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Rewire Your Brain and Get Unstuck in Your Life
A menagerie of black walnuts has fallen from above and is crushed on our gravel road. I walk over the coffee-colored streaks and consider the months ahead. When the walnuts fall, summer is nearly over. Looking ahead, no part of me is ready for the long winter months to come. Just how do you rewire your brain when your future feels bleak? I cringe at the thought of long evenings inside the house, whiteouts rolling in from the west, and evening walks down this same country road with toes numb from the cold. How to Rewire Your Brain I’m mulling it over when the words of Dr. Caroline Leaf come…
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How to Overcome Toxic Thoughts With God’s Help
A dandelion releases her ashen fuzz to the sky, and I stand at the window to watch. The window is strong and clear, but a year ago, it was fractured into a dozen tiny lines. I’m not proud of the moment I shattered the window with my bare hand. Nevertheless, the incident eventually helped me learn how to overcome toxic thoughts with God’s help. Maybe it’s taken a year for me to write about this because I was ashamed I had it in me. Maybe you’ve been here, too. Perhaps you’ve yelled just a little too forcefully at your kids, lashed out a little too ferociously at that guy who…
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How to Stop Being Miserable: 7 Negative Mindsets That Might Be Stealing Your Joy
I awaken to a twisted knot of sheets, and it’s clear I’ve been wrestling all night long. No part of me wants to get out of this bed and step into my life today. I want to stop being miserable in this season, but I have no worldly clue of what to do about it. Most of us have been here. You wake up to the buzzing alarm, and you have absolutely no desire to return to the same old job in the same tiny cubicle to perform the same fifty tasks in an endless cycle. Or maybe the baby cries two hours before daybreak. You just can’t see starting…
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Overcome Anxiety With God: 6 Steps to Help You
I sit beneath the hemlocks while my little boy throws rocks into the water. I’m thankful we have a place to slip away from the demands of our days. Today, I’m desperate to overcome anxiety with God in this quiet moment by the water. A question comes to mind as I sit in the silence: Where does my life feel out of control? When I feel like I have a grip on my life, peace reigns. However, when my house is a mess, my schedule is overbooked, my kids are disobeying me, and my career feels uncertain, anxiety creeps in. Not long ago, a friend looked into my eyes and…
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15 Bible Verses About Breakthrough
“I’ve started to wonder if my breakthrough will ever come,” a friend recently remarked. “I’ve done all I know to do, given my best effort, read countless Bible verses about breakthrough, and prayed for months. I feel like God isn’t listening.” We were sitting by the creek on an unseasonably warm autumn day. The firmament hung low and grey, like maybe the underbelly of heaven was brushing against us. “I don’t know why God gave me this dream and then slammed the door closed in my face,” my friend added through tears. I sat with her words and offered her space to be honest about what she felt. We’ll return…
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5 Inspiring Quotes to Help You Live Your Best Life
I sit on the deck as the ironweed bows its royal head in the late-summer breeze. I could list my favorite memories from the summer, but it seems fitting to close this season by reflecting on the words others have spoken into my life. These five inspiring quotes to help you live your best life have challenged me to rethink the rhythms of my days, the ways I seek God, and my priorities. These words remind me to keep watching and listening for God’s hand in every corner of my life. I pray these words will challenge you to slow down and let God speak into your quiet places, busy…
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How to Embrace New Thoughts about Old Things – with Kelly Balarie
“What a wee little part of a person’s life are his acts and his words! His real life is led in his head, and is known to none but himself. All day long, the mill of his brain is grinding, and his thoughts, not those other things, are his history.” Mark Twain As Caleb bangs plastic toys into one another like there’s a war happening in his bedroom naptime, I watch sun gleam through smudged window panes and read these familiar words: “And he answered, ‘You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your strength, and with all…
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Recovering From Church Hurt: 6 Steps Toward Healing
Not long ago, I received a message from a friend who was dealing with deep church hurt. She told me that after being hurt so deeply, she was never going back to church. As we talked about the issue that had caused division, we recognized that all people are broken. When we’re hurt by the church or other Christians, it’s vital to remind ourselves that no one is perfect. We’re all on journeys toward maturity, and hurting people hurt other people. In some ways, we are all hurting, and this truth can help us extend grace to others when they let us down or hurt us. Recovering From Church Hurt…
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10 Affirmations for Spiritual Growth With God
Do you ever feel frustrated because your spiritual growth seems slow? Maybe you want a closer relationship with God, but the busyness of your life makes this feel unattainable. If so, you are in good company. When this happens, speaking affirmations for spiritual growth can be helpful. A few days ago, the first ivory snowflakes fell onto the lawn, and I considered the shifting seasons. I asked myself, Did I accomplish what I hoped for in this past season? How are my relationships with others? How is my relationship with God? As the snow fell silently, I couldn’t help but feel like I’d failed to reach some of my goals.…
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How to Stop Living on Autopilot: 3 Ways
The multiflora rose bushes are exploding with white blossoms when it hits me: I’m living on autopilot again. I claim I want greater joy in my life, but my decisions don’t cultivate the joy I crave. If you want to learn how to stop living on autopilot, you are in the right place. Today, we’ll talk about practical ways to slow down, be mindful, and live with purpose. How to Stop Living on Autopilot Most of us know all about autopilot. We push through our days with no margin time to notice the beauty and thousands of stressors streaming through our minds. How do we stop living on autopilot and…
