Do you need somewhere to stake your hope in 2021?
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All the unknowns in my life and in our crazy world, come to rest in this truth. God is sovereign. I am not.
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When the Walls Fall Down - Rahab's Story
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I leaned against the windowsill and traced the cold, hard, stones with my fingertips. I stretched out as far as I could to breathe in the cool night air. Even the glowing torches below, couldn’t snuff out the light of a thousand diamonds in the sky. Though my heart ached, I couldn’t cry a single tear. When had I become like those stones: cold, hard, impenetrable?
Read MoreOur Forever Hope
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This place feels like home. We’ve made it beyond liveable, we’ve made it comfortable. As our well-being is threatened, we’re reminded, Oh yeah! This isn’t our forever home. Let me encourage you with this…
Read MoreBrave Enough to Bare Our Scars: Healing from Sexual Abuse
/Gulping back tears, I made my way toward the back, searching for an empty seat. As I walked that lonely aisle I made myself a silent promise, “I will never tell anyone again!”
Read MoreDon't Fear What They Fear
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Friends, this world is getting darker by the day, by the hour. This is our moment to SHINE!!! Everyone should be wondering what our secret is. Why do we have so much hope?
Read MoreUnexpected Freedom
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The man startled awake when he heard the sound of his name coming from the courtyard above. He raised himself to an elbow, then sat up on the dirt floor. He rubbed his face with the rags dangling from his arms. What day is it? How long have I been in this stinking prison? Again, the crowd was shouting his name…
Read MoreGlorious Suffering
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Glorious suffering - two words I wouldn’t pair together. I’ll take glorious victory, freedom, grace, or blessing, thank you very much! I’d even settle for a glorious sunset. I’ll pass on the suffering though. I’m not interested in lingering in the painful, the hard, the bitter. Glorious suffering? Is that even a thing?
Read MoreA Thrill of Hope
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God knew that all our climbing would never ever get us close to Him. So He came down to us. The religious people of Jesus’ day couldn’t offer rest. They could only crack their whips and demand, “More!” Jesus offers rest because He CAN. He can offer rest because He ALREADY BORE the heavy load.
Read MoreGod of Scandalous Grace - Tamar's Story
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God sees, even in the most private places. In the most degrading and dark circumstances, He sees the wickedness being committed against His children. And God deals with it in His way and in His time.
Read MoreMommy Ecclesiastes
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…16 For the clean house, as the dirty one will not be long remembered; the moment has already come when both have been forgotten. How the children of a mommy will destroy her work in a moment!
Read MoreThe Silence of Saturday
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The stench of death still lingered in the air. The loss was not simply a teacher and friend, but the one in whom they had placed all of their hopes and dreams. They had left homes, families, and occupations to follow this Jesus. The one whose body lay cold and lifeless in a garden tomb, sealed and guarded.
Read MoreGod's Verbs vs My Verbs
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We are permitted rest because the work, the labor, the battle, the combat – those belong to God.
Read MoreSnapshots - Sarah's Story
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Sarah, dear Sarah, of all of the women I have studied in the scriptures, I find in you my “kindred spirit”. In your life, I see my own questions, struggles, fears and weaknesses portrayed.
Read MoreWhere is God? - Hagar's Story
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“I feel so discarded.” Those heavy-hearted words rang through on a text. I knew my friend was in the midst of a painful breakup, but the word “discarded” implied so much more than just the loss of a relationship. In that one word were feelings of being used up, unnecessary, rejected, and unwanted.
Read MoreWhen My Heart is Overwhelmed
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Here I am again; heart, mind, soul and body pulled in a thousand directions, feeling as though I can’t keep myself together for one more minute.
Read MoreUnrequited Love - Leah's Story
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Many women know what it is like to have a husband choose someone else as their lover and companion, shattering their hearts into a million pieces. Unfortunately, many less know how to praise the Lord in the midst of their pain. But, at least for a time, Leah knew. She knew, as the psalmist wrote: “The Lord is near to the brokenhearted and saves those who are crushed in spirit.”
Read MoreGrace and Truth (Part 2) - The Adulteress's Story
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There was not much room in my early experience with Christianity for authenticity, struggle, or “Messy Christianity” as my friends and I liked to call it.
Read MoreGrace and Truth (Part 1) - The Adulteress's Story
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The door burst open and early morning light instantly flooded the room. Men shouted accusations. One walked over to her and yanked her from the bed of her lover. She managed to wrap a sheet clumsily around herself before she was hastily pushed out the door. The air was still cool and she shivered now both from fear and from cold.
Read MoreCome Thirsty - The Samaritan Woman's Story
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Do you ever feel as though you aren't worthy? That if God, or others really knew what you are like, there would be no room for you? That if the people in church knew your past sins, or current struggles, you'd be on the outside looking in? If so, read the following story and be amazed. It's about you. And it's about me. It's about how every single one of us is pursued by Jesus, right where we are...
Read MoreGirls Like Us… Surprising similarities between you, me, and the women of the Bible
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Strip us down to our bare souls, and we’re all pretty much alike… Each of us longing for significance, love, security, friendship, and struggling with loneliness, fear, loss and disappointment.
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