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Bitter Grip: The Cost of Unforgiveness
Have you ever thought, I just cannot forgive that person? The pain they caused feels too big, too evil. Forgiving them seems impossible. Does God really expect us to forgive in such cases? Charles Swindoll said… He’s right. When we refuse to forgive, we suffer more than they do. The person who hurt you may be unaware of your feelings, but you carry the burden every day. You have a right to be angry, but you don’t have to carry that weight. Hebrews 12:14-15 warns: Pursue peace with everyone, and holiness—without it no one will see the Lord. Make sure that no one falls short of the grace of God…
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How Easily We Forget God’s Faithfulness
It’s easy to praise God when life is going well—when the sun shines, relationships thrive, finances are stable, and health is strong. We readily acknowledge His goodness in these seasons of abundance. However, when freezing rain descends, betrayals sting, bills pile up, and frightening diagnoses emerge, how quickly does our praise dissipate? It’s a humbling admission, but in these challenging times, our recognition of His unwavering faithfulness often falters. Consider the prophet Elijah. After a spectacular victory over the prophets of Baal on Mount Carmel, a threat from Jezebel sent him fleeing in fear to the wilderness. Even after witnessing God’s undeniable power, Elijah temporarily lost sight of God’s consistent…
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Between the Holidays
Thanksgiving is over, Christmas is quickly approaching. How’s your heart? Ticking along at a steady pace, or beating out of your chest in this holiday season. Perhaps some of you had a wonderful Thanksgiving and you look forward to Christmas even though you have shopping, decorating and cooking to do. Photo by Element5 Digital on StockSnap Others may have had a very tense Thanksgiving and the thought of another family gathering is more than you can even begin planning. Maybe you are missing someone who is no longer a part of your holidays due to broken relationships, geograhical distance, or death. Does your job, kids holiday activities, or purchasing and…
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When God Says No
I am typically upbeat and optimistic, but after this past hard season of loss, I have found myself struggling to find my normal happy self. I even felt some depression which is rare for me. And, this isn’t the first hard season I’ve faced! But this time, when I prayed for God to work a certain way, He said no. That hurt, a lot. So, would I still trust Him? Would I still walk in the truth of Romans 8:28-30? Would I say, His love and goodness are still true? Where would I focus my eyes and look for what sustains in the “even ifs” of life? For a couple…
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New Year’s Blessings
Thank you for reading my posts in the past. I am so grateful if anything the Lord is teaching me ministers to you. Truly, what you read is not what I’ve mastered, but what He is teaching me, often for the hundredth time! I pray that this coming year, the Lord will use me to continue serving and encouraging you. No matter what we face in the months ahead, glorious joy or the depth of despair, Jesus will walk with us through it all. We will be changed, and we will become stronger in our faith, if we will trust Him completely, even in pain and fear. We will learn…
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Lessons from #MoDawg
Listening has been the theme of some recent posts, today is another. You may know that our 12 year old Yorkie Mo has been blind for about 2 years. Today we took him kayaking, which he loves, and also for a walk in the park. In the past, we let him off the leash to run his legs off. Then he went blind. He still loves the freedom to run. Although we let him off his leash occasionally in an open field, he’s much slower than before, more cautious, and he depends on our voice commands to guide him safely, and so he can locate us. Today as we watched…
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Treasures
I started this train of thought last week in When It Makes No Sense. Today, I want to share 7 follow up treasures He has given me, and how I am getting those insights. I do not like waiting for answers…just ask my former co-workers! I’m just not good at waiting. And right now…waiting is where I am. But in the waiting, the Lord ALWAYS shows up. These things occurred (and this time I was listening!) in a weeks time. And even though resolution has not yet appeared, He has shown up, every single day! 1 I read the phrase “don’t hurry through the heartache” alongside Romans 8:28, “We know…
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When It Makes No Sense
It was one of those days. I’d been dealing with something heavy on my heart. Something that just isn’t how things should be. This led me to look at others and wonder why my situation couldn’t be fixed like their situations seem to be. This day, as He does often, God spoke in various ways as I spent time with Him on my deck. I started with the song, Sovereign Over Us, one I listen to especially when I just need the reminder of His sovereignty over EVERYTHING. Take a listen. My Bible reading then took me to John 21 and the conversation Jesus had with Peter, after He told…
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Two Book Recommendations
I recently finished reading two amazing books I want to recommend to my readers. The first is When Strivings Cease by Ruth Chou Simons. My D-group did a slow walk through this book. I wrote one post on it in Perfect? For Who? since I am a recovering perfectionist! Ruth takes us from a “self help” mentality to a grace mentality as she reminds us of who Christ is and what He has done for us. Because of His grace we can walk in confidence in His image and stop striving to work our way through self-help methods. Yes, there are things we do to become disciplined disciples, but even those things…
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A New Year…And?
I just reflected on where my thoughts and heart were this time last year. Here was my new years post then, What’s Ahead. Now I’m looking into 2022 and wondering again what this year will bring. We cannot predict this new year anymore than we could 2021. We aren’t allowed perfect predictions of the future. We have no idea the wonderful experiences we will have, nor the pains and losses. We can make plans, we can dream and pray, but only the Lord sees every day of 2022 completely. So, what do we do? Simply put, yet so profound, is that we trust the sovereignty of The One who does…
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