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It’s The Truth, All Of It!
I’ve been guilty, and I bet you have too, of using a verse of scripture to prove a point. Sometimes, it doesn’t even mean what I’m trying to prove.. Jen Wilkin has said, and I’ve quoted often, “A text without a context is a pretext for a prooftext.” This means that unless you understand the context, you don’t fully know the meaning. You may be using it to prove something it doesn’t. To understand meaning of scriptural truth we must know the context in many ways. This includes knowing the placement of your verse regarding: chapter, book of the Bible, where it sits in the whole of the redemption story,…
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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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Who Hates Disruptions?
Task oriented people like me! You know, gotta get the job done…today…now! No matter what. What about you? All of us have experienced them. Most of us do not like them. Over 2 years ago the entire world experienced disruption to life as we had known it. In addition to the pandemic, many others also experienced a disruption in their good health, close relationships, face-to-face community we relied on, satisfying jobs, and income that goes with that. And this is the short list. Some experienced continual losses, one after another, along with, and in the middle of, the pandemic. But, what if, for whatever reason, this was God’s plan for…
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Dealing With Anxiety
It’s everywhere! Maybe you are experiencing this right this moment. So much has been written about this, but how are YOU dealing with it? There’s only a couple of times in my life I came close to having a panic attack (other than a short lived one as I feared for my life and there was a true reason for this panic! Check out my Hurricane Sally series.). I do remember those times and felt, “I just cannot do all this!” I was the mom of twin daughters, in school, and very involved in ministry in my church, even serving in a part time position on the staff. My heart…
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We Never Stop Learning
Whoever said we can put down our “books” and cease learning and growing at a certain age is just plain wrong!! We do not get to say, now that I’m (you fill in the blank) years old, I know it all and I can say and do anything I want…like we have it all figured out. The enemy of our lives wants us to believe that. The Lord knows it’s false and continues to call us forward in our walk with Him and others as long as we breathe. It’s easy to fall into the mindset that we’ve lived longer, we’ve read more, we’ve experienced more….so what can the Bible,…
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Created to Connect: Lessons From a Social Media Fast #3
Today I am just going to share from my daughters journal with almost no comments. This speaks for itself! (You can read part 1 here and part 2 here.) I want to just close with a beautiful prayer Jesus prayed for his followers that reflects the kind of relationships He desires for us to experience (my addition in brackets for clarity). I pray not only for these, but also for those who believe in me through their [the disciples] word. May they all be one, as you, Father, are in me and I am in you. May they also be in us, so that the world may believe you sent…
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Living For the “Like”: Lessons From a Social Media Fast #2
I wonder how many of us post on social media and just wait to see how many “likes” we get. Kind of opens a pandora’s box doesn’t it? Of course, we post things we think are interesting or funny, but do we do it just to get those likes? Should that be the motive for posting updates? This is the second (read the first here) in this Social Media Fast series of lessons from my daughter Alycia’s week long social media shut down. She has allowed me to share some of the things she learned. I pray these will cause you to stop and think about why you use social…
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Things of Heaven: Lessons From a Social Media Fast #1
No, not my fast, but my daughter’s. Although I don’t turn my phone sounds on till after my time with the Lord each morning, I’ve not ever done a week’s fast from social media or the internet in general. Well, except back in the pre-cell phone day and I was away from the house. Actually most of my years on earth were pre-internet! I asked my daughter if I could share some of her journals from a social media fast she went through recently. Perhaps you can identify with some of her feelings, as I did. Maybe you will choose to take a similar fast as well. She began her…
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His Love Rushes In: Fall Beach Lesson 2021
Can you handle just (maybe) one more beach lesson from our trip in September? If not, just shut this post down! So, the last couple of days we were at the beach, it was misty some days, and socked in at times with clouds. But we decided even without perfect beach weather, we really enjoyed just being by the water, hearing the waves, and reading. So we got on the beach for at least for part of those days. I interrupted my reading at times just to watch the waves continue to hit the shore time after time after time. I’ve shared previously about the constant wave action reminding me…
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Hearing Voices
How many voices a day do you listen to? I guess that would depend on who you live with, or work with, go to school with, or serve in ministry with. It would depend on who your neighbors are and whether or not you converse with them. Perhaps you have a co-dependent dog who doesn’t know he’s a dog (that would be our almost blind #MoDawg). If you do have a dog, you tend to listen to their barks, whines, or growls as they try to talk to you. The last 2 week’s posts, He Speaks and I Listen and When It Just Won’t End, would be a great place…
