Test
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Nevertheless
What is the last experience you had that looked totally hopeless? How did it turn out? Or how has it turned out…so far? For those who know Christ, nothing is beyond His ability to remedy according to His plan, His glory and our good. (See Romans 8:28-30.) In my final week of study of Amos by Jennifer Rothschild, the word “nevertheless” stirred up my absolute love and gratefulness for the “but God” of my faith! Jennifer had us define “nevertheless” (or what I see as “but God”). Looking it up I found it means: in spite of evidence, even so, however, but, be that as it may. This is bad…
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The World We Live In
I’ve watched from a distance the culture of anger we see all around us today. Painful as that is, seeing it in the community where I live brings it close to home and breaks my heart. Especially when Christians are angry and violent for a “christian” reason. Seeking justice, but in an un-Christlike manner. A hateful and even threatening manner. But it’s a picture of what we’ve all witnessed across the nation. A hint of truth, a huge dose of untruth, then attacks on social media platforms that are aimed at destroying people. Watching attacks on people they don’t know at all. They believe lies they see or hear from…
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Everything?
How many days a week do you feel blessed? 5 out of 7? 2 out of 7? 7 out of 7? Something new stood out for me as I read (AGAIN) the story of Abraham’s life. It’s a simple verse in Genesis 24. “Abraham was now old, getting on in years, and the LORD had blessed him in everything.” Genesis 24:1 At first glance, it doesn’t appear to be more than a simple comment about Abraham, but something stood out to me that hadn’t before. As I reflected on what he had already experienced as he followed God in obedience, I thought, “EVERYTHING?” What about leaving his homeland and family…
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Mysterious Purpose
Why does it sometimes take pain to push us to grow deeper in Christ? If I could answer I’d be really brilliant. I can’t even explain it to myself in a way that totally makes sense because I could never fully explain God’s ways. Why? Because He’s so much wiser than I am and well, you know…He’s so much more in every way than we are. But we do not have to understand Him or fully explain Him to know Him! As I’ve continued reading chronologically, I am studying Job and although he was a righteous man, the devil was allowed to test him by destroying what was important to…
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A “Don’t Worry” Reminder
At the end of 2022, I got a call from my doctor’s office about needing some follow-up scans to ones I’d had a few days prior. Not a call you want to get right before Christmas…or anytime really. Unfortunately, they couldn’t schedule the scans until after the first week of January. My first thought was, “I have to go through the holidays with this on my mind? Wondering if there is an unexpected something that will change my life in 2023.” Yes, I would have to go through Christmas and New Year’s celebrations without knowing if something was wrong. Then, I remembered another time, years ago, when I got a…
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The Word on Waiting
As “waiting” has been on my heart, and in my advent study, I’ve also been working throuh a Melissa Spoelstra study on Isaiah. (Check the blog category for more on the topic of Waiting) Once again, the Lord has connected it all today as I was in Isaiah 49. The author’s focus was “we can trust God’s timing because He sent His Son, Jesus, just as He promised.” This message is very similar to what I’ve learned through the advent study, Our Hope Has Come! So, yes, Lord, I am listening while I’m waiting and waiting and waiting! I needed this reminder today and wanted to share some great waiting…
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The Waiting of the Second Advent
If you missed the last post, please read The Waiting of Advent first. This week the focus is: how we are to wait for what hasn’t happened yet? How do we wait when we have unmet desires? And especially how do we wait for the second and final arrival of Christ? A reminder, these thoughts were generated by the study of Our Hope Has Come as I led our life group through. Though we are never given exact dates for Christ’s return, we are told what we should be doing. The Great Commission, a few of Jesus’ last words to His disciples, is found in Matthew 28:18-20. “All authority has…
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The Waiting of Advent
This year my women’s life group studied advent through the Bible study, Our Hope Has Come. The major theme is on the waiting. Something most of us do not like to do! I hate waiting! Of course there was the waiting for the arrival of the Messiah for the Jewish nation. He had been promised and God would bring it to pass, but when? Finally, Jesus arrives, granted, not like most people expected. Many didn’t believe. But He came. Today, we wait for his second advent…the arrival of the new heaven and earth for all eternity. We didn’t just study the nativity itself as you might think for a Christmas…
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5 Women With a Connection…Part 5
Do you sometimes wish you had this idyllic background and life story that was filled with family, faith and obedience? The women we’ve studied in this series all had issues, pain and loss…just like us. This final post in this series looks at Mary (Luke 1-2). Different in many ways from the other 4. They included one who betrayed and slept with her father-in-law, one was a prostitute, one had paganism in her background, and one was an adulteress. Then there is this humble Jewish teenager. Mary engaged to a man and, no doubt, excited about planning a wedding and looking forward to a home filled with love and children.…
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5 Women with a Connection…Part 4
If you could come up with one sin you have committed that disqualifies you from being used by God, what would it be? I’d have to sort through more than one myself. But the truth is, for a follower of Christ, there is not one sin the Lord would call out to us. The fourth woman in this series is Bathsheba. Her story is found in 2 Samuel 11. Men ruled in the ancient world. Women were not in the marketplace and didn’t have a strong voice in a marriage. And the kings had supreme power over their kingdoms and its inhabitants. In 2 Samuel 11:1-5, we see the “man…
