Stories Around the Web - October 31

Originally published Friday, 31 October 2014.

Here are some of our favorite stories and articles from around the web this week. What'd we miss? Let us know in the comments section!

When Dad Doesn’t Disciple the Kids – Jen Wilkin

What do you do if your husband doesn’t take the initiative to partner with you in the spiritual nurture of your family? Jen has some great tips to help you both honor your husband and nurture your children.  

"Moms dealing with spiritually absent dads rightly feel anxiety for their children. In the busy intersection of life, it is neither safe nor right to leave children untrained in spiritual matters. In fact, it would be reprehensible to do so. But don’t worry - it’s possible to honor your sacred responsibility to your children and their Heavenly Father while still showing honor to their earthly father."

Soapbox Warning: On Jian Ghomeshi and the acceptability of sexualized violence against women.

Regardless of your position on Canadian broadcaster Jian Ghomeshi, Sarah’s broader point about sexualized violence against women is something everyone should read.

"People are sacred. Women are sacred. Men are sacred. Our bodies are not separate from our spirituality – our bodies matter, our words matter, the way we treat each other sexually matters, the way we believe we should be treated sexually matters."

For more from Sarah on how women can battle against injustice, see our interview with her here.

Dear Brittany: Why We Don’t Have to Be So Afraid of Dying & Suffering that We Choose Suicide – Kara Tippetts.

You’ve probably heard of Brittany Maynard, the 29-year-old with terminal brain cancer who made national attention after publically declaring her decision to take her own life, on “her own terms.” Several Christians have publically expressed their dismay over this, and Kara Tippett’s open letter to Brittany is incredibly moving. Kara, a young mom of four children, is currently facing terminal cancer herself.

"In your choosing your own death, you are robbing those that love you with such tenderness, the opportunity of meeting you in your last moments and extending you love in your last breaths.

That last kiss, that last warm touch, that last breath, matters — but it was never intended for us to decide when that last breath is breathed.

Knowing Jesus, knowing that He understands my hard goodbye, He walks with me in my dying. My heart longs for you to know Him in your dying. Because in His dying, He protected my living. My living beyond this place."

All My Children Are ‘My Own’ – Sara Hagerty

If you didn’t know, this coming Sunday (Nov. 2) is Orphan Sunday – a day when Christians give voice to orphans around the world, challenging others to heed God’s call to care for the orphan. In this piece, Sara Hagerty shares some of the unintentionally wounding language we often hear around adoption and how we can understand our adoption into the family of God.

A phrase I’ve heard a hundred times, and it never ceases to give my heart pause. Children of your own, words that expose a subconscious understanding of adoption as charitable affection versus primal love. As if these, once-adopted ones, were somehow, not truly mine.

You can hear more from Sara about adoption in our interview with her, here.

What did you find exciting online this week? Let us know!

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