Karen Ehman
Author & Speaker
Karen Ehman is a Proverbs 31 Ministries speaker and New York Times bestselling author. Described as profoundly practical, engagingly funny, and downright real, her passion is to help women to live their priorities and love their lives as they serve God and others.
Karen writes for Encouragement For Today, an online devotional that reaches over four million women daily. She also contributes to the First 5 teaching team, an app designed to help you spend the first five minutes of every day reading the Bible.
She has authored twenty-one books and Bible studies including the New York Times bestseller Keep It Shut: What to Say, How to Say It and When to Say Nothing at All. Her most recent devotional, co-authored with Ruth Schwenk of The Better Mom is entitled Settle My Soul: 100 Quiet Moments to Meet with Jesus and was selected as the 2020 Devotional and Gift Book of the Year. She and Ruth also co-wrote the ECPA best-seller Pressing Pause: 100 Quiet Moments for Moms to Meet with Jesus. She also released a Bible study with LifeWay on the letter of Philippians called What Matters Most.
Session Titles & Descriptions
Keep Showing Up
It is true that opposites attract–for a while. But often as the years go by in our marriages, opposites may also begin to attack. The habits and characteristics we once found endearing about our significant other are the exact things that drive us crazy years later! Whether you and your spouse disagree about finances, parenting, or how to load the dishwasher, your differences don’t need to divide you. They can actually bring you closer together–and closer to God. Discover how your “incompatibility” can become the strength of your marital team in this real-life guide to both living with and loving your spouse–differences and all.
This message will address:
• How to play to each other’s strengths as you work on your own weaknesses
• How to become a faithful forgiver who also forgets
• Strategies for avoiding the social media comparison trap
• How to unearth the magic in the mundane
• Why a spouse who drives you crazy can drive you straight to Jesus
KEEP IT SHUT: What to Say, How to Say It & When to Say Nothing at All
Got words? Oh yeah, you do! The average women speaks over 20,000 a day—-not to mention the ones she types online. Karen Ehman-—a woman whose words have often landed her in a heap of trouble—-shares from experience the how’s (and how-not-to’s) of dealing with the tongue in her new message based on her book Keep It Shut. Using biblical examples, as well as Karen’s own personal (and sometimes painful!) stories, Keep It Shut will equip you to know what to say, how best to say it, and when you’d better just keep your lips zipped!
Keep It Shut will teach you:
• The difference between gossip and properly processing with a trusted friend
• A helpful grid for using our digital tongues as we talk online or on social media
• How to pause before you pounce, attacking the problem but not the person
• How to avoid saying something permanently painful just because you are temporarily ticked off
• What the Bible teaches about making our speech laced with grace, as sweet as honey, and yet seasoned with salt
MOMS & MUFFINS: Listen, Love, Repeat: Other-Centered Living in a Self-Centered World
Our culture is obsessed with self. In our schedules, our relationships, and especially online. (Can you say “selfie”?) But in the midst of this near-narcissism, people are less content than in decades past. Why? Because we have forgotten the joy that comes from putting others first. Becoming such a person requires us to live alert, listening for “heart drops”-—hints from those in our lives who might need a helping hand or a generous dose of encouragement. Living alert lifts our own spirits, showing us that blessing others blesses us even more.
Listen, Love, Repeat offers both biblical teaching and doable suggested actions. Some are heart-tugging and sentimental. Others are sneaky and hilarious. All are simple and practical. This much-needed message:
Presents scriptural examples of those who lived alert, including Jesus—-the one who noticed those who least expected to be seen.
Explains the role of good works in the life of a follower of Christ. They aren’t our ticket to heaven, but they are our marching orders here on earth.
Gives creative ideas for showing love to your friends and family. Yes, even the ones who get on your very last nerve!
Provides inspiration for blessing the “necessary people” in your life–those often-overlooked souls who help you get life done every day.
Suggests practical ways to reach out to the lonely, the marginalized, the outcast, and the odd duck. Additionally, it gives ways to help the grieving, showing what you can do when you just don’t know what to say.
Teaches you how to hug a porcupine and squeeze a skunk–-genuinely loving the hard-to-love.
As we scatter kindness, we create a safe space where we can openly share the gospel with others. And we get to see lives changed right before our eyes—-not only the lives of others, but our lives as well. Most importantly, Listen, Love, Repeat will enable you to live a life that is full of good deeds, not to selfishly shout, “Hey! Look at me!” but in order to humbly implore, “Well… will you look at Him?”
