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Sand Traps of Life
While at the beach, my husband and I watched a man hitting golf balls (probably the plastic kind) toward his kids in the water. I said, “That’s a great way to learn how to hit a ball out of a sand trap.” To which my husband replied, “The goal is not to get in the sand trap in the first place.” (FYI, I am NOT a golfer!) My next thought, and the first thing that popped out of my mouth was, “Yeah, but how else would you learn to hit one out of a sand trap if you’d never been in one?” My mind began rolling and ended up with this…
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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 Timeliness of God’s Word
Sometimes it seems the Lord is silent, but other times He just floods you with common thoughts as you are facing challenges. He did that (again) recently. I was finishing up the the two connected studies. Seven Realities for Experiencing God by Richard and Henry Blackaby and Experiencing God, upon which Seven Realities is based, also by the Blackabys and Claude King. I’ve spent weeks being reminded of how God speaks and calls us to work with Him, as well as making adjustments it takes to obey! In facing a tough relationship circumstance, I’ve been asking God to show me how to obey in the situation. I’ve also been walking…
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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…
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When It Just Won’t End!
What else? How long? Have you asked that once or twice in the last couple of years, the last couple of weeks, as I have? Jut about the time things seem to be healing or changing, a variant COVID pops up. Then world events just take our breath away. Add to that personal crises, several friends who are in a health fight for their lives, on and on. Seriously? What’s next?…I guess the same thing that I wrote about so recently in He Speaks, before the last couple of “issues” mentioned above popped up. So this is how that morning a couple of days ago played out as I did…
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He Speaks…Do I Ask and Listen?
A few weeks ago, I wrote, Whispers and Shouts and How Does God Whisper to You? Feel free to read these first if you missed them. Today I have a life example of listening and hearing from the Lord when I asked from the heart. As I started my “deck time with the Lord”, I sat quietly for a few minutes. I was reminded of Psalm 5:3, “In the morning, LORD, you hear my voice; in the morning I plead my case to you and watch expectantly.” Today, I was especially expectant and I ASK! Then as I often do, I played a worship song. this particular one has a…
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Unseen Progress
Remember when you were a kid and you planted a seed in a pot and watched it eventually pop through the soil? It seemed like a long time before seeing any progress, but what you didn’t see was happening below the surface of the dirt. If you watered well and provided a sunny spot to grow, you probably got to see it produce whatever fruit it was…a plant or a flower. It took time, and it took the right environment. The Bible talks quite a lot about seeds and growing plants as related to spiritual growth. The parable of the sower and the seed in Matthew 13, for instance. Luke…
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Why Read the Bible?
Why read the Bible? Primarily, because it’s TRUE! Fully and completely true because it’s God’s Word to the world and to us personally. It’s also how we know God and His redemptive purpose throughout history and forever. And it teaches us how to live. At times, it’s confusing. Other times it’s surprising. It’s convicting. At times, I want to put it down so I do not have to live up to what I read. But when I choose to read, allow it convict me and change me, I am always joy-filled (and so are those around me!), even when it’s hard and I blow it again in an hour! We…
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Impatience in Finding God’s Will
I love discipling Christian young women. They are so hungry to know Jesus and serve Him with their life. They are desperately seeking His calling, His purpose. They want to obey it and start living it out. But one thing I’m seeing as well is that they want that purpose to be clear and immediate. Their whole world is instant so why would understanding God’s will not also be instant? There is an impatience about their finding His will that sometimes leads to not being content, at peace, with where God has them currently. They may even be thinking, as I was in my younger life, that once we find…
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Thankful in Hard Times
I had another post ready to go this week, but decided instead, to share a message I was asked to teach at a women’s event this past Saturday. I realized it was timely for this week of Thanksgiving. I even taught this last minute to my Sunday women’s life group at church the following morning. I’m so grateful I got to share God’s truth alongside my own journey of faith. As I prepared for this message, I had such a sweet time of reflecting on how faithful God has been to me all my life and how much I have to be thankful for. Teachers always learn more than their…
