The chaos of our house on a summer day distracted me in every way.  My boys trampled through the rooms like jousting hyenas. The crusted breakfast plates sat in the sink, the dryer signaled for me to fold laundry, and my two-year-old kept crying and whining—over nothing. I wanted to scream (or run away). So, I picked up my phone and scrolled Instagram. Oh, the beautiful pictures. The sweet sayings. The pep-talk quotes.  But then, the Spirit of God whispered a gentle question: “What are you looking for?” “You, Lord,” I replied in my mind. “I’m right here,” the Spirit responded within. Oh. Right. So, I set down the phone…

My son grabbed a book from the “Leave a Book, Take a Book” library. Mine Craft Zombies. I thumbed through and read, “Rotting flesh falling off.” Um. Nope. Not this one. So, I asked him in a teacher voice, “Is choosing to read a book you know your parents would disapprove of honoring your father and mother? Is it following Jesus? What do you think?” He turned defensive. We played verbal tennis and he blurted out, “So, what do I have to do to go to heaven? I go to church. I believe. Why can’t I just do what I want?” Ball drop. Scripture is true. “Believe in the Lord Jesus and…

Authorities arrested Pastor Andrew and Norine Brunson in 2016—church-planters in Turkey for more than twenty years—and later accused them with terrorism. They released Norine thirteen days after the arrest, but Andrew remained imprisoned. “One of the biggest challenges in prison is uncertainty,” Pastor Andrew said. “Maybe I will spend the rest of my life in prison. Maybe they will make a political agreement and get me out. Maybe they won’t.” Pastor Andrew begged God to rescue him, but also desired to be willing to serve His purposes. “I would pray, ‘Lord, I want to be willing. Help me to be willing to serve Your purposes, even if it means life in prison.’” Sometimes…

I dug the shovel into the wet soil, pulled up on the roots, and placed tangled weeds one-by-one into a large Ikea bag. After a half hour my back ached, and the large number of remaining weeds angered me. “I can pull weeds for the rest of my life and never finish. This is such a waste of time,” I thought. A few minutes of anxiety passed, and the Holy Spirit softly unearthed a lie I believed: my value depends on my achievements. Somewhere along the way this lie planted in my soul and produces tangled weeds. I live with constant self-talk: “Gotta get more done…gotta get more done.” The…

  WE ALL ACHE WITH DESIRES WE HOPE GOD FULFILLS. For years I desired to be married and God seemed silent. Then I longed for a place to call home—and my husband and I continued to move from city to city. What are your desires? What comes to your mind when you wake up in the middle of the night and can’t sleep? Psalm 37:4 offers hope for our longings, but sometimes it seems like just a sweet saying painted on a coffee mug. Especially for my friends who wait for a positive pregnancy test, a job, healing. If we delight in God, will He really give us the desires of…

This Lent season, I am pondering curtains—my grey ones from a big box store—and the ones that divided the Israelites from the presence of God. God used curtains to hide his glory like I use mine to hide the sunlight. HOW ARE CURTAINS A SYMBOL OF THE GOSPEL? Photo taken from Unsplash THE ANCIENT CURTAIN Once a year the high priest would slide through the curtain that separated the rest of the tabernacle. He would bring smoking incense and prepared blood from the atonement sacrifice and sprinkle the blood before the Lord to atone (cover, forgive) the priest’s sins and the sins of the people. Once a year, one man…