…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…
“…so put to death whatever…” “She said, ‘You are dead to me,’” my friend sputtered out, barely understandable from her sobs. My friend tried to explain a falling out she and her daughter had and how it ended with her daughter leaving in a rage, with her last words to her mother being, “You are…
“Keep me from lying to myself.” Do you ever lie to yourself? A study from the University of Massachusetts conveyed that 60% of people lie every 10 minutes. The study revealed several interesting statistics about how most of us occasionally tend to be dishonest. What the study did not cover was the amount of lies…
“Open my eyes…” Remember the excitement of receiving an unexpected gift and the anticipation of opening the present to discover whatever could it be? My beach bestie’s love language is gifts. There need be no occasion for her to pull a surprise present out of her beach bag for me. I am always excited because…
“do not let me wander” Are you prone to wander? “Prone to wander” reminds me of the lyrics in an old hymn I sang growing up, Come Thou Fount of Every Blessing. “Prone to wander, Lord, I feel it, prone to leave the God I love.” The song captures our heart’s condition as well as…
“I pray my ways become firmly established.” Whom or what grounds you? Family and faith are popular answers to the above question. On a day-to-day basis amidst the crazy, there are other ways to bring our focus back to what matters, like music, a scent, or stepping into nature. God’s Word and prayer also are…
“I desire mercy and not sacrifice” The American culture can be highly driven, performance, and productivity-based. Being surrounded by this intense pace makes any attempt not to be affected challenging to avoid. We push through, keep going, and take on more than we can handle. We feel trapped in our weariness cycle. Is there a…
“The Sabbath was made for the good of people.” Do you want the current season of your life to close out so the next season can begin? When we rush from event to appointment to event, and every inch of the calendar has something scheduled, we tend to look ahead, placing our hope in what…
“I have labored in vain.” Have you ever said something like, “I have worked, but how hopeless it is! I have used up my strength, but have accomplished nothing” (Isaiah 49:4, GNT)? When our efforts on the relationship, the craft we have felt called to, or the thing we have emptied our heart and soul…
“…who loved me and gave himself for me.” Do you know who you are? The search for identity is often lost in what we do, what has been done to us, or labels like sexuality, gender, race, political affiliation, economics, popularity, followers, or likes. I wonder what you would add to the list. What if…