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What CAN I Do?
Many of us have experienced seasons of illness and injury––either our own or someone we love. Often these excruciating times of pain, fear, and doubt engulf us like a suffocating suffering. We wake up every morning in painful uncertainty and lay down each night in the same state. Daily we withstand a raging storm––everything circles around but nothing is clear. Movement requires pushing against unyielding barriers. We want to hope for complete healing. We want to throw off the heavy chains encasing us. We want to be released from physical and emotional burdens so we can regain strength and enjoy life again. But sometimes the hope we cling to feels…
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Moses, a gifted but flawed leader of God’s people
Title: Moses, a gifted but flawed leader of God’s people Aim: To recognize that living for the Lord requires unwavering commitment, self-control, and humility. Scripture: Numbers 20:1–13 Discord among the Israelites, Numbers 20:1–5 Most likely, the reference to the “first month” (Num. 20:1) is in relation to the spring of the fortieth year of the Israelites’ wanderings in the wilderness. It was at that time that Aaron died (20:22-29; 33:38). Also, by then most of the Hebrews who were at least 20 years old when the Lord freed them Egypt, had died (14:20-25). They were replaced by a new generation of God’s people to begin the next…
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Sit Among Your Weeds
Today I start with a confession: I’ve been struggling. I know situations won’t always turn out the way I think they should, and often things are much more difficult than expected. But for the last six weeks my life has been like wading through a sulfur mud pit, taking on darts from a hidden adversary. I’m not one to air my dirty laundry for all the world to see, but I admit that my challenges encompass overwhelming obstacles, disheartening misunderstandings, and nagging frustrations: damage to my car a vandalized fence discord in key decisions new doors of opportunity remaining closed heirloom crystal pitcher––broken favorite blue shorts––ruined expensive new spring bulbs…
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What It’s Like to Live with a Disability
As a polio survivor since I was an infant, living with a disability has been my “normal.” But, like most polio survivors, I just gritted through the limitations and inconveniences, trying to keep up with everyone else. I’ve been thankful for the opportunities to speak to children about what it’s like to live with first a limp, and now the need for a scooter to get around, as several months ago I stopped being able to walk. My favorite thing to tell them is, “I am not my polio leg. I am me. You connect with me by looking in my eyes. When you see someone in a wheelchair, please…
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The Sign of Silence
Leadership is broken because leaders are unbroken Four-hundred years of silence. Not a sound. Not a word. Not a prophet. Not a spokesman. Not the screeching of a chair or the clearing of the throat as a speaker mounts a rostrum. Nothing. Just silence. And the nation was getting restless. Oh, they had enough through what God had said previously to live with hope and anticipation. They had His covenants and His promises and His faithfulness. He had kept many of His promises already. He had released them from Egypt and returned them to the Promised Land; He had delivered them from Babylon and once again restored them…
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Big Talk, Small Man
Leadership is broken because leaders are unbroken It happened on a Thursday morning many years ago in San Jose, CA. That morning I was involved in a meeting about reaching the world with the Gospel—heady stuff. Following that meeting, I chatted with a pastor friend of mine and soon our conversation centered on what great things we were going to do for God. It could have been an edifying conversation, but it wasn’t, and I knew it wasn’t as soon as I left my friend. I knew what I said was wrong—empty words full of empty ambition. That night I woke up with my arm wrapped around my…
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You’re Too Big to be Small
Leadership is broken because leaders are unbroken In Christ God has made us big, so big we can overcome the smallness of pride that lurks within us. Christ in us, our hope of glory, is how we gain God’s bigness for us. Everything we do through Him brings us into the freedom of His bigness and delivers us from the bondage of our pettiness. And this leads me to a question… Are you big enough to lead or are you too small to be big at all? I mean big like Jesus was big. Big like Christ in us is big. Big enough to rise above human pettiness and to…
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The Blessing of Being Broke
Leadership is broken because leaders are unbroken Blessed are the poor in spirit . . . You can’t be rich until you’re been bankrupt. You can’t be wealthy until you’re worthless. You can’t have God’s best until you’ve faced your worst. Bankruptcy is a sinister word. Job lost. Career crashed. Identity crushed. Prospects dim. Future bleak. Hope gone. Home about to go. Family tattered. To be broke is to be shattered, ashamed, devastated. Spiritual bankruptcy starts with the same feelings of failure, frustration and hopelessness, the same struggle. the same shame. We ask questions like, “How could I have done that?” or, “When will I be free?” We feel shackled…
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Prayers Interrupted
On a recent date night, my husband and I had rich conversation. It is beautiful to even get a date night then even better when our love and intimacy grow because of rich conversation. Interestingly enough the rich conversation did not begin until the third hour of our date. We were tempted just to go home after a couple hours but we didn’t and it was worth it. Small talk and catching up was needed for a couple hours then we got into the good stuff. This isn’t the first time this has happened. Even as the hour of good stuff was happening we had at least 4-5…
