“TO AN UNKNOWN GOD” I listened as my friend sat across the table with tears running down her cheeks, sharing her revelation. She had spent her life believing God was judgmental and harsh. She thought God could never love her based on what had been done to her and what she had done. The effect…
“…they hunted for him…” Depression has many associates. It is a collaborative group effort to bring a soul down. The combination of team members will look different for each soul. One of my depression associates is “People Pleasing.” She brings an entire team of her own to unite for the cause. This sub-team usually includes…
“Blessed be the LORD, my Rock.” Enormous boulders too high and wide to climb were curiously placed in a city we traveled through on vacation this past summer. The rocks appeared to be intentionally positioned there, but they didn’t seem to follow a landscaping purpose. The motive was disturbing. I was informed that the purpose…
“to guide us to the path of peace.” Flames flickering and glowing deep hues of orange and red with hints of purple, blues, and yellows, the wood hisses and smokes, our fireplace is alive with warmth, while outside the wind howls from a cold winter storm. I think of where I was this time last…
“I delight greatly in the LORD.” We delight in ice cream and Saturdays and free time with friends. We delight in finishing a project, unexpected financial gains, and opening the front door to see our Amazon package has arrived. We delight in peaceful family gatherings, meaningful chats over tasty food, and moments with deep belly…
“All the believers lifted their voices together in prayer.” Have you ever had one of those days where everything seems to go wrong? The day begins normally until you arrive at work and the boss calls you into her office. Grilled for half an hour about a situation that happened the day before, you are…
“the man was holding tightly to…” “Holding tightly” stirs one image in my mind, but two different scenarios. The image is fingers fastened around an object intensely enough it would take a set of plyers to peel them off. The first scenario is out of sheer fright; a fear gripping terror locked in from the…
“I will speak tenderly to her.” One of the most exhilarating experiences in life is to live a moment when we realize the God over each cell in our bodies is also over each star in all the galaxies, that God has spoken to us. We’ve been praying, asking, looking for God, and the moment…
“Cast your burden on the LORD.” Hiking is an outdoor therapeutic adventure for me. Moving to north Georgia has provided an all-you-can-eat buffet of opportunities for new quests to conquer. A short hike requires simple gear like the classic fanny pack carrying the basic bug spray, protein bar, water bottle, and phone/camera. A longer hike…
God’s Word Gives Hope LISTEN “keep on praying” “Keep on praying” is our final effort in the list of three actions, Christ-followers are encouraged to take, found in verse 12 of Roman’s chapter 12, “Rejoice in our confident hope. Be patient in trouble, and keep on praying” (NLT). At first, we may treat this step…