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Processing Pain
If you don't like where you are, keep walking." Pain happens. We don't get to choose the when the where or the how. But we can choose to process it in a healthy The devastation a child feels, from having the wrong answer when asked a question in front of their class, clarifies the importance of a right answer. From childhood we push forward in a pursuit of knowledge as though finding the right answers guarantees success.
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Tips for Teaching #1
I want to share some tips that will hopefully help us better prepare our children for the difficulties of standing strong in the faith. Encourage children to ask the hard questions. If they aren’t asking, ask them! Teach them how to wrestle with the Word of God to find the answers. We tend to shy away from the questions that are hard to answer or maybe can’t really be answered. Learning that we can’t demand answers but must be humbly thankful for the revelations God gives is a hard lesson to teach and even harder to learn. I was recently talking with a woman who grew up in a Christian…
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What’s Next?
It’s quiet here. Maybe it is where you are too. The Christmas tree stills stands in the corner, but no one rushes to turn on the twinkling white lights anymore. Its trunk, once adorned with gifts, is bare. With the hustle of Christmas coming to a close, our homes grow still. Often our souls do too as if to take a deep breath. And in the silence, we ask questions. What’s next? It’s a question I’ve asked a hundred times this year and one that I’ll ask each day leading up to New Year’s. Perhaps you’re asking questions of your own. Maybe it’s been a year filled with joyful surprises.…
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ASKING QUESTIONS THAT CHANGE LIVES
From the time we are old enough to form a question, we devote all our time and energy to finding the right answers. The devastation a child feels, from having the wrong answer when asked a question in front of their class, clarifies the importance of a right answer. Children ae pushed forward in a pursuit of knowledge as though finding the right answers guarantees success. Answers are necessary. Right answers are preferable. But the right answer is only as valuable as the question is good. How many times did Jesus answer a question with a new question? Answers are important. But nver underestimate the power of learning to ask…
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Why, God?
Today I'm happy to feature guest blogger Laura Murray. Laura is a pastor, mom, wife, writer, speaker, baker, and lover of mountains, sleep, and early mornings. “Why?” It is a question that accompanies our pain and suffering. We believe its answer will satisfy. We believe knowledge will bring salve to our wounds, and understanding the hidden purposes will be sufficient for our pain. Yet answers to “why?” fall short, and knowledge does not heal our pain. Indeed, every answer falls short of healing our pain. Our “whys” are often met with a deafening silence, and we are left to wonder if anyone sees, hears or knows. Are we alone? If humans…
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God, What Do You Want Me to Do Today?
What would my schedule look like if God was in charge of it? Bill Hybels presents this probing question in his newest book Simplify. Somehow I haven’t been able to shake the idea from my mind. What if my day was ordered by, around, and for God? What if he was what I sought the most as I went throughout my day? We’re not the first people to resonate with such questions. Throughout scripture we meet brave men and women whose desire for God dictated how they lived—both in life-determining decisions and in daily to-dos. The writers of Psalms often penned their prayers and struggles with placing God before everything…
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#bringbackourgirls
In Nigeria, families await answers about their kidnapped girls. Daughters, sisters, cousins, friends have been kidnapped by terrorist groups and reportedly being sold to men as wives for $12. They were in school, they were kidnapped and have been treated as property. Their families have not seen their faces, touched their hands or heard their laughter in days. (For a link to an AP article, click here.) Photo courtesy of Associated Press What do we do with this? How do your respond? How do I respond? Questions arise such as: – Why isn’t anyone doing anything? – How can they get away with this? – What are they experiencing?…
