These are busy, busy days behind the scenes at Carol McLeod Ministries. We are preparing for our 20th Annual Women’s Conference in Buffalo, NY, which is aptly named, “Overflowing!” We are certainly overflowing with deep gratitude for all that the Lord has done over the past 20 years and we are simply undone by His goodness and strength.

This is LEAP week! This is the week … every four years … when we are gifted with an extra and undeserved day. A bonus 24 hours! A benefit of 1,440 minutes! 86,400 seconds that are all yours to spend … all yours.

The truth … the encouragement … and the challenges found in Colossians … just may give you the hope and direction you need for your personal journey. So … let’s dive in to just an excerpt from “Overflowing: Living Abundantly in a Broken Culture.” Enjoy … be encouraged … and be challenged!

Let me take you on a Valentine’s journey created to reinvigorate your heart toward this day of hearts, roses and gift-giving to those you love.

Are you facing a giant today? Have you more than met your match in the circumstances of life which have piled up around you and have become a mountain of impossibility? If so … you might want to read on.

Does your heart ever feel overwhelmed? My heart is often overwhelmed by commitments, expectations, disappointments and difficult relationships. Are you ever disheartened by your inability to meet everyone’s demands and expectations? Some days my heart vacillates between being raw with paralyzing frustration … and simultaneously stimulated by a thousand agitations.

From Guest Blogger, Lee Ann Mancini: In today’s culture of relativism, where absolute truth is often questioned, our children need a firm grasp of God’s unchanging truth. Humanism strives to convince them that there is no absolute truth, only subjective perspectives, and that God does not exist. We must help our children understand the concept of absolute truth, recognize it, and defend it.

From Guest Blogger, Mary DeMuth: What do you do when the circumstances of life reveal your imperfections? Hide? Cry? Run away? Justify? I did all those things—and threw in rage, denial and arguments in ample doses. But eventually, by God’s grace, I learned three valuable truths about the nature of real faith.

From Guest Blogger, Christy Christopher: To the degree that I can accept the embrace of God’s love will be the degree that I will be able to distribute it to another “undeserving” soul.

From Guest Blogger, Michelle Bengtson: As I’ve spent some time pondering some of the recent storms of life, I’ve learned a few lessons, including the fact that we are meant to go through the storms of life—not camp out there.

Looking for something new to read in 2024? Here’s a list of my favorite reads from the past year.  

You may have heard the Christmas story a thousand times, but do you believe it? Do you believe the Christmas story in the deepest part of who you are? Have you embraced this historic account of an astounding miracle as reality and truth? Or have you filed it away under “Christmas fantasy” along with magical bags of toys and elves?  

Guest Blog from Susan Myers: The typical anticipatory thrill and celebratory excitement I would normally feel this time of year has been replaced by a quiet kind of reflective solitude. As the days get shorter and shorter, and we experience so much darkness, I find my heart searching even more fervently for the light.  

It’s my birthday tomorrow … and I couldn’t wait to tell you about it! Now … I am not telling you so that you can buy me a gift or send me a card … that’s not the reason at all. I am telling you it is my birthday because I want to give you a gift!

I am breathless and humbled with the realization that, like Mary, I have been chosen to carry the Christ-child to my lonely world. I am filled with the awe and wonder of the shepherds, that the joy of heaven would explode into the darkness of planet earth. I humbly join in worship with the Magi as I, too, am invited to bow before the Infant King and give Him the gift of my heart.