Three years ago, Alejandra Suarez was a recent graduate of the University of North Texas waiting for her break as a public relations and marketing professional.

Now, Suarez, who served as Inside The Pew’s first summer intern in 2009, is being recognized as one of the most influential Latinas in the blogging and social media arenas.

From May 20 to May 22, Suarez will take part in the Top Latina Blog Retreat at Hotel Helix in Washington, D.C., sponsored by Latinos in Social Media (LATISM). She is one of 70 Latina bloggers who received an invitation to attend the event.

“We knew Alejandra would go on to bigger and better things,” Grelan Muse Sr., founder of Inside The Pew, said. “She always worked hard to generate stories for us in a short period of time, and was instrumental in helping to develop The Pew En Español. She was committed to helping spread the gospel in English and her native language of Spanish.”

The Dallas resident and native of Mexico City, Mexico, earned a B.A. in public relations and a minor in marketing from the UNT.

After completing her internship with Inside The Pew, Suarez continued to work as a freelance writer until she landed a position with iNSPIRE!, a Dallas advertising agency which markets to the Hispanic consumer. As part of her duties with iNSPIRE!, Suarez oversees Brand LaTeen (www.brandlateen.com), a blog which addresses marketing trends among Latino teenagers.

Suarez said she envisioned delivering Christian news through social media and the Internet.

“In personal account, I learned to focus more in details while interviewing, writing and reporting. I was able to polish my writing skills while interning at The Pew,” Suarez said after completing her internship. “These small accomplishments are steps that get me closer to my long-term career goals.

“I really value the site and its motives as well as the very passionate people who I’ve had the opportunity to interview that are making a difference in their communities and around the world.”

A selection committee included the leaders of the top Latina blogger communities, including Latina Bloggers Connect, Las Blogueras, Blogs de Mamas, and New Latina. The committee was in charge of reviewing the bloggers’ applications based on influence, traffic, and quality of content.

The bloggers will take part in sessions ranging from blog and business best practices, leadership skills, and social good. They will also be paired up with mentors including top executives from industries, companies and causes that match their core interests.

According to the LATISM website, the 501(c) 4 nonprofit, nonpartisan organization is dedicated to advancing the social, civic and economic status of the Latino community. The organization also helps to raise awareness among corporate brands, NGOs and government entities about using social media to reach Latinos. To learn more about the Latinos in Social Media (LATISM) organization, visit http://latism.org

In appreciation to church leadership and recognizing the impact it has on the community, Methodist Charlton Medical Center will host an appreciation luncheon for local pastors and ministry leaders May 29, from 11:30 a.m. to 1 p.m. in the Methodist Charlton auditorium.

Keynote speaker for the event will be Rickie G. Rush, pastor and organizer of The Inspiring Body of Christ Worldwide Ministries (IBOC), one of the most progressive, flourishing ministries in America. Originally organizing with nine members, the church has grown to 14,000-plus members. Rush’s gift as a public speaker has earned him numerous local and national awards and international recognition

Elite News publisher and founder William Blair will also share a patient testimonial on the excellent care he says he received at Methodist Charlton during a recent hospital stay. The luncheon will also feature entertainment and prize drawings.

Methodist Charlton is hosting this fourth annual event to honor pastors and ministry leaders for their dedicated service and commitment to the community.

“We want to express our sincere gratitude to pastors and ministry leaders who serve patients and their families during all hours of the day to provide spiritual support,” said Methodist Charlton President Jonathan S. Davis, FACHE.

The event is an opportunity for attendees to:

• Learn about the growth and changes taking place at Methodist Charlton
• Become educated on policies and procedures that will help pastors and ministry leaders better serve patients and their families during pastoral visits
• Learn more about upcoming community health education seminars at Methodist Charlton
• Open up a dialogue with hospital leadership to enhance communication and partnerships

For more information or to RSVP for the event, contact Cynthia Mickens, community relations liaison, at 214-947-5204 or cynthiamickens@mhd.com.

By Phyllis Byrd Jenkins
Special to Inside The Pew

The cliché, “It is what it is” has been spoken millions of times by millions of people. It was even voted by USA Today as the

Phyllis Jenkins

No. 1 cliché of 2004. Yes, this cliché has been around for a while. Although, we hear it almost daily, I personally cringe when I hear those five words. Why? Because to me, it symbolizes hopelessness, a state of giving up or simply tossing the white flag in the air and surrendering to the situation. But as a follow of Christ, I choose to believe that “All things are possible to those who believe” (Matthew 19:26, Mark 9:23).  As a follower of Christ, I choose to believe that, “I can do all things through Christ who gives me strength” (Philippians 4:13). What if Moses had said, “It is what it is”? Could he have led the Israelites through the plagues, across the Red Sea and through the wilderness? What if Hannah had said, “It is what it is”? Would she have persevered in prayer and given birth to Samuel? What if David had looked at Goliath and accepted defeat by saying, “It is what it is”? Would the Israelites have defeated the Philistines? What if you keep the faith and proclaim the promises of God instead of saying, “It is what it is”? Remember, God is still in control! It is What He Says It Is!

Over-comer, Believer, Dreamer, & Encourager are just a few words that describe Phyllis Jenkins. She is the founder and president of the Powerful Journey Organization, where she empowers women to live a balanced life by helping them: Find their Passion- Focus on What Matters Most and Flourish in their Calling. Phyllis is also the publisher of the Powerful Journey, an online magazine.  She inspires, equips and enlightens audiences of all ages through her practical and powerful presentations. With her captivating energy, she offers strategies which will fuel your Journey with Purpose, Preparation and Perseverance.  She is a featured author in the Allen Public Library 2009  and 2010 ‘Write-On’ Literary books.  Her first children’s book (co-authored by her 6-year-old grandson) will be in bookstores soon.

Phyllis is confident of this, that He who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus. Philippians 1:6 (NIV). Contact her phyllis@phyllisjenkins.com.

By La Vonne Earl
Special to Inside The Pew

Now that Mother’s Day has come and gone, many are able to breathe again. Mother’s Day is filled with mixed emotions for many people who have

La Vonne Earl

endured relationships that would be considered anything but perfect. In Hector Tobar’s article depicting the play “Cafe Vida,” he conveys the story of three moms that have endured homelessness, prison, and drug abuse. He gives a glimpse of what life was like for them. The guilt and torment that they have suffered knowing that they were not the best of mothers due largely to the life they lived. They are working on changing not only their future, but that of their children. One of the mothers, Alfaro mentions “for all the pain I was in, I knew there had to be something beautiful for me. By the grace of God, I found it.”

These are only but three of many moms that have suffered the painful things in their life that most of their children know nothing about.

Some, like these mothers, have found God’s grace and have changed their lives and continue to break the patterns to improve their children’s lives. Others continue to repeat the patterns by holding onto resentment and pain. In a study I have participated in for sexually abused women, author and counselor John Eldredge reminds us that every woman who is callused and cold on the outside is a woman who has suffered some form of abuse. We must remember that hurt people, hurt other people.

It is not always easy to tap into the pain and seek to console the woman who has the tough outer shell. For this reason most of these women live lonely and desolate lives as many tire of trying to form a relationship. For those of us children that long for that deep relationship with our mothers this is not an easy situation. But God’s grace is sufficient. If you will allow Him to fill you with His love, He will give to your mother what you alone cannot, forgiveness and love. Only He can offer the unconditional love that is life transforming. “Love each other deeply, because love covers over a multitude of sins” (1 Peter 4:8). We must follow Christ example and offer our Mothers the unconditional love and forgiveness that even we ourselves do not deserve.

In the end, we form our families and create the life that we desire. God tells us in scripture to proclaim that which we desire. “Call those things which be not as though they were” (Roman 4:17). We all create our own reality with our thoughts and feelings, so beware. Using your imagination for God’s glory by creating and seeing in your mind the beauty that is the true identity of your mother will increase the love that she feels coming from you! This is what brings healing and transformation.

Continue to pray, create and transform your relationships and your life! This will bring God’s Kingdom here on earth as it is in heaven (Matthew 6:10).

California resident La Vonne Earl is a certified Christian life coach and counselor. A former Mormon, she has studied neuro linguistics programming, Sozo healing, and other avenues to bring healing into the lives of many. You may contact her at lavonne@yourkingdominheritance.com.

For years, Inside The Pew has collected church and nonprofit event announcements to run on the website. At the request of frequent visitors, we have decided to return the listing to it rightful place. If you have announcements that pertain to church or nonprofit events, workshops, or concerts and plays, send them to us at pewnews@aol.com. The list will also run on our Twitter and Facebook accounts as well.

In Port Arthur, Texas: The Woman Be Thou Empowered Conference is scheduled for 7:30 p.m. on May 17 and May 18 at Solid Rock Baptist Church, 1337 E. Fifth St. in Port Arthur. Gospel singer and songwriter Kathy Burrell, sister of gospel sensation Kim Burrell, is the host of the event. Burrell will feature some of her own music and wonderful messages from various speakers each night. The cost for the conference is $20 for both nights. The vision of the conference is to awaken the soul of every woman in the Golden Triangle and surrounding areas. Both men and women are welcomed and encouraged to attend. Email iwasbornblessed@yahoo.com or call 409-454-6779. Time is running out so register ASAP to ensure a spot.

In Frisco, Texas: The International Network for the Professional Development of Women (INPDW), a group which supports female Christian entrepreneurs, will hold a yearlong program called Impact Mastermind Group will beginning in July.  Open enrollment for the group ends June 15. The program is slated to begin July 1. This group is designed to help women grow their businesses to the level they desire. Branding, marketing, client attraction, systems, social media, outsourcing are some of the training topics. Only 20 women are allowed to participate. The cost is $67 per month. Visit http://www.inpdw.com/mastermind.html for more information.

In Dallas, Texas: ManeLock Communications will hold a workshop titled, “Introduction to Memoir Writing” from 10 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. on May 19 at St. Phillips School and Community Center, 1600 Pennsylvania Ave. in Dallas. Writing consultant Linda Jones will facilitate the program. This fun and thought-provoking workshop will help attendees turn their memories and special moments into precious family heirlooms. Learn how to become gatekeepers of unique histories and storytellers in families. The workshop fee is $45. Bring a friend and get an additional $5 discount. To RSVP, email manelock@yahoo.com.

In Dallas, Texas: ManeLock Communications will hold a workshop titled, “Writing Through Grief” from 1 to 5 p.m. on May 20 at the Center for Spiritual Living, 4801 Spring Valley Road Suite 115 in Dallas. Writing consultant and author Linda Jones will teach participants to use writing as a vehicle to work through grief cause by death and other losses. This time sensitive workshop will explore journaling techniques, mood monitoring, music meditation, affirmations, and poetic approaches. The workshop fee is $50. Bring a friend, and he or she is admitted for $40. To RSVP, email manelock@yahoo.com.

In Euless, Texas: CAREER SOLUTIONS, a nonprofit job seeker ministry, will hold a workshop “Networking on Steroids” from 8:15 to 11:45 a.m. on Saturday, May 19. The workshop will take place at First Baptist Church, 1000 W. Airport Freeway, in Euless. Seminar leader Mike Richards will teach career changers how to do so from a biblical perspective. Preregister online for $50 or $80 donation the day of the event. Spouses may attend the seminar FREE with your paid registration. Remember to enter your spouse’s name in the comments field when you are purchasing the seminar. Deadline to register for seminar online is May 17.

In Arlington, Texas: The Lyricist’s Café will celebrate its 10-year anniversary at 7:19 p.m. on Saturday, May 19 at the Artist’s Boot Camp, 1940 Stadium Oaks Court in Arlington. Cost is $10. Tallied as one of the hottest Christian open mics in DFW, the event will be hosted by SE7EN. Poets, rappers, singers, musicians and anyone who would like to be on the open mic should email Robert L. Wagner at robertlwagner@live.com.

The story I am about to tell is two months in the making. I could have told you all the story before Mother’s Day weekend, but it is too good to pass up.

If you have children, you understand the difficulty they can sometimes cause parents. If they don’t get their way, they complain. If you direct them in the right direction they don’t listen most of the time. When they want something, they want it now. Well, I don’t know if this describes your kids, but it sure describes mine.

One morning before school, my 8-year-old son, Torry, overslept and he was running a bit late in preparing to get to school. The more I rushed him to beat the clock I set to notify the kids that I am out the door and down to the car, the grumpier he became. When everyone was piled into the car, he said very little. Once we got to the school, I told Torry and the twin girls, “Bye, have a good day.” The girls said, “Bye.” Nothing came out of Torry’s mouth. I was a little disgruntled. The last thing I wanted was for Torry to have a terrible day at school. Or, was I just worrying too much.

Here is where I get a little personal. After taking my morning walk, I got home and took a shower. I hardly look in the mirror after taking a shower, mainly because it is usually covered with mist. But this time, there was a message in the mist. On the mirror where the words, “I love your mommy.” All I could do was smile and shed a tear. Ironically, although I have cleaned the mirror several times since then, the message still appears when the mirror gets misty. To pick his mind, I asked Torry why he wrote that message on the mirror. He told me, “I love you mom, and you do a lot for me.” That’s my boy!

The greatest example a mother can show her child is love despite the circumstance. As a child of Christ, the love mothers show their kids comes from no other place than Him. We learn how to respect, adore, and guide our children because He does all these things for us (1 John 4:7-8 and Ephesians 3: 16-19).

Let this story become a reminder to all the moms who struggle with their kids. They love you no matter what because they realize the importance you play in their lives. Rough spots occur in parenting. Kids will always remember the good and bad moments in the entire process. Happy Mother’s Day, everyone.

EGYPT – “We don’t know if our daughter is still alive,” Magda told ICC during a recent visit to Egypt. “We haven’t seen or

heard from her in five years. Her kidnapper called us and said she was dead and buried.”

Mary disappeared in June 2007, but to her mother, Magda, it feels like only yesterday that she was sleeping peacefully in her own bed under the loving care of her parents. For those who lose a child, as Magda had, the pain never goes away.

“There were no warning signs. There was nothing we could do, but the guilt doesn’t go away. If only we could have known [what would happen],” Magda explained while fighting back tears.

The abduction took place on an ordinary Thursday evening. After school, Mary went out with friends for pizza and a movie. While sipping cocoa at a restaurant, Mary began to feel dizzy and sick. “You go ahead and go home,” said Nahla, a Muslim girl. “The rest of us want to go to the cinema.” Nahla was new to Mary’s group of friends; they had only known her a few weeks.

Mary left the group to catch a bus home alone. This was the last time her friends would see her. No one knows what happened next, but Mary was gone.

Mary’s friends and parents believe Nahla had something to do with it; perhaps she was an accomplice to Mary’s abductors who put drugs in Mary’s drink. Although this suspicion has yet to be confirmed, after Mary’s disappearance, Nahla was nowhere to be found.

Mary’s parents stayed up throughout the night waiting anxiously for their daughter’s return. Mary’s father filed a report at the police station the next morning. He stayed at the station the entire day, determined to see that an investigation was being carried out. Late that afternoon, the police told him they had found his daughter.

Mary was escorted along with several other women into the station by four men in Islamic dress with long beards. The men were Salafis, a group that follows the strict doctrine of Wahhabi Islam from Saudi Arabia. Mary was covered head to toe in a burka. “[My husband] recognized her by her shoes,” Magda told ICC.

Two armed policemen stood by, watching the father’s every move. When he called Mary by name, a Muslim man hit her in the face. There was no answer.

Then he tried to grab his daughter, but she was quickly taken away by the police. The father yelled after her while struggling desperately to free himself from the grip of the police officers who were holding him down. It was no use. Mary was forced in the back of a van and driven away.

“I went back to the police station that night with my son,” Magda said. “They cursed us and humiliated us. They treated us very badly.”

The parents soon began receiving threatening e-mails and phone calls. “Become a Muslim and we’ll spare your life,” one caller said. “Pay a £6,000 ransom or your daughter is dead,” said another. One caller told Magda that Mary had been killed and buried.

“Look at me. I’m dying inside,” Mary’s father told BBC. “Jesus Christ gave me my daughter. He gave her to me, not to them.”

Two months later, several police officers showed up at the parents’ house. “They demanded that we sign documents that said Mary had changed her religion to Islam,” Magda said. The parents refused. Months later, however, they learned that a birth certificate had been forged stating that Mary was now a Muslim.

Still, the family would not give up. They hired a renowned Christian lawyer who demanded to see Mary. Agreeing to meet at a neutral location – Mary’s former university – Magda saw her daughter one last time. There she sat, fully covered on the sofa in the dean’s office. “My dear, are you OK?” Magda asked. There was no response. “Mary, can you hear me?”

Mary seemingly did not understand or was not coherent enough to respond. “She is a Muslim now. What right do you have to see her?” questioned the security officers, who were growing increasingly angry during the meeting. The meeting lasted ten minutes, but not a sound was uttered from Mary’s lips.

Magda’s lawyer regrettably said there was nothing more he could do. “There was no case, he said, because Mary’s birth certificate had been forged and she is Muslim now,” explained Magda.

On a dreary February afternoon, the parents sat in a Cairo office, trying to understand a world where Mary did not exist. “We don’t even know if she’s still alive,” Magda told ICC.

Abductions of Christian girls are nothing new in Egypt. Records exist of cases that were filed as early as the 1970s. However, kidnappings have increased significantly since Egypt’s revolution last year. It is often the police – the very people that are trusted to uphold the law – who are responsible.

“I have proof there are corrupt police officers,” said Coptic lawyer Karam Gabriel, who had worked months to find 15-year-old Nabila Sedky, a Christian girl who was abducted in Cairo on April 5, 2011. “I gave the investigators tips where to look, information we got through three months of hard work, and instead they were [investigating] at a Coptic [Christian] with an alibi.”

Mary is only one among hundreds of Christian girls who have been abducted, forced to convert to Islam, and forced into marriage in Egypt. These incidents are often accompanied by acts of violence, including rape, beatings, and other forms of physical and mental abuse.

When Magda looks at the bed where Mary once slept, tears cloud her eyes. She says a silent prayer for her daughter and continues on with her day, believing that someday God will reunite them.

Aidan Clay is the Middle East Regional Manager for International Christian Concern (ICC), a Washington, DC-based human rights organization that exists to support persecuted Christians worldwide by providing awareness, advocacy, and assistance (www.persecution.org). Aidan is a graduate from Biola University in Southern California. Prior to joining ICC, Aidan worked with Samaritan’s Purse in South Sudan and has traveled extensively throughout the Middle East, Africa and Europe. He and his wife currently live in Nairobi, Kenya. For more information, contact Aidan Clay at clay@persecution.org 

LAKE FOREST, Calif. – Dan Wooding’s career must rate as one of the most unusual in journalism. For he has gone from being a London correspondent for the National Enquirer and a staffer on the Sunday People and the Sunday Mirror, two of Britain’s raciest tabloids, to an undercover reporter and campaigner for persecuted Christians in the restricted countries of the world.

And now international journalist, Dan Wooding, 71, founder of the ASSIST News Service (www.assistnews.net), has put his many years of exciting and often dangerous travel to good use in Red Dagger, his 44th book — and his first novel.

The fast-moving book, much of which is based on his many years of traveling to some of the world’s hot-spots, features a Palestinian terrorist who belongs to the Red Dagger terror group from Gaza, a place that Wooding has visited several times, an Irish double agent, and a drunken American journalist who moves to London and spends too much time in a pub called “The White Hart” which had been nicknamed “The Stab in the Back” because that is where tabloid journalist gathered to verbally stab each other in the back.

Wooding knows all about this journalists’ pub as it was there that he recommitted his life to Christ back in the late 1970s and went to Uganda to write “Uganda Holocaust” with Irish-Canadian, Ray Barnett, who later founded the African Children’s Choir.

Each one of the characters finally finds redemption in their twisted lives, but not before much mayhem has been committed and the world had stood on the edge of complete disaster.

“Red Dagger is the result of more than 20 years of loving work,” Wooding told me. “It began when a colleague told me that I should put together a novel that incorporated all the years of personal experiences I have had since I first entered journalism with The Christian in London back in 1968.”

This, said Wooding, has included the time he was arrested and locked up in a cell in Lagos, Nigeria. Also when he and a colleague were in a hotel in San Salvador, El Salvador, when a car bomb exploded in the parking lot and badly damaged the hotel and, finally when he and his wife Norma were held up by terrorists in Bethlehem and were going to be shot by them. That was until a quick-thinking Arab taxi driver saved their lives by explaining they were visitors from the USA.

“Although none of these experiences are used in the book as they occurred, they helped me to imagine many of the scenes included in the book,” said Wooding. “Also, my travels to Gaza were great background to writing up the many scenes there.”

Red Dagger has already received interest from movie producers and praise from various celebrities who have read it.

They include veteran American entertainer, Pat Boone, who said, “Dan Wooding’s latest book, Red Dagger, is a gripping novel about terror, betrayal and redemption. Much of it is set in Gaza, but also features a Northern Ireland terrorist and an American journalist who, after moving to London, finds himself spending too much time in a bar called ‘The Stab in the Back’ with other drunken hacks. The conclusion of the book has a most dramatic twist that held my attention right to the very end. I enthusiastically endorse Red Dagger, which is written by one of the world’s most traveled journalists.”

Rock keyboard legend, Rick Wakeman, about whom Wooding penned his biography called “Rick Wakeman – the Caped Crusader” – foreword by Elton John – wrote, “Terrorism is a dangerous subject both in reality and in fiction. To bring Christianity in as a major part of the plot is potentially even more dangerous, but Dan Wooding portrays all his characters as both very real and very believable in this novel that literally sets off at a tremendous pace from the very first page. I found myself thinking very visually whilst reading it and that’s the secret of any good novel.”

So if you want to enter the dark and dangerous world of international terrorism and be inspired with its conclusion, this is the book for you, or even for a friend who loves good novels.

To purchase a copy of “Red Dagger” (Tanswell Books), go to: http://www.lulu.com/shop/dan-wooding/red-dagger/paperback/product-11050174.html;jsessionid=89997AD165003FF2695A468AB262C07D
It is also available as an e-Book file download.

You can also get it at http://www.amazon.com/Red-Dagger-Dan-Wooding/dp/0578056534

If you live in the USA and would like an autographed copy of the book, just send a check for $20 (which includes postage) made out to Dan Wooding, and mail it to Dan Wooding, PO Box 609, Lake Forest, CA 92609. For overseas orders, please add a further $3 USD. Also, please put in the memo section of the check, “For Red Dagger.”

Have you ever tried to sell something that you did not believe in 100 percent? People contend the best sellers are those who

can sell themselves out of a paper bag. But, what if these clever individuals lack the belief in the product? Are you less or more likely to purchase it? Business owner, I tell you today that you must be able to convey to your customers that you have a passion for your product. Forget about turning a buck so quickly, and get to the root of why God has called you to the world of entrepreneurship – to make someone else’s life better.

There are stories upon stories about entrepreneurs who have taken their desire to make a needed service into a profitable corporation. The one I enjoy reading is Tony Hsieh, CEO of Zappos.com, an online shoe and apparel store.  Legend has it that the inspiration of Zappos.com, which is based in Henderson, Nev., came about because Hsieh could not find a pair of brown Airwalks in the mall. Hsieh wanted everyone to have the chance to purchase the best brands. Better yet, the brands are never out of stock. Hseih did not have a passion for shoes, but he does have a passion for providing customers with exceptional customer service. I can attest to the quality of the company’s customer service.

In the business world, patience is often overlooked. Everybody wants to be first. Do not confuse patience with dragging your feet. Patience involves devising a detailed map or steps to achieve a goal. If you don’t practice patience in business, mistakes occur or opportunities are missed. The Bible says, “A man’s wisdom gives him patience” (Proverbs 19:11, NIV). Whenever you start to get in a rush to jump into a venture, think about your relationship with Christ. If you have ever brought a wayward child to Christ, you would understand. You plant seeds along the way, and the greatest reward is that person eventually accepts Christ in their heart. Just imagine if you would have thrown Christianity at them – would you have received the same end result? Plus, there is no timetable. You ask God to deliver the tools you need to make the gift He has given specifically to you to mature in time.

The calling to become an entrepreneur is not an easy one to us, but God placed it in your heart because He knows your abilities. Some of you might doubt yourself or others might attempt to channel their negative energy onto you, but God will make a way. I was one of those people who had no other choice but to let Him guide my steps. Prayer and mediation is a big part of what keeps me doing this entrepreneurial thing every day. Pray consistently. It is not the bank loan or the customers or clients that will keep you afloat, it is your devotion to the One who gave you the skill set to take the journey.

It is interesting how God places things in our hearts. The best advice is to never challenge His moves. The more you embrace and pray for Christ’s guidance in a business venture, the clearer the vision for you becomes. I always tell individuals who approach me about marketing, it the process is not one that takes place overnight. According to Entrepreneur magazine, the ideal strategic marketing takes at least six months. But the mindset is understandable. The world is the same way. But, as believers, we don’t have to replicate the world.

Contact Tonya via Twitter @twhitaker1974 or at admin@mediaspencer.org.

By Beverly Caruso
Special to ASSIST News Service

Can a man find an honorable and commendable wife? She is far more precious to him than wealth or status. He can trust

Beverly and Pete Caruso

confidently in her. She will so satisfy him, he will have no longing to turn to another. She will be an asset to him socially, spiritually, and vocationally.

She is a diligent worker at home and in her career. She shops wisely, looking for quality products she can afford. Early each morning she spends time alone with God, then plans the day’s tasks for herself and her children.

She is frugal with her time and energy, evaluating her current obligations before committing herself to new areas of responsibility. Through physical exercise she maintains fitness; through mental and spiritual discipline she gains wisdom to do all that is required of her.

Because she first takes care of her own household, frequently evaluating the results of her efforts, she is able to provide not only for her own family, but also share food and clothing for those in need. Her home is decorated with loving care, providing a haven for her family and guests.

With her many responsibilities, she still remembers she is first a homemaker. She is confident and fit, looking forward to the future. Drawing upon her relationship with God, she speaks only words of kindness, instruction, and healing.

Mindful that idleness encourages discontent, she disciplines her mind and spirit, even when providing rest and recreation for her body.

She knows that while her children are still young they are by nature self-centered; but that one day they will express their love and admiration for her.

Her husband also, will speak words of praise, “Compared to all the women of acclaim and renown, you my dear, are the loveliest of all. Though your outward beauty may one day fade, the radiance created by your love and devotion to God will shine forever. Any thinking person can see the fruitfulness of your life. And any one of worth can see your glory.”