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His Salvation…My Worship
When I first accepted Christ as my Savior, I really didn’t understand all it encompassed. But at that point, I took all I understood about Jesus and said, Yes! to Him. It wasn’t until I was personally discipled several years later I really learned how to grow as I read His Word myself and got to see who He really is. His attributes were more than I earlier imagined. The apostle Paul grew quickly after His salvation. If you want a full dive into the doctrine of salvation, just read through the book of Romans he wrote. Perhaps because Jesus had so radically turned Paul’s life around—from persecutor of Christians…
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Grateful for Sacrifice
What a blessing to be a recipient of those who fought for our freedom and gave their lives. As we remember families who also paid the price for their lost military loved ones, let’s pray for them, express gratefulness for loved one, and thank God for using each one to protect our freedom. Photo by Aaron Burden on Unsplash Banner photo by Ludovic Gauthier on Unsplash
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If There Is Any Other Way
Sunday morning we celebrated Easter, so in this follow up post, I want to share something I was reminded of a few days before Easter Sunday. As I ponder Jesus in the Garden of Gethsemane, the agony He experienced, I am reminded through the study Navigating Gospel Truth (check last week’s post for more details) of His pain. Author Rebecca McLaughlin took us back to Jeremiah 25:15-29 to show us His agony wasn’t primarily the pain and shame of the cross. That was difficult enough of course! But it was the fact that He would carry the wrath of God for sin so that we don’t have to. This was…
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Behold!
As so often happens by “design providence,” I’m flooded with all things Spring and Easter. I’m soaking up every warm sunny day I can. I wrote about spring last week in Hope that Spring Brings. All I can think is, “Behold Him, the one who became our sacrificial lamb once and for all time.” I just finished reading the gospels with my D-group as we’ve journeyed through the Bible chronologically since January 2023. I’ve also been reading a couple of Easter devotionals. Then a couple of weeks ago, I started the study Navigating Gospel Truth by Rebecca McLaughlin. She does such a great job comparing and contrasting the 4 Gospels…
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The Cost of Leadership Part 6
Please start with the first 5 posts in this series if you haven’t already. The fifth aspect of the cost of going deep is prayer, and the time it takes to pray. Deeper for me was when our daughter walked away from our family for 8 years. And God called my husband and me to continue walking and serving faithfully when the waves we had to cross got even bigger. We continued to pray for years that the Lord would bring her back, keep her safe and draw her to Himself. Sometimes as we serve and lead, God does not answer for a long time. But He is at work even…
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The Cost of Leadership Part 5
Please start with the first 4 posts in this series if you haven’t already. The second aspect in the cost of going deep involves laying down our fears through our faith in Him. For me, the deep, was when He first called me to speak in front of my church. If you know me, you’ve heard me say, I’d never be a public speaker. Deeper was when the Lord called me to LifeWay to continue serving out the call to disciple women, this time training church leaders across the country how to effectively develop ministries for women that help them grow deep! Laying down fear takes courage. Just look through…
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The Cost of Leadership Part 4
Please start with the first 3 posts in this series if you haven’t already. Cost 4: the cost of going deep. Although similar to cost 3, this is specifically talking about depth in our relationship with Christ. Just a heads up, I won’t finish cost 4 in one post, but will share 8 aspects of this cost. Hebrews 6:1-2 reminds us to leave the elementary things, let go of shallowness, and go on to maturity. We are warned to be careful not to become lazy in our spiritual life. Therefore, let us leave the elementary teaching about Christ and go on to maturity, not laying again a foundation of repentance…
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The Cost of Leadership Part 3
This is part 3 in The Cost of Leadership Series. If you missed it, read part 1 here and part 2 here. Cost 3: the cost of learning new things. Maybe because I love to read, and always have lots of books going at the same time, you might think this is easy for me to say. Actually, just because I read a lot, doesn’t always mean I am learning new things. I must first admit I need to learn and then I must choose to learn. But I definitely do believe in continuing to grow and learn. While at LifeWay, one huge learning challenge for me was technology. When I landed…
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The Cost of Leadership Part 2
This is part 2 in The Cost of Leadership series. If you missed it, read part 1 here. Cost 2: the cost of priority changes. If we are living to serve Christ in every aspect of our lives, there will be a refocus on what is most important. Remember, serving Christ covers every assignment He gives us. This includes family, community, workplace, and church. But priorities within each of these areas will change once we submit them to God. One way there is change is how we look at immediacy and waiting. Although there are times that God will ask us to use whatever wisdom we have to make a…
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The Cost of Leadership Part 1
Whether you seek to serve and lead, or just feel like you fell into leadership, it is a calling God has placed in your heart. Out of obedience, you must follow that call. Once you accept the assignment, often there is a season of challenges that occur. This is when you might want to give up! There is a cost to leadership and at times it will shock us! The cost is small in comparison to how God will lead us to know Him better through each sacrifice He requires as we serve Him. Over the next few weeks we will take a look at some of these “costs” and…
