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4 Truths to Overcome Fear
We can learn a lot of things from our experience with the novel coronavirus and how it has affected our lives. We can learn the value of considering others as more important than ourselves as we choose to let self-sacrifice win over self-centeredness. We can learn how to be creative during our “shelter in place” time. We are learning how to love our neighbors from six feet away whenever we are able to do so. We’ve repeatedly scrubbed our hands, sprayed doorknobs and light switches with Lysol, worn gloves to go to the grocery store and wiped down every item brought into our house, and disinfected even our mail. And,…
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Corona Virus and the Good, Loving Sovereignty of God
As I write this there’s a chance that Jack and I have been exposed to Covid-19. We were already starting to wind down non-essential outings, but when friends asked us to meet them for lunch last Wednesday, we agreed. They mentioned that their son had just returned from the Caribbean where he worked with a water purification project for a local ministry. When he left here there were no recorded cases in the Caribbean basin. Last Wednesday the country where he had visited reported their first five cases. A few days later our friends texted us from the hospital where they had taken their very sick son. He tested negative…
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The God You Can Know
His name is Jason. He’s in his early 20s, lives daily with physical difficulties so that he can barely walk. His father helps him walk to his seat at church and holds Jason up so he can help take the offering during the service. What captured my attention is the look of deep, deep love on the father’s face as he interacts with Jason, a son who will never be the star quarterback or ace pitcher or do any of those other “great” things a father might expect from his son. Jason’s father doesn’t look at him with disgust or annoyance because he squirms a lot and needs help to…
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Feast on God’s Goodness
I recently read post-election family feuds continue due to tensions and discord after the divisive and challenging campaigns that occurred here in our nation. Add a dash of protesting, a side of expectations, and the one sibling who won’t let you graduate from your fifteen-year-old self and voila! You now have a feast of dread! Happy Thanksgiving? How should we approach this day of giving thanks? Gratitude seldom comes easy when hurt feelings, stress, and exhaustion demand our focus. The sleepless nights of uncertainty and hopelessness don’t help either. What about “the renewing of our minds?” Okay sure, but how? Stay diligent and strive to continue to pray against…
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Trust God’s Choice in Addressing Your Pain
I was in a Bible study yesterday talking about how pain affects our lives and our perspective of God’s goodness to us. We were studying the Mark 5:21-43 accounts of the woman who had been hemorrhaging for 12 years and the father named Jairus who needed Jesus to heal his 12-year-old daughter. Our discussion question was, “Describe any of your own painful circumstances that have driven you to Christ. What did you learn about His faithfulness through that experience?” As each woman shared her own story, it was obvious that some could recognize God’s goodness to her in the time but others were still struggling with God’s goodness because the…
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Gratitude Challenge
Each year in October the social media community challenges itself to post, share and declare one gratitude per day for 40 days. From what I understand, the effort started eight years ago by Tisha Poncia, who blogs at On the Wings of Gratitude. Usually, I shrug away from social media challenges. However, the more I thought about this one, the more I realized, I needed to do this. Although I didn’t post it anywhere, I thought I’d share my first seven days with you. Day 1: Toilets. I’m thankful for toilets—indoor plumbing, I should say. The first five years of my life, we had an outhouse. Words…
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Is God Really Good?
How many of us fully understand the truth that we are unconditionally loved? Unconditional love is very foreign to us. We can define it but we never fully give it nor get it from anyone but God. Only God can teach this truth through us to our children. Do you feel the tension as you grapple with the truth that love can be unconditional and still insist on change. God loves us just like we are but too much to leave us in these selfish patterns. His love insists that we grow in our ability to truly trust Him more. Trust allows Him to make us more holy…
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God’s Perfect Unfailing Love
Just got back from shopping with my daughter. There in the back of the store, a huge—I mean massive—red, pink and glittery sign directed us to its "lovestacular" section. My daughter and I scoured the area in hopes to find the perfect Valentine. Only we didn’t. We found chaos along with chocolate, candy (of every kind), cards, stuffed animals and frustrated moms who waited as their kids picked out gifts for their friends. The disorder proved too much for us, so we left. I couldn’t help but giggle at the sight of the "lovestacular" sign. It’s a great picture of the world’s idea of love. It’s messy,…
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“When” I Am Afraid
You know that feeling. The pit in your stomach, pounding of your heart, and rush of your thoughts as you go from the possibility of a job loss to being homeless on the streets — all in a matter of seconds. Gripped by fear, albeit an imagined one. The news about the release of 5 top Al Qaeda operatives in the prisoner “exchange” over the weekend, and the damage they can now do against us here in the United States, reminds me just how much fear is an ever-present emotion with me and with most women — both real fears (terrorists are real) as well as any imagined ones. Fear…
