How to Optimize Time For God’s Glory
During a recent chat with a dear friend, we began musing about future girl’s trips. Visions of yummy French macaroons danced in my head, and I could practically taste Parisian hot chocolate. Until a sobering comment jolted me back to reality: “The time we have left is too precious to waste on just shopping and eating.” As a Christian in ministry, I could not argue that vital point. In that moment I vowed to discover how to optimize time for God’s glory. Time and Our Mortality Are Finite It’s prudent for all of us in these turbulent times to consider how we spend the time God has given us. The…
Refining and Sharpening My Discernment
I’ve decided my life amounts to one long pencil sharpening. In my 20s, youthful arrogance usurped my teachable spirit. My pencil was barely sharp. New ideas piqued my interest at college. Alternative schools of thought battled for my attention. I tucked Marxist volumes under my arms as I strutted around campus. Then I stuck a big toe into various pools of alternative religions. I imagined I was the smartest person in the room everywhere I went. My pencil seemed sharp. Until suddenly I realized I wasn’t. Since then, I’ve worked on refining and sharpening my discernment. And the farther along I get in the process, the more I realize I’ll…
Readers Vs. Doers of the Word
I love how the Bible is baked in so many layers like a piece of baklava. Peel back one crispy, honey-laced sheet and you find another rich with substance, like a smattering of yummy nuts layered on that yummy pastry. In Luke 11:28 for instance, Jesus states that those who hear the word of God and keep it are blessed. But He makes a subtle inference. About what? Readers vs. doers of the word. Are you more inclined to reading or doing? James 1:22 lays it out point-blank. “But be doers of the word and not hearers only…” We’ll unpack more of that verse later. But first, let’s look at…
Not Oma, God! From Surrender To Serenity
It’s fair to say that life has beat me up a bit, emotionally speaking. Infertility. Autism. Ostracism. Isolation. I’ve endured far more than three “ism’s,” actually. Way more. I’ve managed to weather it all, sometimes with more grace and dignity and sometimes with much less. I am willing to handle the isms. It’s the oma’s I’m not really ready for. Yep, I’m not ready to face the cancer of a loved one. So I’m standing at the crossroads facing this new giant. My posture? I’m prostrate. Though a bit indignant, I’m thoroughly resigned. But. Well, just but. Not Oma, God. From Surrender to Serenity…I press on, not knowing what’s next.…
12 Tips for Loving Someone Who is Difficult to Love
This guest post is written by Dr. Michelle Bengtson. It’s easy to love our spouses, children, relatives, or friends, but what about those who rub us the wrong way or disagree with us? Yet God’s command is that we love others as He loves us, but how? As I’ve prayed and studied the Word, I’ve gleaned twelve tips for loving someone who is difficult to love. Jesus said in Luke 6:32, “If you love those who love you, what credit is that to you?” Later in that same chapter, He challenged us, “But love your enemies, do good to them” (Luke 6:35). Learning how to love those who are hard…
Leaving a Legacy of Refuge
This guest blog post is written by Jamie Bailey of Expedition Marriage. The Three Cs: Calm, Cool, and Collected I will forever have these words etched into my heart and my mind. Those were the words spoken by my grandmother hundreds of times over throughout my childhood. They were spoken often, because they were needed often. Even from the earliest age, I don’t remember my life being anything close to calm, cool, or collected. I think if I were to return to the generations before me, I believe those words would still only be relative for instruction instead of descriptive of the atmosphere or anyone’s mind. The 3 Cs were…
My Disastrous, Divinely Delightful Anniversary
Those famous words, for better or worse. They’re an integral part of the vows of marriage. As I young bride, I focused far too much on the “better” and naively dismissed how bad some parts of it might really get. Budding love really can be just a tad blind, no? And life beats down hard. Now that I’m older, and the years have accumulated like rings in a redwood tree trunk, I’ve spent far less time on the primrose path than I’d ever imagined I would back when I was a girl. So in this, my 38th year of marriage, I’m reflecting. On what? My disastrous, divinely delightful anniversary. That’s…
Buried Treasure and the Incomparable Gains of Following Jesus
Sometimes when unbelievers hear about the hallmarks of the Christian life, they dwell on what they believe they must sacrifice. But beneath the surface of that simplistic assessment of what might be forfeited lies a singularly beautiful truth. What truth might that be, you might wonder? Well, it’s…buried treasure and the incomparable gains of following Jesus. Follow The Leader The concept of following is quite elementary. As children, we are all taught the game of Follow the Leader. The idea is for the young or non-indoctrinated to follow someone who knows what they are doing or where they are going. Following means simply falling in line behind that leader and…
How We Can Truly Strive for Peace
Lush olive branches. A circle with three lines in the middle. A hip oral salutation made to friends or strangers. These symbols and gestures communicate peace. Indeed peace, by its very nature, sounds like a passive state that befalls rather than is chosen. I once bought into that line of thinking, too. I believed the feeling of peace would befall like a fresh spring rain on the willing, repentant Christian. But for peace to be more than “just a wish your heart makes” as Cinderella might say, it must be an intention. I’ve been pondering how we can truly strive for peace. In 1 Peter 3:11, Jesus’s disciple speaks of…
Razor-Edged, Sacrificial “True” Love
Picture it: 3:30 a.m. on a cold February morning in 2018. The pain of my new artificial knee had reached a nine. Indeed, my six inch-long centipede of a scar felt like it would rip open from my agony. So I quietly sobbed alone in my bed, not wanting to disturb anyone. My sleepy husband padded down the hallway. He heard me crying and systematically proceeded to add ice to the machine designed to freeze out my pain. In that moment, my adult self experienced from the receiving end something new first-hand. What was it? Razor-Edged, Sacrificial “True” Love. As a young 13-year-old girl, wondering and dreaming about what love…
