Lessons
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“However”
Sometimes I am having a great season, growing in the Lord, watching what I say so I don’t unintentionally offend, and feeling really grateful in general. HOWEVER, all of a sudden, I find myself doing what I didn’t really want to do, or saying what I really didn’t want to say, or being so self-centered I cannot find anything to be thankful for. Where did I go wrong? What was the HOWEVER that changed things? As I continued through Lysa TerKeurst’s study, Trustworthy (get this study!), I watched this cycle of good kings and bad kings, those who did right in the eyes of the Lord, and those who did…
- Generations, Leadership Lessons, Lessons, Pandemic, Spiritual Growth, Test, Trial, Unity, What I'm Reading
What’s Up With All The Kings?
Right now, in the midst of something none of us expected…social distancing due to a virus we’d never heard of until this year…we are hungry for what was and, prayerfully, what will be again…physical connection with people we care about, life before the virus, recovered income, and plenty of toilet paper! But until God chooses to release us from our isolation, what do we do? Is He teaching us anything? Am I listening well? Are you? Seems like everything I am reading and studying right now has to do with kings! Normally, 1 and 2 Kings in the Old Testament is NOT my go to for Bible study. But, it’s…
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Peter’s 3’s
Numbers are important in Scripture. The numbers 3, 7, 10 and 12 indicate completeness. Most of us who have read the Gospels, remember the 3 times Peter denied Christ after His arrest, even as Jesus was defending his own identity to the authorities. And this was after Peter swore he would follow Jesus anywhere. Peter told him, “Even if everyone falls away because of you, I will never fall away.” (Matthew 26:33) And many of us also remember when Jesus restored Peter on the shore in (John 21:15-19). He asked Peter if he loved him, not once but 3 times. And each time Peter was told to “feed My sheep”.…
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The Promise
Has anyone ever promised you something and then didn’t come through? I remember as a little girl, I was with my uncle and we came out of store that had a mechanical horse ride. I asked if I could ride and he said we’d go to a real amusement park later. Only thing is, later never came, and I was really disappointed. Now, he had no idea how much that hurt and he wasn’t intentionally lying, but to me it was a promise from a loved one. I was really disillusioned. Has God ever promised something and not come through? Personally, I can say, no, not ever. Now, He didn’t…
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Quarantine Questions
Recently when the extension to April 30 for social distancing was announced, I experienced my first real Coronavirus funk. Even though my funk didn’t last long, it reminded me that what I do during this time either draws people to Him and lifts His name high, or, it just doesn’t. The study Experiencing God calls this a crisis of belief. I either believe God or I don’t. I believe He is sovereign and will bring good, or I don’t. The day after this announcement, as I spent time in the Word (Finding God Faithful), I studied Joseph’s reunion with his father Jacob. I was reminded that, after 22 years of…
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Obedience=Rest
One thing I love about God’s living and active Word (Hebrews 4:12), is the new-ness I experience as I read passages I’ve read so often. and yet, God reveals something deeper that I’ve missed before. This happened, AGAIN, as I was studying Hebrews this time…an amazing book in the Bible that ties the Old Testament to the New Testament like no other! The writer of this book warns against not believing God, not following Him in obedience. Hebrews 3:15-19 says: Today, if you hear his voice, do not harden your hearts as in the rebellion. For who heard and rebelled? Wasn’t it all who came out of Egypt under Moses?…
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Why Read the Bible?
Why read the Bible? Primarily, because it’s TRUE! Fully and completely true because it’s God’s Word to the world and to us personally. It’s also how we know God and His redemptive purpose throughout history and forever. And it teaches us how to live. At times, it’s confusing. Other times it’s surprising. It’s convicting. At times, I want to put it down so I do not have to live up to what I read. But when I choose to read, allow it convict me and change me, I am always joy-filled (and so are those around me!), even when it’s hard and I blow it again in an hour! We…
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Do I See?
God is continuing to refine and add to my focus for 2020. One way is through a study by Christine Caine that I just happened to be doing this January. You can read more about my 2020 focus in my first two posts for this year: Focus 2020 and Settle In. It’s both exciting and frightening (in a good way) to see how God is refining and speaking to me in this overall topic of having a heart for Him. In the first day, Christine labels the first week’s study, “When We Feel Hidden in Plain Sight.” She asks if we have ever felt hidden and unseen by others and…
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Do You Really Know How to Forgive?
I’ve written on this topic before and you can read Embrace God’s Forgiveness here, but I believe this true life experience written by one of my daughters, Alycia Neighbours (see bio below), will touch you deeply. Our girls get a love for animals from me, except theirs includes menageries of all kinds of animals, while my husband and I are a one dog at a time kind of pet owner! My grand animals have included not only MANY dogs, and a couple of cats, but also bearded dragons, guinea pigs, hamsters, goats, horses, donkeys, pigs, lizards, a snake, and all kinds of fish! Be blessed by reading Alycia’s post and…
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Settle In
I’m not sure how you feel about our country, or our global world, right now. With elections in the future, crime and violence, anger and hatred all over the news and filtering into whatever we watch, read or hear, we could just decide to go live on a tropical island somewhere away from it all! Tempting isn’t it? Definitely for this beach girl. The thing is, God has not put us here to run away. He has placed us here to make a difference. He actually has a plan for us, for our lives and He wants us where He has placed us. I read a post by Noe Garcia…
