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How to Find Freedom From Your Secret Sins
A hint of frost rests on the once-lavender heads of the Canada thistle today. I sit at the window with intentions to soak in God’s restorative presence, but what settles upon me sends a chill down the nape of my neck, like frost on a clear winter dawn. The chill is my body’s response to the reality that the secret sins of my life are not hidden from the One who paints the dawn with shimmering ice. Most of us have secret sins. We want to find freedom, but we feel stuck, and we’re not sure what to do about it. Feeling Bound by Our Secret Sins Perhaps a certain…
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What Are the Blessings of God?
After praying together as a family, our son recently asked, “Mom, what are the blessings of God? You’re always asking God to bless us, but what does that mean?’ I told him that God’s blessings include peace, protection, comfort, joy, and more. As I reflected, I told him that everything good in our lives is a blessing from God. God’s blessings include family, friends, our home, summer sunrises, wildflowers, and more. Since that day, I’ve been more mindful of paying attention to God’s many blessings. If you’d like to cultivate a greater awareness of God’s blessings, you are in the right place today. Today, we’ll explore the question, “What are…
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Satisfaction in Jesus: A Question to Ask Yourself
I’m not thinking about how to find satisfaction in Jesus as the wind rustles the maple leaves. However, as I open my Bible for inspiration on the warm afternoon, I discover stumble a surprising scene. A blind man named Bartimaeus is crying out to Jesus from the roadside. Stopping, Jesus looks at blind Bartimaeus and asks, “What do you want me to do for you?” For an instant, I imagine I am the blind man, and Jesus is asking me this question. “Jesus, you know what I want you to do for me,” I whisper in the deepest part of my soul. As the words leave my lips, I realize…
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Empty Inside? Take These 3 Steps Today and Get Filled
Fog hovers over clear water this morning. I sit in silence as my soul waits for the Healer to reach out and touch these empty places inside of me. When’s the last time you stilled your soul long enough to be real about the places where you feel empty inside? King David penned these words: “My soul waits in silence for God only.” I could use this reminder every day of my life. Because we all have empty spaces. Places where we’re longing for someone to reach out and offer something substantial – something that lasts. David continues his song like this: “From Him is my salvation. He only is…
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God Has a Plan for You—Even When He Seems Silent
We awoke to a fresh inch of snow on the lawn on the first day of April, and it felt like one more day tacked onto a never-ending winter. Whether you’re facing a long winter or enduring a difficult season that seems like it will never end, it can be hard to hold onto hope. You need to know that God has a plan for you, especially when he seems silent. Most of us don’t wait well. Waiting for a dream to come to fruition or a difficult time to end can be deeply discouraging. God Has a Plan for You While You Wait King Solomon said it well in…
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How to Overcome Fear With Faith
Not long ago, our family faced a battle with fear that surpassed any fear we’d ever known. As we wrestled with fear regarding the life of our child, I wrestled with God as I asked him to help me overcome fear with faith. On a cognitive level, I knew the answer: Faith pushes out fear and reminds us of where we find our hope. On a heart level, I had much to learn about walking by faith. How to Overcome Fear With Faith In the months following our child’s frightening medical diagnosis, I turned to God in desperation. I asked him to show me what it looked like to rise…
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Instead of Pleading With God, Try This Prayer Posture
Layers of ivory piled heavenward for weeks—the kind of snow that melts and freezes a half-dozen times, leaving crusty layers like some seven-layer dessert gone horribly wrong. I’d been pleading with God to lead me out of a tough stretch. I had no idea he was about to open my eyes with a very clear object lesson in the form of a pleading child. We kept the yellow snow shovel propped right next to the front door that year. Every morning, we scraped the icy cement and threw out the salt. I didn’t appreciate the morning call to shovel the entryway. However, the four-year-old at my side saw it as…
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Disappointed in God: How to Handle Spiritual Frustration
Regardless of the depth and strength of our faith, most of us will be disappointed in God at some point in our lives. When God doesn’t heal our loved ones, bring our great dreams to pass, or answer our prayers according to our hopes, it’s easy to feel disappointed in him. We all face times when we struggle to make sense of God’s work in our lives. I invite you to join our family on a chilly Christmas morning, and we’ll talk about how to navigate those times in life when God’s ways don’t make sense to us. Disappointed in God It is Christmas morning here in Pennsylvania. This is…
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How to Find Strength in God When Life Is Tough
Winter was bearing down on us with a stranglehold that left me breathless at times. Every morning, I sat beside the window and wondered whether our family was about to walk down the most broken road we’d ever known. Day after day, I opened God’s Word in hopes that I might to discover how to find strength in God as we faced our storm. There was a medical prognosis on the horizon, and I was terrified. I’d been standing on Truth that held the power to slay the giant of fear. I’d been rebuking, taking back ground, worshiping, and fixing my eyes on the pure and good. Nevertheless, as I…
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Transform Your Mind by Overcoming These Toxic Mindsets
There are monarchs on the milkweed, and the sun sinks fiery white above the overgrown weed fields behind the house. “They’re not weeds,” five-year-old Caleb contends, “They’re flowers.” I smile at his words. Maybe he knows the hidden secret about how to really transform your mind when the weeds creep in. “I guess it depends on what you want to call them,” I tell the little guy. “One person’s weeds are another person’s flowers.” We walk to the spot where the fields border the yard – where the monarchs stretch their marmalade wings on the sticky milkweed leaves – and I clip a bouquet for the dining room table. A…
