Encouragement
Bible studies, lifestyle ideas, tips and hints, all focused on encouraging those on the Christian journey.
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The Power of Loving Jesus
I’m about to release a book called Seen and Invited: Meeting Jesus on the Dusty Roads. The book walks through Jesus’s healings and interactions with people he met along the way–the blind he healed, the lepers he touched, the dead he raised. The purpose of the book is simply to help readers see Jesus’s deep Shepherd love for us and to know that love is still ours today. The book is somewhat light on practical application. So, the question is does loving Jesus and understanding Jesus’s love for me help me travel the rough paths of my life? Unfortunately, I got to test this in the past few weeks. During…
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The Plane isn’t Going Down–the Problem of Turbulence
When faced with unemployment, I felt like our plane was going down. Instead, God pointed out to me that it's turbulence, and it's inevitable in every life.
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What if the Great Commission isn’t so Great?
What if the Great Commission is equal in weight to resting in Jesus and loving my neighbor? Maybe our focus has been wrong for long time...
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From the Pit to the Rock
I’m a fiction writer by trade, and that means people can find me. They can also let me know when I have disappointed them, angered them, and let them down by writing something they don’t like. Honestly, sometimes I wish I lived way back in the day when female writers were given male pen names and hidden in the shadows. As much as I love to write, I’m much too thin-skinned for the job, and this week someone’s harsh words reminded me just how true that is. Yes, I got one of those emails. Darkness pounced. Very often those who find something distasteful in my writing go right for the…
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Stillness, God’s 2024 Word for me
This year I chose Stillness as my word for the year, with Wisdom and Wonder as supplementary words. Here I discuss how I chose, what verses go with them, and how I hope to use these words in my daily life through 2024.
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The Sanctuary of Psalm 114
When Psalm 114 speaks of Israel as a sanctuary, maybe it's speaking of me and the church as sanctuaries, as well. What does that look like?
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From Dry, Dormant Seeds..
As I pray for lost loved ones, God reminds me that he is working on the seeds of their faith, even dry, dormant seeds that seem to have no life in them.
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Do You Want to get Well?
Jesus asks a lame man at a pool if he wants to get well. Turns out being healed can have unexpected consequences. If Jesus asks you if you want to get well, get ready for big changes not only in who you are but also in what Jesus means for you to do in the Kingdom.
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This Isn’t How it’s Supposed to End
A short reflection on Luke 23 that I presented in a Good Friday service
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Don’t Be Afraid
True Confessions. When I read Don’t be afraid or Fear not in the Bible, I think of Jesus standing with his hands on his hips, frowning, scolding me. I mean, it’s a command, and it’s a command I break with frightening regularity, so Jesus is disappointed with me, right? Maybe angry? Someone recently helped me see these commands in a different light, and I want to share that light with you. (Thank you Carrie Mars for your devotion Calm Your Anxious Mind.) Picture the scene. You’re in bed in the dark, and a storm is raging outside. Wind pelts the house and rhythmically slaps rain against the windows. Shadows from…
