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How to Trust God More: 7 Ways to Grow in Trust
Layers of altostratus rest above the western tree line like wet towels hastily folded. Splinters of sapphire peer through their sparse creases and remind me of promises for better days to come. Closing my eyes, I remind myself of the power of trusting God in hard times. Today, we’ll explore seven insights on how to trust God more when we don’t understand his ways. Be sure to read to the end of today’s post for a free devotional eBook to help you grow in trust. How to Trust God More Not long ago, I sat with a friend whose heart was broken. We talked about how to find healing when…
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8 Comforting Bible Verses for Trials and Tribulations
Are you walking through a difficult time in your life? No matter what you’re facing today, God wants to encourage your heart. He is with you, and he will never abandon you. Let’s take a look at eight comforting Bible verses for trials and tribulations. I also invite you to read to the end of today’s post for a free devotional eBook to help you find hope in difficult times. 8 Comforting Bible Verses for Trials and Tribulations The spring beauties are pushing white petals through the beige of last autumn’s fallen canopy, and I wonder if they’re some sort of sign. Would God really speak through the petals of…
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8 Encouraging Bible Verses About Overcoming Adversity
Are you facing a difficult time or walking through a challenging season in your life? Today, we’ll explore eight Bible verses about overcoming adversity as we align ourselves with God’s perspective. Let’s start with a conversation about embracing adversity instead of running from it. Bible Verses About Overcoming Adversity I take the boys to the woods on an almost spring morning. The skunk cabbage is rising through the muddied earth like a foretaste of the vibrant life soon to fill this wooded valley. Caleb’s seven-year-old legs have grown long and lean over the past year, and he hardly complains when we walk together now. As we hike, I remember when…
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8 Prayers for Bad Thoughts & Moods: Shift Your Focus
Spring rain falls warm and soft against my skin. I lift my hooded face to the grey sky as it spits the cleansing rain, and I have an honest moment about my life. Lately, I’ve been in a perpetual bad mood for no reason I can identify. As I continue walking, the walk becomes a prayer, and I spend my time praying prayers for bad thoughts and attitudes. When I return to the house, I feel cleansed, as if God has washed something away. Today, we’ll explore eight prayers for bad thoughts and attitudes. Then, I’ll share a list of questions to ask when you’re in a bad mood for…
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4 Insights to Help You Keep Trusting God When It Hurts
A pale, yellow aspen leaf flutters from above. The shape of a teardrop, it swirls on some unseen current and lands at my feet. Picking it up, I’m reminded of the One who counts our teardrops and stores them in a bottle. It’s not easy to keep trusting God when it hurts. Circumstances have been difficult here throughout the past months. Hopes and dreams have crashed and burned, and at times, it felt crushing. Trusting God When It Hurts Most of us have tasted the bitter flavor of broken dreams. Whether you were asking God to lead you into a relationship, give you a child, or bring a long-awaited vision…
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Trusting God With the Unknown: 10 Bible Verses
Are you facing any fears when you look to the future? Today, we’ll dig into God’s Word and unpack 10 powerful Bible verses about trusting God with the unknown. First, let me share the story of a great fear that threatened to paralyze me. Also, be sure to read to the bottom of today’s post for a free devotional eBook to help you grow in trust. Trusting God With the Unknown Our first child was born on a Tuesday. I could barely believe she was hidden within me for all those months. After the hyperemesis diagnosis and the months of lying on the bathroom floor in a cloud of nausea,…
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I Surrender All (Sort Of): A Review With Reflections
Daybreak sings a solemn song over a cross-stitched blanket of nutmeg, ash, and ivory. The skeletal arms of the maples still hold their white cloaks, and just a thin strip of charcoal gravel delineates the arched center of the country road. I take it all in from the window as I soak in Michelle Lazurek’s new book I Surrender All (Sort Of). Michelle and I met at a conference a few years ago, and I was drawn to her sweet, sincere spirit immediately. I would have picked up Michelle’s new book even if I didn’t know her because the title feels like a summary of my walk of faith: Surrendering…
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How to See God’s Glory in Your Everyday
I’m honored to welcome my friend Emily to the blog today. She has some wonderful resources to share with you. I’ve already received mine, and these will bless you richly as you learn how to see God’s glory in your everyday spaces! Here’s Emily: ~~~ Tears streamed down my cheeks as my hands gripped the steering wheel. Heading home from Bible study, these tears came from a place of longing. Longing for what, you ask? These were tears I pulled from deep in the well of longing for more. My drive home meant about 40 minutes of cornfields, back roads and farms. Which meant it always provided space for thinking…
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3 Ways to Fall More Deeply in Love With Jesus
The old sycamore leans over the icy creekbed with shoulders washed white by the weather. Closing my eyes, I inhale the scent of the forest and pray that I might learn to embrace my moments and fall more deeply in love with Jesus in the process. For the past few years, I’ve been learning to slow down. I’ve been asking God to help me live with less grit and more grace. In the process, God is changing me. I’m also discovering that the secret to living with greater joy and deeper peace is falling more deeply in love with Jesus. What does this look like in my world with winter…
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How to Communicate Better With Your Tween Daughter
I’m excited to share a guest post with you today! A few weeks ago, I shared a photo of Bekah holding our new mother-daughter shared journal. I invited Stacey and Lexi Shannon, the mother and daughter coauthors of the journal, to share a post with you today, and I love what they came up with! Enjoy! ~~~ How to Communicate Better With Your Tween Daughter Ideas to Grow Your Mother-Daughter Relationship The tween years can be tumultuous. As our daughters are growing into young women, they are also figuring out their place in the world. They’re changing in many ways, which means we have to change the way we connect…
