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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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Easter Encouragement: Let God Lift Your Head
We go to the woods on a cool spring morning. The first bulbs are climbing through the earth to speak secrets known only to those who live long through dark winters. We’ve known dark winters here. We’ve wept over broken ground and shattered dreams, and we need a dose of Easter encouragement this year. As our children search earthen hollows for plastic Easter eggs, I think of the empty tomb. I think of the mystery of healing from brokenness and the miracle of life from death. Easter Encouragement As we search for the eggs, I remember Jesus’ words from the cross: “Father, forgive them, for they do not know what…
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The Secret No One Tells You in Your Lowest Moment
My lowest moment came on a sunny winter morning, golden beams of daylight blazing through the smudged windowpane. I awoke with a throbbing head and a list of regrets so long that I couldn’t begin to count them. Reeling from the grief of a crushing relational breakdown, confused about the trajectory of my future, and uncertain of how to move forward, I felt stuck. I wondered if my lowest moment would ever end and prayed for God to take away the pain. Maybe you can relate. Maybe your heart has been torn in two, and you’re living in the middle of your lowest moment today, too. What Is God Doing…
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Why Struggles in Life Are Some of God’s Greatest Gifts
“We often overlook the fact that struggles in life are some of God’s greatest gifts,” my mentor tells me as we talk on the phone on a warm autumn evening. I know she’s right, but I don’t want to hear it. Life has been hard lately, and I feel like these struggles are suffocating me. I’ve been wrestling with unanswered prayers and processing some difficult disappointments. I find it hard to believe that these struggles are God’s gifts. Struggles in Life Most likely, you have a few struggles in life, too. Maybe you’re praying for a child who turned away from the Lord or a friend who has never turned…
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6 Promises for When You Feel Abandoned by God
“I feel like I’ve been abandoned by God,” my friend whispers through tears as we sit by the creek and watch flies rise from the water. She’s been in a tough season, and I tell her I can relate. Fifteen years ago, I uttered the same words. Since that time, I’ve uncovered a few valuable lessons about God and life. I share from my heart as the sycamores lean in with listening ears. I don’t know if she feels encouraged as we leave the water, but I pray she finds the faith to keep walking with God. When You Feel Abandoned by God Later that afternoon, my little boy stirs…
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4 Ways to Overcome Obstacles With God
The cold mountain wind rips at me while the sun scorches my chapped hands with desert-like heat. I spit out the gritty sand and continue my ascent. I don’t realize it just yet, but this ascent is teaching me about overcoming obstacles with God, a lesson I’ll need when different obstacles arise on different kinds of mountain climbs. Overcoming Obstacles With God Glancing upward, I’m only 60 yards from the summit. Sixty grueling yards of rough rock outcroppings and sheer drop-offs of over 1,000 feet stand before me. It seems there are cliffs on both sides of this journey. I’ve barely begun the decade of my twenties, and I’m certain…
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The God of the Valley Is Still With You
I slip into the woods on a Saturday evening as the golden sun kisses the horizon. Walking through the emerging skunk cabbage bulbs, the scene gets me thinking about trusting God in those moments when I start to wonder if the God of the valley has left me all alone. The sinking sun blinds me to the west, but to the east, the ponds reflect perfect paintings of cobalt skies and grey hills. The hills are on the brink of bursting into glory like maybe they’re waiting for redemption. Geese linger in a pond to the south, and I follow the winding valley to its deepest place. This part of…
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5 Things to Do When You Feel Stuck in Life
There’s just something about the long walk through winter. There’s something about the piles of muddied snow, the grey days, and the darkness falling early. It all makes me feel more than just a little bit stuck in life. What to Do When You Feel Stuck in Life It doesn’t have to be winter in your world for you to feel stuck in life. There are about a million ways to fall into a pit and find yourself clawing at the walls with no worldly clue of how to climb out. I know because I’ve been there. One thing I’ve learned is that the worst thing I can do is…
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What to Do When the Walls Are Closing in
There’s a pileated woodpecker pounding at the bird feeder, and Caleb stands entranced at the window. The vibrance of autumn is a distant memory, and there are long, dark weeks until the first signs of spring. As I watch Caleb by the window, I admit it to myself: The walls are closing in, and I’ve discovered no helpful escape route just yet. What do you do when you’re in the middle of a long, dark season and can see no way out? Do This When the Walls Are Closing in Elisabath Elliot, the wife of martyred missionary Jim Elliot, often quoted a poem titled “Do the Next Thing.” A portion…
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What to Do When You Feel Spiritually Empty: 5 Steps
Are you struggling with what to do when you feel spiritually empty? Most of us face times of spiritual dryness. The disciplines that once helped us feel connected to God stop working. Instead of feeling life-giving, they begin to feel empty and dry. Today, we’ll talk about what to do when you feel spiritually empty. I invite you to join me as I gaze out the window feeling apathetic and disconnected from God on a cold winter morning. What to Do When You Feel Spiritually Empty The golden abundance of autumn has been swallowed by the monochrome grey of winter now. As I gaze into the ashen landscape, I wrestle…
