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Freedom from Striving
I have a confession to make. More times than I admit, I don’t finish what I start. I generally have all these great big plans and ideas as I step out boldly to do All.The.Things. Then I get hijacked somewhere between my glorious beginning and my name in lights ending by all things called life. I am left idling in the middle of the road called Success, loaded to the brim of all these great things but left overwhelmed to where I can no longer move. This middle-of-the-road place is where I quietly sat deep in thought recently. As I sat and sputtered for a while and let my motor…
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Learning to Pray and Believe
Have you ever wrestled with the whole thing called prayer? Have you ever sincerely just wondered how does it work? Maybe you have prayed and prayed for something and find yourself still waiting. Maybe you see “her” prayer answered but not yours, and it has you struggling to understand. Acts 12: 1-17 tells us that while Peter was sleeping in a maximum security prison cell chained between two prison guards, the early church prayed for him. Peter’s situation looked hopeless to change, yet the early church prayed. There was no way out of his sentence. Death was imminent, yet the early church prayed. There was no way of escape,…
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Getting to the Good Stuff of God
The Book of Joel is one of the smallest books in the Bible but it makes a powerful punch. It is not for the weak of heart but it takes great courage to tackle God’s message for Israel found within its pages. The fields had been ravished, and the fruit trees were dried up along with the joy that had once filled their hearts. Everything was gone. But weren’t these God’s people? Why would He allow such heartache and destruction? Don’t we blame God when everything falls apart? I’m not proud to say it but I would have to raise my hand that many times I do. It is knowing…
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Look Again Hope is Still There
There have been times in my life I felt maybe I heard God wrong. Times when I felt my life didn’t look anything like He had promised me it would be. I’ve wondered how good could come out of my circumstances or how could things work out after so many things had gone wrong. I’m sure that is kind of how Ephraim must have felt. God had made a covenant in which He promised to make Ephraim a large nation. (Genesis 48:19) Then one day, “The men from Gath, born in the land, killed them because they came to raid their cattle.” (I Chronicles 7:20) Just like that Ephraim’s sons were gone…
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We Will Find God to Be Faithful Even When Others Are Not
It was one of the most devastating seasons of my life. My heart was not only broken but it had been shattered into a million pieces. What hurt the most was that the God I serve had allowed my pain to happen. For ten long months, I walked out that season crying out to God for deliverance from the pain. When someone you considered to be a friend suddenly changes from being for you to against you, you can’t imagine God allowing such hurt. Not only allow it but allow it to continue for so long. I poured myself out to Him in prayer. I also devoured His word in…
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Accomplishing Much
I was surrounded by overachievers and goal masterminders. It left me asking myself, “What have you accomplished?” Regrettably, as I sat and pondered the question I couldn’t think of anything I felt I had done that would count as an accomplishment recently. I had spent the past week like so many others taking care of my husband, cooking meals, and walking my dog. Honestly, I had let some things go to just sit in my front porch swing because I felt worn out physically, emotionally and even a little spiritually. I had managed to be consistent in some things during my week. I had still spent time in…
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The Cross Isn’t Just for Easter
Did you know that the cross is not just for Easter? I have found it to be a place I need to visit often. Its message is timely for every day of the year. I spent Lent this year not journaling in my normal place through the pages of the four gospels. Instead, I found myself journaling through the pages of Habakkuk. I thought it strange at first why I felt so led by God to visit these scriptures leading up to Resurrection Day. After all, Habakkuk is a book about sin and the consequences of sin and how it brought a nation to its knees. Can’t I just skip…
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We Get to Rise Up in Jesus
It would be easy to read scripture and pretend I am not like all the others. I could skip to the part after the Resurrection of Jesus to Mary being the first to the tomb, never wavering in her love for Him, always full of faith. But I have not always been like Mary when I read scripture telling Christ’s story. I can easily be like the apostles sleeping when I need to be praying. (Luke 22:46) I can make rash decisions like the man who struck the soldier’s ear with his sword. I, too have struck out in anger. Times when my words cut like a sword when things didn’t…
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God Will Turn it Around
Friend, I have a word of encouragement… Do you ever feel like no matter what you do you just can’t get ahead? Do you feel while the world is spinning out of control on your side of the fence, while the enemy is over on his side throwing a party? I can relate. Situations and hardships can easily make you feel like you are never going to win at this thing called life. We will often need God to turn things around. Mordecai in the book of Esther was on his knees crying out loud to God in sackcloth and ashes for his people not to be destroyed at the exact…
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We Are More Than a Name
Do you ever feel like just one more name in the middle of a bunch of names? Do you ever wonder if you even matter at all? Are you truly seen in a vast sea of so many others? While finding myself staring down at I Chronicles 4 this week, that is exactly what I was feeling. As I started reading the names of this son and that father, that is exactly how I was processing the names I was reading. Just a bunch of names. However, when I began to process the names through the eyes of faith, I began to see them differently. First, God recorded each one for…