Many women go through life wounded and broken. But no matter the source of the hurt, Christ can repair the damage.

I grew up around a lot of negative lifestyles. For years as a child, I experienced grief, abandonment, abuse and homelessness. Some people think that if you ignore past hurts, they will just go away. But the anger and the core feelings that are born in an abusive environment can strangle an individual's emotional and developmental growth.

Many women have had to deal with the kind of mistreatment that was intended to control and subjugate them. Abuse of any kind breeds fear and damages the soul, made up of the mind, will and emotions. Ill-treatment devalues a woman and wears down her self-respect.

Your heavenly Father has a beautiful plan for your life—one that no one else on Earth can fulfill because you are unique. You are the only one of you that God has.

However, religious tradition and Jewish custom have been relentless in their suppression of women. Even those extraordinary women who have overcome female subjugation and have launched out and done exploits in Christ’s name have had little recorded about their triumphs of faith.

Having the shape of your dreams isn't your ticket to happiness. It's learning to love the skin you're in.

Imagine a world where everyone looks like Barbie and Ken. Try to imagine yourself as a Barbie, talking to the other Barbies and Kens.

Would you like yourself? Would you think you were as pretty as the other Barbies? Would you be envious of them?

Would everyone in the group be happy with how they look? Or would some be depressed, struggling with a negative body image? Would others feel better than everyone else based on how they look?

You'll need more than cosmetics for great-looking skin and a lovely appearance. You'll need to understand the health and beauty connection.

Beauty truly does radiate from within. A healthy, vibrant woman defies age. As a testimony and reflection of our self-esteem, inner beauty and vibrancy, true beauty is the result of inner vitality, balance, health and happiness, not vanity.

Optimal nutrition, stress-relieving exercise and a positive frame of mind are requirements you must tote along on your continued journey toward complete balance. A balanced body and a beautiful spirit are better than the very best cosmetic application or surgery.

In the Scriptures, Abraham's territory was limited only by what he could envision. When it comes to your spiritual inheritance, how far can you see?

Every new season from God seems to have a theme, catch phrase or byword that characterizes it. In the most recent season, that catch phrase has expressed a particular hunger in our hearts and has become the theme of many of our prayer lives: "Increase our territory."

The widespread appeal of that phrase and its message—that God wants to increase the territory of those who call out to Him—has been apparent in the almost frenzied popularity of a slim, simple little book by Bruce Wilkinson called The Prayer of Jabez. The book expounds on Jabez's prayer, recorded in 1 Chronicles 4:10, which included a cry for an increase in territory. The Bible says that God granted his request.

To a woman, whether single or married, what matters most is knowing her worth in the eyes of God.

What do you think of yourself? How would you describe yourself to someone if you were being objective? Would you want to get to know you if you met yourself walking down the street? Well, it’s time to get under the skin you’re in.

I’ve told the story of the time I was deeply hurt in a relationship—so deeply I had a party with the devil who served me Unbelief Tea and Resignation Pie topped with “Why Me?” sauce. Well, the man got married and divorced. He became a Christian. He came back to me. I was thrilled.

Then we had a major disagreement. He married someone else without telling me. (Can you believe he got married on me twice? What was I thinking?)

With so many dating options today, waiting on the Lord for a mate has taken on a whole new meaning.

Marijean (not her real name) had just broken her engagement to a successful businessman, who turned out to have serious moral failings. She was 31, and looking for real solutions to some of the relationship dilemmas many singles face, so she began regularly visiting a home Bible study I attended that addressed singles issues.

One evening on the drive home, she coyly asked me this question: "What is the procedure if someone is attracted to another person in the Bible study?" Gulp. I searched my mind for a file called "procedure," but found none. "Well," I said, finally, "they could try and mingle over cookies and juice at the end of the evening." That was the best I could offer, and I knew it was lame.

Change is not simply a season in our spiritual journeys; it is a process we undergo for the whole of life.

As her labor pains intensified, I watched in amazement as my typically sweet-natured, mild-mannered wife took on the appearance of Sigourney Weaver in Alien. In one startling moment her peaceful appearance was replaced by a taut jaw, steely eyes and the bark of a drill sergeant preparing young soldiers for the battle of their lives. The thin line of sweat that had formed on her brow began to pulsate in rhythm with her temples.

I wanted to run for my life, to get as far away from this frightening creature as I could. But the next moment she was back to normal—normal, that is, for a pregnant woman about to give birth.

Competition, alienation and loss of affection are only a few of the effects brought on by allowing the "green-eyed monster" to reign in your marriage.

When envy invades a marriage relationship, the results are particularly tragic. Husband and wife, once a union of love and partnership, now compete for recognition and spiritual “one-upmanship.”

Typically, jealousy among spouses masks itself in legalism—creating discord and suspicion. It effectively destroys the potential for teamwork by fostering individual kingdom building rather than cooperation. Jealousy is commonly rooted in insecurity and is defined as that “peculiar uneasiness” we experience when we see others receive the attention we desire for ourselves.

Confusion over the real meaning of "headship" often leads to marital conflict, but the Bible doesn't give husbands the right to be tyrants.

As a Bible-believing Christian, Mike* was the spiritual leader of his home. He believed that in order to be a faithful man of God he must always "be in charge." His wife, Jill*, and their four children graciously submitted to his authority.

Mike insisted on controlling every aspect of home life. Jill was not allowed to handle any aspect of the family finances.

God is looking for women who are willing to fight to restore the biblical foundations in our country. Are you ready to answer the call?

When I was a child, one of my favorite parts of the school day was when my teacher would open her big black Bible and read us a Scripture verse. After that, we would all fold our hands and bow our heads as she led us in a short prayer. We would pray for our country, teachers, school and generally, anything else that needed prayer. Nobody complained. It was as natural as breathing or standing up to salute the flag.

But these activities came to a screeching halt on June 25, 1962, when the U.S. Supreme Court ruled in the Engel v. Vitale case that prayer should be taken out of public school. In one fell swoop millions of students and teachers were barred from praying in the classroom.

Even today, some church leaders tell Christian women that God wants them to stay at home. But what does the Bible really say?

In the small town of Berryville, in northwest Arkansas, members of the board at First Baptist Church voted in February 1997 to close their church-run day care center. They made the abrupt decision not because the facility was too expensive to operate or because they didn't have enough children enrolled. The official reason, as stated in a letter that was mailed to parents, was that church leaders felt their day care center was encouraging women to work outside the home.

"God intended for the home to be the center of a mother's world," the letter from First Baptist stated, adding that working moms "neglect their children, damage their marriages and set a bad example." First Baptist's day care center board, under the direction of the pastor, also noted in their letter that families should learn to get by on the husband's single income."