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Two Aspects of Trusting God
Has God placed something in your heart for you to do? It could be correcting sinful behavior in your own life. It could be serving someone else. It could be speaking up in a situation where a voice with biblical principles needs to be heard. Whatever it is involves two aspects of trusting God. (1) You must trust him as you step forward and do your part. And, (2) you must trust him to do his part in the areas over which you have no control. Those two aspects of trusting God are necessary to act on what God has placed in your heart to do. Esther’s story in the…
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My Favorite Bedtime Story
I took my first health care job in a pediatric facility over twenty years ago. The new job came with plenty of stress. They expected the doctors to use heavy sedative doses to get children to cooperate so they could crank out procedures and turn big profits. On my last day at work before leaving for a planned vacation, I poured the properly measured sedative liquid for a child, and left it on the counter for the assistant to give to the patient. I came back into the room and saw the assistant pouring additional sedative liquid into the cup for my patient. I confronted her, reminded her she…
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Fresh Perspectives on Women in the Bible: Esther By Natalie Edwards
The sound of water flowing fills the palace. Trickling fountains. Incense burning. The smell of lavender lingers in the air. Shades of fine silk in purple, red and blue are laid out for the choosing. It’s a spa of the most luxurious sort and hundreds of women are preparing for their encounter with the king. Yet only one will be chosen queen of Persia and marry King Ahasuerus. Among the crowd of women to come before the king is Esther, our Bible character in this week’s Fresh Perspective on Women in The Bible. Does God value bold courage as a desired feminine quality too? Let's find out. Raised…
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Viewing Art – A Soul Nourishing Exercise
A few weeks ago during a doctoral of ministry residency our students and two professors spent an afternoon of silence at the Biblical Art Museum. Having been immersed in the readings and discussion of soul care biblically and historically we offered this simple, soul nourishing, soul – noticing exercise. We experienced this same exercise attending the Dallas Art Museum last summer. Viewing art offers a place to rest, breaks the rush rhythm of living in the fast lane and offers your soul an opportunity to be nourished in a place of creativity, wonder, curiosity and even dissonance. Thomas Moore, in his book Soul Care, a Guide for Cultivating depth and…
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Esther and Miss Congeniality
All the girls in my extended family love to get together for “movie night” when we can watch Sandra Bullock in “Miss Congeniality.” The plot goes something like this: Clumsy FBI agent with scary eyebrows and nasty hair undergoes metamorphosis to work undercover as beauty pageant contestant. Subplot: The main character starts out thinking pageants reduce females to their various parts (bad) but ends up believing pageants are positive exercises that emphasize the whole woman—including brains and talent (good). What do you think of beauty pageants? Do you lean toward the agent’s “before” or the “after” assessment? What you think of beauty pageants might have some bearing on how you…
