We’ve all experienced it. That feeling that ranges from simply feeling “blah” to feeling downright hopeless and depressed. It’s called the “blues.” “Nothing can make a trusting Christian blue,” I’ve heard somewhere along the way. The implication that if we’re feeling blue we’re not trusting God puts us all on the defensive a bit. After …
Belonging to Jesus
7 Powerful Truths to Transform Your Life
Can you imagine being free from insecurity, loneliness, fear, anger, and hurt? What about inadequacy, discouragement, guilt, defeat, failure, hopelessness, depression, frustration, and confusion? Can you then also imagine feeling fully loved and embraced? Can you imagine being full of joy and peace, and rarely feeling alone? What about being confident in who you are …
An All-Satisfying Relationship – Is it Possible?
“But you – you get to show what Jesus is like without depending on anyone else!” my friend’s eyes shone as she excitedly pointed out the beautiful message that a single Christian is privileged to give to the world: that a relationship with Jesus is all-sufficient and all-satisfying! Months before she had given me the …
God Sees Me and Cares
Abraham’s wife, Sarah, had what she thought was a brilliant idea to fulfill God’s promise to her and Abraham that they would have a son. Rather than waiting for God’s timetable, she convinced Abraham to conceive a child with her servant, Hagar, so Hagar could bear a child for them. But once Hagar became pregnant …
The Single’s Psalm
Quite a few years ago a good friend of mine referred to Psalm 16 as The Single’s Psalm. I’ve claimed it as such ever since, turning to it again and again. As I type that, though, I have to chuckle at my annoyance in the past when others have made claim to a passage of …
The Ultimate Relationship
When the scene opens in Genesis, God creates the heavens and the earth, all living creatures, and man and woman. He then pronounces it all good. It was perfect. The very best part of all that perfection was the in person, face-to-face, close relationship God had with Adam and Eve. He had no lists of …
The Life-Changing Truth About Our Identity
“Who am I?” It’s a question we all ask ourselves. More than once. Some of us spend years seeking its answer. We look to our relationships, to our education, to our occupation, to our accomplishments – or to the lack of these. We listen to others, to our feelings, to our faulty interpretation of God’s …
More Than Enough
“You are more than enough You are here You are love You are hope You are grace You’re all I have You’re everything.” * I’d heard them so many times before, but these words practically reached out of my phone and grabbed me as I drove down the road. I sang along, and as the …
How to be Happy
My one and only ride in a hot air balloon was awesome. Drifting slowly above the earth as I peered over the edge of the basket at the countryside below gave me a perspective of the community I lived in that driving through it didn’t. While I couldn’t see the details of the houses, farms, …
Complete Devotion
We all long to be fully loved by those who know us completely. Such love provides us with affirmation, confidence, and freedom to be ourselves. If we are known but not loved we feel devastated. If we are loved but not known we feel insecure. But if we are known and loved we are naturally …
A Place to Belong
A number of years ago I attended a women’s retreat where a former missionary was the speaker. She and her husband had raised their children during the years they had served in missions, thousands of miles from the homes of their grandparents and other relatives. She had worried they would grow up without a sense …
The Truth About Our Worth
Years ago my young nephew came to visit for several days with his suitcase in tow. As soon as he arrived he opened it and pulled out his most prized possession at the time — his sling shot! He told me all about his plans to shoot shoot starlings, black birds, and sparrows, the only …
