If you follow any of the current self-help influencers these days, you’ve likely come across the concept of self-love. And, if you’re anything like me, at least part of you has recoiled at the idea. It seems rather unChristian, for lack of a better term. After all, my godly parents and the many Sunday School …
In Step with the Spirit, Not Others’ Opinions
“If we live by the Spirit, let us also keep in step with the Spirit. Let us not become conceited, provoking one another, envying one another.” Galatians 5:25-26 CSB Lately, I’ve been thinking about how we make decisions. How I make decisions. I’m dismayed to realize how often I hesitate to do or not do …
The Power of Being Yourself
For the past 12 years, I’ve followed the blog of a retired gentleman who turned a cancer diagnosis into an adventure. On the day he finished his chemo treatments in 2003, he bought a motorhome and set out on an adventure that would last 15 more years. He started a blog to keep his family and …
What Full Surrender to Jesus Looks Like
I’ll go where You want me to go, dear Lord, Over mountain, or plain, or sea. I’ll say what You want me to say, dear Lord. I’ll be what You want me to be. It’s been years since I’ve heard this song. But for the last number of days, I’ve been humming it over and …
Real Relationship Requires Boundaries, Even with God
I’ve always thought of boundaries in relationships as drawing a line to keep unhealthy behavior at bay. You know, such as needed for an abusive spouse or a friend who keeps infringing on your time and space. So when I got to the “Boundaries and God” chapter in Cloud’s and Townsend’s book , I was …
Real Relationship Requires Boundaries, Even with GodRead More
How to Turn Criticism into Affirmation
No one escapes criticism. All of us have experienced the hurt — ranging from slightly offensive to soul-crushing — when someone says something negative about us. Sadly, we often take that criticism and allow it to define us. We let someone else’s judgment intimidate us and hold us back, becoming enslaved to a version of ourselves that …
Only What’s Done for Christ Will Last
We are now almost two weeks into a new year — time marches on! I’m reminded of the plaque that hung at the bottom of my Grandma’s staircase that read: Only one life, ’twill soon be past, Only what’s done for Christ will last. Those two lines are part of a much longer poem, written by C.T. …
How Jesus Defeated the Christmas Grinch
Does the Christmas Grinch threaten to steal your joy during the Christmas season? If so, there is hope! The signs that Christmas is coming soon are all around us now. Christmas music follows us everywhere we go. Decorations line the streets and cover homes and lawns. People scurry around in stores agonizing over what gifts …
What the Bible Says About Life Purpose
With so much emphasis on finding your life purpose or mission in life, have you ever wondered what the Bible has to say about life purpose? It turns out God has plenty to say in Scripture about His purpose and plan for each person. Not only that, He tells us in His Word that He …
The Key to a Balanced Life and Healthy Relationships
A mentor once introduced me to a simple diagram which has brought me much clarity in living a more balanced life and having healthier relationships. It helps us know when to say “yes” and when to say “no.” Most importantly, it puts God in His rightful place, resulting in freedom to live a fulfilling and …
The Key to a Balanced Life and Healthy RelationshipsRead More
Why You Were Made to be Different
“May we have some glue?” my young niece asked me one day, years ago, when she and her siblings and cousins came to visit. “What do you need it for?” I hesitated, as any responsible adult would when one kid representing six others asks for glue. They were great kids, but even the best of …
God’s Loving Involvement in the Details of Our Lives
This morning I received an email alert from Amazon about a new book being released by a certain author. As I sat looking at that email, the Holy Spirit took me down memory lane, reminding me how He works so amazingly and intricately in our lives to bring about relationships and events we could never …
God’s Loving Involvement in the Details of Our LivesRead More
Our Remarkable and Unique Personalities
Recently I’ve been studying and meditating on Psalm 139:13-18. I’ve always thought this chapter referred to the marvelous way God created our bodies. While it does include our physical beings, after doing some word study I’ve come to realize it mostly refers to those “inward parts” that make up our unique personalities — the combination of thinking, …
Identifying Our Key Relationship
My nephew’s wedding was beautiful. He and his bride planned a meaningful and memorable ceremony demonstrating Christ’s love for us, His Bride, and His future return to take us Home with Him. As a result, those of us in attendance were encouraged to focus on Christ as our key relationship. The bride and her bridesmaids …
Resisting Resistance to Change
I’ve recently become acutely aware of the resistance we encounter when we try to change something in our lives. After all, change is always necessary when we learn our purpose and attempt to live it. The important thing to remember is that resistance doesn’t always mean we’re on the wrong track. In fact, the more …
God Will Make a Way, But We Gotta Walk it Out
God seems to speak to me in themes, getting my attention by repeating the same concepts in different ways. Recently, the fact that God will make a way where there seems to be none — moving mountains and parting the sea, so to speak — has been prevalent. Even more recently, a follow-up concept hit me …
What it Means to be Respectful
Someone on Facebook recently asked what it means to be respectful. I immediately thought of the greatest compliment I ever received. Treating People Like People It was on a hot summer evening over 20 years ago when I was waitressing. A group of around ten men came into the restaurant after attending a farm equipment …
Is There a “But” Hijacking Your Purpose?
“If your life were a sentence, how would it read? That is, if you simmered down your entire life into one short statement, just two clauses with a conjunction in the middle, what would it be?” When I read this question in Kari Patterson’s book Sacred Mundane: How to Find Freedom, Purpose, and Joy, I immediately …
