My purpose is to give them a rich and satisfying life. John 10:10 This week, I was listening to a sermon on the anointing of God. The preacher, Dick Foth, mentioned he used to have a radio show in which he used the tagline, “It’s time to wake up and live!” That simple phrase completely…
I’ve written over the past few weeks about peace. The Peace Index. His Perfect Peace. My peace being robbed from me. It’s been a very introspective period of my life as I’ve begun to look at who I am, who I want to be, where I am succeeding and where I am failing. I’ve been…
Have you ever had a crisis of faith? If you don’t know what I am talking about, it’s a phrase I learned from Henry Blackaby’s Experiencing God. If you have never done this Bible study, I highly recommend it! Christians experience a crisis of faith when they sense God telling them to do something and they…
I recently discovered that I have a significant gluten intolerance. I’ve suffered with a variety of strange ailments over the last few years, most of which I have associated with my low thyroid condition. However, some symptoms actually seemed to be completely antithetical to hypothyroid. As I’ve read about Hashimoto’s thyroiditis, I’ve learned many experts…
You will keep in perfect peace those whose minds are steadfast, because they trust in you. Isaiah 26:3 Have you ever experienced God’s perfect peace? That sense of calm and security that is completely inexplicable in the midst of life’s chaotic circumstances? Have you ever wondered how you can even be upright in light…
It’s been six years. This weekend, September 2, Roy and I will celebrate six years of marriage. Six years of changes. Six years of blending two very different families. Six years of learning and growing. Six years of experiencing God’s redemption. Don’t let me fool you. It hasn’t been six years of wedded bliss. It’s…
What’s your rescue story? I have heard so many rescue stories over my lifetime. Stories of rescue from the grips of drug addiction and alcohol. Stories of marriages rescued from the brink of divorce. Stories of miraculous births after infertility. Stories of healing that can only be explained as a miracle of God. But I’ve…
“Are you truly happy?” That was the question posed to me earlier this week in a conversation with a friend facing divorce after a decades-long marriage. It’s the fear of the unknown that creates so much anxiety, even when the marriage was unbelievably difficult, fraught with betrayal and pain of the deepest kind. Will I…
Deconstructing Christianity. It seems to be all the rage these days, outspoken individuals raised in the church who are sharing their stories. Telling of how they have left the faith. Discussing the disappointments of unanswered prayers. Sharing how they have been disillusioned by their upbringing. I listen intently, inquisitively. Many of these individuals have faced…
Have you ever been baffled by something you read in scripture? It actually happens to me frequently, but I always find myself wondering why God chose to bring Jesus through the lineage of Judah. Jesus is known as the Lion of Judah. Why not the Lion of Joseph? After all, Israel (Jacob) had eleven other…
My dear, sweet Cassie, I don’t even know how to start this letter. The tears sting my eyes already as I begin to think of all the emotion that is pent up inside me. It seems like just yesterday I learned I was having a baby girl. After two rough and tumble boys, I was…
Tomorrow is Good Friday, and Jesus’s death, burial, and resurrection are on my mind–as they should be. For some reason, my mind has been asking if Jesus died for the narcissist. Let me start by saying the term narcissist has become a choice description for anyone who is self-centered. I think we have to be…