Bible Truth for Everyday Life
Bible study tools, devotions, and free resources to help you encounter God in your quiet time and apply Biblical truth to your everyday life.
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5 Inspiring Bible Verses About Discouragement
It’s a brisk autumn morning with lacy frost whitening the lawn. It’s been a discouraging season here, and I am worn out. As I stare at the never-ending to-do list, I realize I could use a few Bible verses about discouragement. This fall has been marked by big bumps along the usually smooth road of our lives, bumps that make us step back and appreciate the simple things of life, bumps that make us grateful to still be here together laughing and crying and kicking soccer balls across wide spans of green grass. Bible Verses About Discouragement I stare into the hazy coral firmament, lost in thought, when a…
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Detours in Life: What to Do When Life Is Interrupted
Our daughter, Bekah, was born on a clear November evening. As we celebrate her birthday this month, I reflect on her life. I also remember the long months leading up to her birth, months that taught me what it means to navigate detours in life. Throughout those months, I planned to continue teaching high school students in my Life Skills classroom right up to my due date. My husband and I planned to vacation in the summer. I imagined that I would continue mentoring teens throughout the pregnancy. I was sure I’d be able to keep running five miles a day until at least the seven-month mark. None of that…
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8 Bible Verses About Courage for Your Insecure Moments
The thick Carolina air presses on my lungs like I’m caught in a stranglehold. Running along this wooded path, I wonder if I have what it takes to do what God has called me to do. I try to conjure up some Bible verses about courage, but I come up empty. Lavender thistle blossoms bow and rise in unison, and yet there is no breeze. They must be praising their Maker. I join them, and the heaviness in my chest seems to lift. Perhaps it wasn’t the Carolina heat strangling me after all. I’ve been wrestling hard this weekend. I’ve wrestled with the realization that I am different than the…
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10 Empowering Bible Verses About Identity in Christ
Our daughter, Bekah, asks for a mother-daughter date, and I take her to the lake on a cloudless afternoon. I’ve been feeling less than in pretty much every area of my life lately, and I slip my Bible into our bag with hopes for a few quiet moments to soak in some Bible verses about identity in Christ. Perhaps you need this, too. Maybe you’ve been feeling wounded by the world, and you need God to remind you of your unchanging identity in Christ. Today, I invite you to join us at the lake. I’ll share my heartwarming conversation with Bekah, and then we will dig into 10 empowering Bible…
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Feeling Left Out? This Is for You . . .
I open the refrigerator in search of milk, but the sticker on the door catches my eye. It reads, “Star Student Award.” The white paper is creased and is very well-loved. The little girl who earned this sticker was feeling left out until the day the teacher handed her the sticker. She wore it for two days. The day she earned the sticker, she bounced off the school bus in the blazing heat with a fleece jacket over her shirt. She said she wanted to surprise me. She ripped the coat wide open to unveil the prize she’d been longing for all year: the principal’s star student award. My sweet…
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How to be Happy with What We Have
Today I’m welcoming a writing friend as a guest blogger. While welcoming guest bloggers to my site isn’t something I’m regularly pursuing, Daisy and I met long before I ever imagined I’d have a blog, and her words have been an encouragement to me. We met through Grove City Alliance Church, and Daisy passed her role as the Prayer Shield Coordinator onto me a few years ago. We reconnected this spring, and it’s an honor to share her words with you today. Daisy is the published author of Homespun Faith, a compilation of devotionals. She writes on her own blog at homespunfaith.com. How to be Happy with What We Have…
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How Can I Have a Closer Relationship With God?
The curtains wave in the breeze and a dozen songbirds chatter on the lawn. I sit with iced tea and a deep longing in my soul. At first, it feels like physical hunger. But as I sit in the silence with the longing, a question rises up from within me: How can I have a closer relationship with God? How Can I Have a Closer Relationship With God? Francis Chan speaks through the computer screen. There’s a tent on the stage. It’s a red and white camping tent, a modern-day illustration of the place Moses went to meet face-to-face with the Creator of the world. God spoke to man in…
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8 Bible Verses for When You Are Scared of the Future
Have you been looking toward the future and feeling uncertain or fearful? In these times, God’s Word offers comfort and hope. Today, we’ll explore eight Bible verses for when you are scared of the future. I invite you to join me as we travel back in time and talk about God’s care for us when we feel afraid. Then, we’ll see what Scripture has to say about overcoming the fear of the future. 8 Bible Verses for When You Are Scared of the Future I remember it as if it were yesterday. I’m fiddling with the latch on my green Care Bears lunchbox when Mrs. Nagel gently encourages me to…
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How to Live for God and Find Deeper Joy in Life
The rhythm of the elliptical is like a cadence keeping time with my prayers. I pray while I exercise. Today I’m praying for single-minded focus to help me live for God in a world so full of distractions. I stare at a beautiful landscape background on my computer while a worship mix stirs my soul. I’m listening to Israel Houghton’s moving rendition of “To Worship You I Live” when a question startles me from my daze. How to Live for God I think of Paul’s words: “For to me, to live is Christ, and to die is gain” (Philippians 1:21 NIV). The song prompts me to consider what I live…
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How to Get Out of a Slump
Tufts of moisture spot the sky in shades of periwinkle as we stand along the shoreline. My little boy is wearing white socks under his sandals to protect a large bandage on his wounded foot. I’m not thinking about how to get out of a slump, but what happens next will be a lesson in obedience for years to come. It’s never pretty when disobedience leaves you stuck in the mud, wondering just how in the world you’re going to wiggle to freedom. “Stay out of the water,” I warn as he splashes a playful toe in the muddy water. The little guy is ten feet away, and he figures…
