysitting money so she could buy the next novel in her favorite series. I was the college student diving deep into literature asking the hard questions and trying to understand the mechanics of storytelling.

Not everyone shares my passion, and that’s okay! If someone prefers history or travel writing or self-he...

Have you heard the buzz-word “hustle” floating around lately? It’s the idea that working tirelessly toward your goals will get you where you want to be. Doing more and pushing harder are hallmarks of success. Often this thinking links your sense of value and identity with what you can produce and achieve.

As Christians, we may not explicitly buy into this way of thinking, but a “hustle” mentality is sneaky and can infiltrate our thoughts in more nuanced ways. Wor...

It all started while I was reading through the names of the Twelve Apostles with my six-year-old. I tripped merrily along . . . until I came to Thaddaeus.

Thaddaeus? Who in the world is Thaddaeus? I did a keyword search in BibleGateway. The name “Thaddaeus” is only mentioned twice. I delved a bit deeper and found that he’s also referred to as “Judas son of James” and “Judas (not Iscariot).” In all of Scripture, he has a one-liner found in John 14:22.

Wow, I thought. One of THE Twelve. The Big ...

Lydia Floren loves people and loves to laugh. She is passionate about helping others learn more about their identity and value and then grow to the point of connecting and sharing what they’ve learned with those around them. A practicing board-certified Family Medicine physician, Lydia earned her bachelor’s in history from Furman University and her Doctor of Medicine degree from Medical College of Georgia. Raised in a performance-based culture, she knows what it’s like to ...

Crista Crawford knows what it’s like to face down fears. From navigating a fibromyalgia diagnosis to trying to write through the fog of pain that threatened to steal her words, Crista has come to believe that the only way to fight fear is through the power of the Spirit and the armor He provides. She is an imperfect Christian who loves to write about our perfect God. In her book, ,The Full Armor of God: Are You Sure You Got Dressed Today and its ,Workbook Companion, Crista...

Surrender might be something we’ve never considered applying to our marriages. Is it necessary to do so? And what does it entail? Writer and speaker Tracy Sellars tackles this and more in our conversation on living out a surrendered life within our marriages.

Tracy and her husband, David, are co-founders of VowsToKeep, a ministry that seeks to develop biblically healthy marriages. The ministry consists of teams of couples purposefully working side-by-side as tools in ...

In continuing our series on surrender, I chatted with Sarah Rollandini on what it looks like to surrender our expectations. Sarah knows firsthand what it’s like to expect life to go one way and to have God change your course. Back in 1997, she and her husband began their long journey toward building a family. Through the twists and turns of infertility meds, tubal pregnancy, and miscarriage, Sarah questioned God’s plan for her life. She learned that God doesn’t clos...

To kick off our series on living out surrendered lives to the glory of God, I chatted with Pastor Martin Winslow on what it looks like to surrender our children to the Lord. Pastor Winslow is the Pastor of Families, Children, and Missions at Canaan Baptist Church and before that served as headmaster of Ozarks Christian Academy in West Plains, Missouri. With a passion for Christian education, church planting, and the poor, Pastor Winslow has co-founded three Christian sc...

We don’t like the word surrender, and for understandable reasons. The word usually conjures up images of a white flag, defeat, and humiliation. It speaks of weakness and disappointment. We’d much prefer the word victory or perhaps even compromise. But surrender? No thank you.

What makes the concept of surrender scary to us? To surrender is to give up control. Think of one general surrendering to another. None of us relish giving up control, especially to the enemy. However, when the one you’re ...

I love Christmas traditions, especially ones that point to Christ, so I created a Christmas tradition for our family that I’m thrilled to pass along to you! You can tweak it any way that you like, but here’s how my family does it:

At the beginning of December, set up the background to a nativity set. We purchased a children’s set for each of our kids (the eldest has the Melissa and Doug set pictured here and the youngest has the Fisher-Price Little People set). The idea is that each child will ...