Favorite Quotes
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What Spiritual Maturity Looks Like
When you got up today, what was your plan? Did you have a personal agenda in place? At the end of this day, what if your plan doesn’t look anything like what actually happened? Will you feel like a failure? Or do you trust God worked it out according to His plan? Do you believe what 2 Timothy 6:16 says: …God, who is the blessed controller of all things…” Someone once said: One of the marks of spiritual maturity is the quiet confidence that God is in control, without the need to understand why He does what He does. (anonymous) Oops, well, my response many days proves my level of…
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Morning Rhythms
How do you start your day with the Lord? There are many ways to get focused: devotional reading, a chapter a day through a book of the Bible, listening to the Bible audibly, following a Bible reading plan. The point is to have a plan, even if it varies throughout the week. This is what my time looks like (I am memorizing these scriptures) as I focus. Worship: I love you, LORD, my strength. The LORD is my rock, my fortress, and my deliverer, my God, my rock where I seek refuge, my shield and the horn of my salvation, my stronghold. Psalm 18:1-2 Satisfy us in the morning with…
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When God Surprises Us
I love it when God shows up in unexpected ways. Those times when I pray and He answers along the lines I’ve prayed, only so much more! But, what if He answers completely differently? Calling all prayer warriors! That was my request recently for a loved one. She knows I have different groups of women who pray for our needs and has been the recipient of those prayers in the past. As I prayed, I expected it to go one way and couldn’t wait to see how God would take care of all the details. I worried it might not be pretty, but I trusted whatever He chose to do. …
- Favorite Quotes, Knowing God's Will, Spiritual Growth, Struggle and Loss, Test, Trial, What I'm Reading
Complaints and Provision
One day this past week I read Exodus 16-17, and I was reminded again of how Israel complained and God provided. I was also reminded of how I do the same, even though I hate to admit it! The Israelites had been freed from Egypt through the Red Sea and right away complained about not having the kinds of food they had in captivity! Like Israel, I find myself complaining about insignificant things while ignoring the ways God provides for all my needs every day. As I spent time with the Lord this day, I reflected on a quote by Elisabeth Elliot that I’ve kept handy ever since I read…
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No Disappointments
Theologian and hymn writer Frederick William Faber said, There are no disappointments to those whose will are buried in the will of God. How can that be true? Haven’t we all faced disappointments? We understand God is sovereign, and He decides the course of our lives. He is our ultimate authority, so he chooses what to give us and what to withhold. But does that mean we have to be happy with His choices? What about the alternative? We choose our will rather than God’s. Surely, we understand that it will not end well. We are not all-knowing and all-wise. He is. Isaiah 48:17 speaks of God’s guidance and care…
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Thieves of Peace
Have you ever had something of yours stolen? When I was in 3rd grade, my family came home from out of town to find our house had been robbed. It was a house with an attic that could be accessed in the garage or the house and you could go from one end to the other once inside. I made my dad get up there to look to make sure the thief wasn’t hiding there! After that, I was never again comfortable in that house. I was glad when we moved away within a year! Not only were my silver dollars and $2 bills taken, so was my sense of…
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In The First Waking Moments
What happens when you first have an awareness of waking up in the morning? To where or what does your mind turn? A dream you just had? Your overfull to do list? Your cell phone? Your current crisis? Your commute in heavy traffic to work? Your health concern? I’d have to answer yes to all of these at one time or another. May I suggest another option? If we remember Who is in charge of our day, it might prompt us to turn our eyes upward and know Jesus cares about every single thing on our hearts and on our to do list. Wouldn’t that be amazing? Everything others see…
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A Short Fuse
Being Scotch-Irish through my dad’s side of the family, I grew up seeing a short fuse in action. And I inherited that short fuse! For a long time I just blamed it on my family background. But eventually, the Lord convicted me of my impatience and quick response of anger. I’m still learning about patience, but over the years I have seen God’s work in helping to lessen my quick, hot anger. One day I came across this quote from an unknown author: The wind of anger blows out the lamp of intelligence. Quite convicting. Proverbs 29:11 says… A fool gives full vent to his anger, but a wise man holds it…
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A God Assignment: Eyes on Others
Where are you right now? What neighborhood do you live in? Where do you work? Who do you Iive with and are responsible for? Where do you shop? And what’s on your heart? What have you learned? Who do you often pass by and hardly notice? Questions worth considering from time to time. Chris Tiegreen said: God has not placed us where we are simply for the output we can produce, whether at a factory, at a desk, at school, or at home with children. He has put us there because that is a context in which He wants to display Himself. Really? At my nail salon? In my workplace? Within…
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Be Alert to Satan’s Tactics
My pastor is preaching through Revelation this year and as we got to chapter 12, we studied John’s vision of spiritual warfare in the heavens and the earth. Another quote from my favorites list (see past posts) is by one of my former presidents at LifeWay, Thom Rainer, who said, Satan has a simple agenda…to keep people lost. But another tactic of his is to keep saved people ineffective as disciples. Pastor Robby Gallaty recommended a book by C. S. Lewis, The Screwtape Letters, and since I hadn’t read it, I ordered a copy. It truly exposes how subtle the devil is and how naive we can be about how…
