“Draw close to God.” What if I can’t hear God? Drowning in tears, exhausted, and overwhelmed, I was hanging on by a thread. I was suffering from my first round of depression, the catalyst being burnout and undealt with forgiveness. Young and naive in my early years of ministry, I thought I could do it…
“Listen, and you will find life.” Have you ever wondered if God speaks to us? Perhaps you would answer favorably. But your “Yes” would have a few conditions. A stipulation like God spoke to those in the Bible, and He speaks to some people today who are more faithful. While there may have been a…
“The humble will see their God at work and be glad.” Discouragement knocks loudly at the door after only one day of my schedule being upturned. When I settle to pray and process the upset of emotions, out-of-control rises to the top. “How can I ever be successful?” I ask myself. In your pursuit to…
“Some seeds fell on…” By Amy Clackum How many hats do you wear? As a full-time working mother and wife, I feel like I am responsible for it all. My hats are constantly swapping on my head or piling each on the other as different responsibilities and needs battle for my attention. With all the…
“A sower went out to sow.” By Amy Clackum How green is your thumb? When it comes to plants, I have a black thumb. It’s true. Whenever someone gives me a plant, my teenage daughter says, “Oh, that’s so sad. It’s coming home to die”. I wish she were wrong. I am not a cultivator…
“You will silence every voice…” Have you dreamed of the perfect response scenario where everyone is left speechless, everything is set right, and you drop the mic as you walk away? The perfect response scenario would give us great satisfaction, right? Instead, our real-time scenarios often leave us with a megaphone of voices screaming in…
“The Lord will help you understand…” What do a soldier, an athlete, and a farmer have in common? This question sounds like the beginning of a bad joke. Paul was not telling a joke when he wrote his second letter to Timothy and used an analogy, including a soldier, an athlete, and a farmer. How…
….the peace that comes from Christ… Peace. We crave peace. We desire peace within ourselves and harmony with others. We purchase things to save us time to bring us more peace. We pursue activities in hopes of creating peace. We process with our friends about why we don’t have peace. Where does peace come from?…
…giving thanks through him… What does thankfulness have to do with “Dead to Me”? Practicing the “dead to me” philosophy, with the destructive behaviors described in Part 1 of this blog series, creates a domino effect. The “dead to me” domino tips the “knowing your Creator” domino, described in Part 2, when we intentionally replace…
…know your Creator… Total destruction appears to have happened when a forest fire burns through woodlands, leaving charred, barren tree trunks dotting the landscape. Secretly, beneath the surface, remarkable things are happening. Wait, what!? New life is preparing to burst through the ashes with fresh possibilities. “Dead to me” seems harsh and is hurtful when…