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How to Keep Walking With God Through Dark Seasons
Days are growing shorter. For our family, shorter days include more time together within the fawn-colored walls of our living room. I’m learning to appreciate the rhythms of indoor seasons. I also know I’ll soon face winter days when walking with God through the darkness feels difficult. Not long ago, on one of these cloudless black evenings, I looked across the room to see my husband walking across the dining room with our little girl standing on his feet. Sweet Bekah’s little body moved wherever her daddy moved as her feet rested on his much larger feet. I immediately thought about the way God wants us to cling to him.…
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I Don’t Fit in: Insights to Change Your Perspective
A few years ago, I stepped about a million miles out of my comfort zone and attended a conference for women who feel called to write and speak. The weekend was filled with informational seminars, discussion groups, and motivational speakers. I was anxious about the weekend for plenty of reasons, and one of my deepest concerns was a quiet voice that whispered, “What if I don’t fit in?” The fear of not fitting in can feel surprising as an adult. You walk into a crowded room, and you suddenly feel like a middle schooler looking for a place to sit in the school cafeteria. I wrestled through these fears as…
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What Does God Want Me to Do With My Life?
Have you been asking, “What does God want me to do with my life?” God wants to reveal his will to you. Let’s talk about how to find God’s will for our lives. What Does God Want Me to Do With My Life? The cherry blossoms will soon be salmon with life and hope. I’ve often wondered why God chose to awaken these trees with springtime signs of life before their taller cousins. Maybe he knew we’d all need something remarkably beautiful by the end of the long winter months. Maybe he wanted to give us the best first, a sign of blessings yet to come. After long winter months,…
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5 Prayers for God’s Guidance in Uncertain Times
Snow falls like a quiet kind of awakening, and when I listen closely, I can hear the heavy flakes gathering. I stand among the beech leaves as they cling to finger-like branches, waving at the dusk like these chilling grey days are not only expected but welcomed. As I listen to the leaves rustle, I begin praying prayers for God’s guidance into the next season. I invite you to join me as I sort through my thoughts in the woods. Afterward, I’ll share five prayers for God’s guidance. 5 Prayers for God’s Guidance On this dusky evening, snow falling like anything but grace from the ever-grey sky, I’m here in…
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What Does It Mean to Lay Down Your Life for God?
Have you ever wondered what it means to lay down your life for God and others? Jesus spoke the following words to his disciples: “Greater love has no one than this: to lay down one’s life for one’s friends” (John 15:13, NIV). Perhaps you want to know how to live this out. I invite you to join me in my parents’ living room shortly after the birth of my third child, and we’ll explore what it might look like to lay down your life. How to Lay Down Your Life We’re watching the little one stretch his legs in his blue bouncy seat when my grandma says the words that…
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How to Know When God Is Leading You: 4 Ways
Have you ever wondered how to know when God is leading you in a new direction? Discerning the difference between our desires and God’s voice can be challenging. Today, we’ll talk about finding direction from God and following his lead. How to Know God is Leading You “If God really speaks to us, then I’d sure like someone to explain the ways God speaks to us,” a younger friend declared as we walked beneath a canopy of blossoming apple trees. There was a hint of frustration in her voice. My friend had been pursuing God and sincerely believed she was following him into a new career endeavor. Her dream seemed…
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How to Change the World From Hidden Places: 5 Bible Verses About Leaving an Impact
Most of us face moments when the monotony of our daily lives wears on us. We wonder if we’re making a difference in the world and doubt God’s calling. We can turn to God’s Word for hope and encouragement in these times. Today, we’ll look at five Bible verses about leaving an impact. Often, our idea of what it means to make a difference is vastly different from God’s idea. I invite you into my struggle with the idea of making an impact, and we’ll take a closer look at God’s calling for all of us. 5 Bible Verses About Leaving an Impact I don’t wake up thinking of ways…
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Igniting Your Spiritual Passion: 3 Ways
“What would igniting your spiritual passion look like right now?” a friend asks as we sit in her living room. “If I knew, I’d be doing it,” I admit. “Why don’t you ask God what you need to do?” she asks. I’m about to tell her I’ve already asked him, but I realize she’s onto something. The slow and steady rhythms of life have led me to a season of spiritual dryness, and I haven’t stepped back to ask God what he wants to do in me through this time. In the days that follow, I begin seeking his face, asking what it would look like to run to his…
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5 Kingdom Advancement Prayers for Our World
God’s kingdom is the realm in which he rules and reigns. His kingdom has come to earth in part, but we are all awaiting the day when Jesus returns and reigns in full. Until that time, we can join together in praying kingdom advancement prayers for the world. 5 Kingdom Advancement Prayers for the World Matthew 6:10 reads: “Thy kingdom come on earth as it is in heaven.” Jesus’ words lead us to consider: Just what does it look like to pray for his kingdom to come on earth? Undoubtedly, part of this prayer includes shifting from self-focused prayers to world-focused prayers. Reverend Newman Hall writes: “Man’s worship, apart from…
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How to Embrace Change: 8 Mindsets to Help You
It happened on a balmy August evening with locusts droning on like a reminder that the earth would keep spinning, even if my world had shifted in an uncomfortable direction. It was time to learn how to embrace change, and it wasn’t going to be a lesson that came easily. We will all face seasons of drastic change in life, and that August evening threw me like few others. In a matter of minutes, every dream I’d been dreaming – every plan I’d been carefully laying down like a piece of some giant puzzle – fell to the wayside, and I was left alone with a radically shifted set of…
