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How to Lean on God for Strength When You’re Ready to Give up
I wrote this post a while back, at a time when I was ready to give up on the calling of the season. Looking back, I’m glad I kept going. Here are a few words of encouragement if you need to lean on God for strength in a hard season. How to Lean on God for Strength A chartreuse glow rises from the wood line, and I’m ready to throw in the towel and call this season over. I’m ready to give up, check out, and get on with the next thing. I sincerely believed this would be easier by now. I believed I’d have more energy, more normalcy, and…
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God Is Enough for Every Storm You Face
It’s easy to assume we have fear, grief, or suffering figured out, only to stumble into a different kind of storm and realize how many layers of understanding still wait to be peeled back. In these times, we need to know that God is enough for every storm. There are layers to hope as well. Just when you start to believe in a deeper kind of hope, life often throws you a harder curveball than you ever expected. You find yourself desperate for a deeper sense of understanding. Hope in eternity feels too far away, and you need hope in something here and now. You need hope that’s more palpable…
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3 Ways to Cultivate Joy when You’re Struggling in Life
It had been the longest winter of my life – the winter of counting down the weeks, the days, and the hours until my health returned. I spent it mostly staring at the dead landscape out the sliding glass door – beige earth folded under ribbons of grey sky that felt dismal and bleak. I’d been trying to cultivate joy by looking to the future, but the discouragement of my illness was like a black cloud blurring my view. You might not be stuck on the couch with a long stretch of illness, but I imagine you have your own brand of discouragement lingering low. Discouraging seasons take all shapes…
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6 Powerful Bible Verses for Times of Trouble and Grief
There are starlings at the bird feeder this morning. Larger and more aggressive than the petite chickadees and nuthatches, they’ve come to wreak havoc on our quiet little world. The squabbling birds remind me of my own current times of trouble. I’ve been stressing out over our budget and our health. We’ve wept over freshly broken earth and grieved lives taken far too soon. Perhaps you are facing trouble or grief today, too. We live in a broken world, and we all face times of trouble. Meanwhile, God offers hope for even the darkest days. He invites us to draw near to him, and he will give us the strength…
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The Truth About God and Your Emptiness in Life
The first red-winged blackbird appeared from out of the pasty white sky on a Sunday, and we marveled at the feeder like we’d never seen such a miracle. We were at the end of a season when all the emptiness in life had us feeling poured out. It’s funny how the normal can become a miracle when everything else has been stripped away. It’s funny how the once-expected rain can become a phenomenon after a season of drought. In the aftermath of the longest kind of winter season, that first red-winged blackbird looked something like a scarlet-caped wonder. In the aftermath of a never-ending night, just a little flicker of…
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3 Ways to Draw Close to God When You’re Weary and Worn
I’m feeling weary and burdened as we make the long walk to the end of the driveway to wait for the school bus. I know my soul longs to draw close to God. Sadly, setting aside the time feels like work, and work is what’s worn me thin. Ann Voskamp’s words pass through my mind: “It’s never the things you carry that hurt you, but how you carry those things.” Meanwhile, when I’m honest with myself and with God, there are times when it feels like I’m carrying an unbearably heavy load, and there’s no way this load could do anything other than crush me. Truth to Help You Draw…
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I Am Tired, God: Encouragement for Exhausting Seasons
The evening sky is graying with dusk, and your feet are weary from a full day of living in the thick of your calling. You’re ready for the needy people to head home so you can do the same—so you can take a long break from life and this world with its incessant demands. “I am tired, God,” you whisper. “Please carry me.” Most of us have been here. It might be the classroom where you invest your time teaching young people. Maybe it’s the house where the children rule the schedule, including when you will eat, sleep, and even shower. Perhaps it’s the quiet cubicle where you spend the…
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How to Feel Your Feelings but Stand on the Truth
She pedals alongside me on her purple princess bike as I push her cheese-curl-munching brother in the faded brown stroller. I have no idea she’s about to teach me a very grown-up lesson about how to feel your feelings. Little ones seem to have a way of imparting life lessons without knowing it. “I’ve decided not to let myself miss Daddy today,” she says. Her dad has been out of town for work for three days, and we have three more to go. “Why’s that?” I probe. “When I let myself miss him, it just ruins the day. I was sad all day yesterday, so I’ve decided not to be…
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A Refiner’s Fire Story and a Prayer for the Fires of Life
The snow outside was knee-deep when I counted the days and realized I hadn’t left the house in 28 days. I was living out my own version of the refiner’s fire story. The refining fire was burning away the dross in my life, and it hurt. I’ll share my story from the fire shortly. First, let’s visit the refiner’s fire story as we consider the various fires we face. The Refiner’s Fire Story The refiner’s fire story shares the story of a group of women who were studying the book of Malachi. They came upon Malachi 3:3, which reads, “He will be like a refiner and purifier of silver; He…
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To the Mom Who Is Barely Hanging on
I drove past you in the dusky light this evening. You looked like you were barely hanging on. With an infant strapped to your chest, the handle of a stroller in your left hand, and the leash of your small and energetic dog nearly yanking your right shoulder out of the socket, your face said it all. Your face told me that you’re barely hanging on. I wonder if you were stuck in the house all day. Maybe the walls started closing in, and you grew weary from changing diapers and cleaning up the same fifteen toys a dozen times. You were barely hanging on, and you needed some fresh…