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4word Blog

Advice to My Younger Self

As part of an ongoing series, NPR has been asking working women to offer advice to their “younger selves.” It’s great to look back and really think about what kinds of things I could have done differently or realized earlier. If I could go back to when I… Read More

Praying for Boston

Ladies, meet Atinuke Diver, or Tinu as she likes to be called, who lives and works in Boston. As you know from Diane’s Monday blog, she was in Boston last week, and she and Tinu had planned to meet for breakfast, but those plans fell through in the… Read More

Where Does God Run?

What a week this has been. I arrived in Boston last Wednesday night for the  Salvation Army National Advisory Board meeting, already shaken from news of the Boston Marathon bombings. The next morning I woke up to hear about the devastating explosion in West, Texas.  By Friday we… Read More

Leaving a Legacy

In Chicago last month, Diane met Stephanie Kaihoi, who founded Legacy Living Ministries. Stephanie’s organization is committed to training the next generation to love the Lord and crave His Word.  Through events – Mentoring With No Regrets and Finishing With No Regrets – they provide biblical and practical resources to… Read More

A Real Partner

What does it mean to have a “real partner?” As I mentioned last week, I just finished Sheryl Sandberg’s book, Lean In, and one of her main recommendations for working women is to “make your partner a real partner.” Sheryl cites research showing that if a married couple… Read More

Women Who Work, Love and Pray

Diane with 4word Portland leaders Maria (left) and Katie (right) at the Portland Good Friday Breakfast last month. It's been a little more than a year and a half since Diane's book "Work, Love, Pray" was published. Since then, the topic of working mothers and working women has… Read More

Leaning In, Together

I’ve been reading Sheryl Sandberg’s new book, Lean In.  For the most part I like it very much, with one caveat.  For me, no discussion of work life balance is complete without faith. I believe that work and family are best served through a relationship with one God,… Read More

Does Working Mom = Massive Guilt?

Meet Tracy Thomas, Director of Strategic Partnerships at Bright Hope, wife of Tojy and mother to Soraya, Caleb and Zachary. Tracy has been a working woman since her teens – she paid for college working at carnivals every summer (as a “carnie” she likes to call it), selling… Read More

A Purposeful Life

One of my friends Charlotte likes to say that “the purpose of life is to have a purposeful life.” I love that quote because it reminds me how simple life really is (even though it often feels complicated!). The thing is, “purposeful” doesn’t necessarily mean “important,” the way… Read More

What to Do with Life's Leftovers

Today, we introduce you to Sheila B.  Sheila's husband is the late E. K. Bailey, who was pastor of Concord Baptist Church for almost thirty years before succumbing to cancer. Sheila and E. K. were introduced in college by his friend, Melvin Wade. (E.K. later returned the favor… Read More

The Simple Secret to Building Successful Relationships

I’ve been thinking about relationship-building a lot lately. A few weeks ago I explored how Facebook can help you build stronger relationships. Then last week I had the honor of attending and speaking at Co-Lab, a conference for a diverse group of Christian ministry leaders including Nancy Ortberg… Read More

What Does It Look Like to "Trade on Your Strengths?"

Meet Natalie Snyder, 28, a petite Texas beauty who earned a vice president role with Transwestern in just six years. Natalie moved to Dallas after graduating from Texas A&M, where she was a skeet shooter. She’s not afraid to outshoot any guy on a business-retreat skeet range, no… Read More