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How to Rejoice in the Lord in Every Season
The tulip poplar leaves are just beginning to emerge like tiny hands waving at the cobalt sky. For six fleeting months, they will greet the dawn with their flapping waves as if they’re living to the full. As I gaze at them, they’re a reminder of how to rejoice in the Lord no matter what the season of life looks like. How to Rejoice in the Lord in Every Season A red-winged blackbird glides over the field behind the house, and our caged quail calls for a mate. I turn the pages for words about how to live this day to its fullest, and I find them: This is…
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7 Powerful Bible Verses About Stress and Hard Times
The awakening of spring feels like a rebirth of sorts. The pungent scent wafting from the once-frozen creek bed stirs life in my soul. Today, I’m in the woods with my Bible in search of Bible verses about stress and hard times. Bible Verses About Stress and Hard Times If you need encouragement today, I invite you to join me in the woods, and we’ll see what God’s Word says about stress and trouble. Bible Verses About Stress and Hard Times 1. Psalm 135:1-2 Praise the name of the LORD. Give praise, O servants of the LORD who stand in the house of the LORD, in the courts of…
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How Do We Glorify God in Our Daily Lives?
How do we glorify God in our daily lives? The Bible offers plenty of examples to help us give God honor and glory in our everyday moments. Today, we’ll unpack a few of these insights as we aim to offer our bodies as living sacrifices to God. I invite you to join me in the woods, and we’ll take a closer look at honoring God in even our most ordinary moments. How Do We Glorify God in Our Daily Lives? I’m on my knees with my camera lens inches from a dwarf ginseng. As I watch its tiny snowflake head bob in the breeze, I suddenly realize we’re not alone.…
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Feeling God’s Presence: How to Connect With Him
The maples stood barren—as if they were waiting for a fresh breath from heaven. Gazing into their spindly arms, I realized my soul felt much the same. I wanted nothing more than to start feeling God’s presence again. “God, why do you seem so distant? Why don’t I sense your presence?” I prayed. Feeling God’s Presence As I sat in the silence, my mind returned to a crystal clear Tuesday evening years ago. In a single instant, I learned more about God and love than I’d gleaned in a whole lifetime. After nine long months of suffering through a debilitating diagnosis of hyperemesis gravidarum (mostly couch-ridden and sipping sports drinks…
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7 Practical Ways to Show Grace to Others
Dawn came too early today—like an interruption to a night that went too fast. As the first rays of light poured through the windowpane, I asked God to fill me with his grace for the day ahead. Showing grace is never easy when we’re weary and on the brink of burnout. I went to bed late thinking about writing projects, our child’s science fair project, and what I was going to send to school for snack day. My mind raced for hours. When dawn came too soon, I had no desire to race into anything. I brushed my teeth thoughtlessly, and the impending nature of my to-do list weighed me…
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How to Make Important Decisions with God’s Guidance
These words about how to make important decisions come from a season in my life that feels about a million pages past in the story of my days. It’s the summer of 2001, and I have traveled to Alaska – completely alone – to find answers to important questions about God and love and life. ~~~ The still water shines like glass, and I find myself looking to the hills for help. Somewhere in the recesses of my memory I remember something about help coming from the hills, and I’m desperate for help. I’m just into the decade of my twenties, and I’m struggling with how to make an important…
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Joy in Jesus: How to Cultivate It in Your Life
The yard is muddied with footprints and tire tracks, and a warm front blows in from the south. I’m thankful for the early thaw. Winter was long, and I grew weary from completing the same tasks day after day. I want to live with joy in Jesus, but this kind of joy can be challenging when the daily grind is wearing. Sometimes my life feels like an endless cycle of the same tasks. The tasks roll on, day after day, and I wonder if it will ever end. There are days when I’m disappointed with the ordinariness of it all. But I’m learning to find joy in Jesus in the…
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How to Encounter God in Your Ordinary Moments
I’m not thinking about how to encounter God as I wash the crusty marinara sauce from a plate that sat too long. Sweet Bekah comes to me in my silent revelry and wraps her little arm around my thigh. “Come with me, Mommy,” she beckons. “Just as soon as I finish these dishes,” I tell her. “No, Mom—now. You have to come now,” she begs. She’s been playing on the deck, and I’m sure there’s a caterpillar making an escape or a tower built from rocks on a patio chair. I really just want to clean the kitchen. Nonetheless, when I look into those sparkling blue eyes, I surrender my…
