Trial
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Prepared and Pursuing
Each morning we get up and prepare for the day. Each night we prepare for sleep. Seems we are always preparing for something. If we are following Christ and if we are leading others to do the same, we must be prepared for an enemy who does not want us to be effective as disciples. I wrote about this in a LifeWay Women’s Ministry post several years ago. You can read that post The Devil is in My Face if you’d like. Preparation involves knowing who our enemy is and finding ways to be equipped. Recently one of my daughters had very vivid experience of how the enemy works. Here is what she…
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Stuck?
What do you think of when your hear the word “stuck”? Perhaps your car has been stuck in snow this winter. Or maybe like me, you’ve been stuck in sand with your car! I think about the Israelites who were stuck in the wilderness even though it was of their own doing due to disobedience and lack of faith in God’s provision. Maybe this is just where you are in life. Not where you used to be but not where you want to be? Ever feel like that? Perhaps you feel like you are in a foggy valley and surrounded by mountains on all sides with no way out. I know…
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What’s Your Story?
Anyone ever ask you “what’s your story”? Someone who really wants to know you? How did you answer?…Honestly? Or did you hide behind a mask of who you thought they wanted to hear? Often, we just say lighthearted surface-y type of things about ourself. Maybe we even hide big parts of our lives that are embarrassing, shameful or sinful. We don’t want others to know those parts…because if they do, they won’t think well of us. There are parts of my life that aren’t fun or flowery. They were harder than I ever thought possible to live through. They were hard enough to cause doubt that God could ever bring…
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Perfect, Broken or Perfectly Shaped?
How often do you hear someone say (or perhaps you have said it), “I’m broken and unusable.” Or “I can’t be forgiven for what I’ve done.” Or perhaps, “I know God has forgiven me, but I know He can’t use me after what I’ve done.” Maybe even you have thought these things. As I’ve mentioned, I LOVE beach time. And I love what God teaches me when I’m at the shore. One of the sweetest messages He’s given me relates to how I look for big, perfect, whole shells. Perhaps like this shell I found. It was big and perfect. I wanted to find more! Then I came across this one…
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A Grace Disguised
While at the beach recently I read Jerry Sitser’s book,A Grace Disguised . This is a transparent journey with a man who lost his daughter, wife and mother in a tragic car wreck. It was a head on with someone driving under the influence. Jerry must then figure out how to seek God in the midst of trying to be both mother and father to his three other young children. As the subtitle says, Jerry shares “how the soul grows through loss”. While he never seeks to compare his loss to anyone else’s, he shares the struggle of finding a good God in the midst of such pain. The main focus of…
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3 Lessons from Jonah
Did you know there are at least 2 documented cases (Baxter, Explore the Book) of men swallowed by sharks or whales who lived to tell about it? Jesus’ words in Matthew 12:39-40 prove to us that the story of Jonah is more than a fairy tale! What can we learn from his life and experience? Jonah’s life was interrupted by God’s assignment to him to tell the city of Nineveh to repent. When we read the book of Jonah we see what happens to a man whose life was interrupted. What would yours be? Do you like interruptions? I don’t. But that means I am not open to divine intervention.…
