On today's episode: "As Jesus approaches Jerusalem, he weeps. The words He speaks are haunting. “If you knew this day what would bring you peace...” Luke 19:42. He knew all along, but so many were blind. Then a couple of verses later, my heart nearly shatters. “...because you did not recognize the time when God visited you.” Luke 19:44. I hang my head in sorrow as I think about my own self. Would I have seen it? Would I have believed?"
On today's episode: "For me, the thought that brought me to repentance was the memory I wanted my family to have of me at such a precious time. I was filled with tremendous sorrow as I considered my attitude toward the man I promised to cherish and the incredible blessing of these children that were looking to me to learn about the world. It was as if I had looked at these blessings that brought immeasurable joy to my life and said to the Lord they weren’t good enough."
On today's episode: "Most often, I think we see this Scripture asking us to ponder ourselves in relation to status or possessions in life. But for me, I think it has application to our anxiety and our to do lists. We worry about the things we cannot control in an effort to figure it out so that we can gain access to this idea of freedom. What we fail to see is that our stressing over our lack of control is the very minute we’ve lost sight of what really matters and we lose our life. We stop standing in freedom of the truth of who we are in Christ and we know as Believers that is the most important thing."
On today's episode: "Without fail, the children get stuck in their present circumstance of how upset they are that they didn’t get what they wanted. They project that upset toward me as a mean and heartless Mommy who takes everything away and always says no. The no is so big that they forget about all the times I did say yes. Sometimes even that very afternoon. Sometimes the no is for something they really, really wanted. Like going to the birthday party or buying the toy that they’ve been pining after for some time. Can you see where I’m going with this?"
On today's episode: "I can cope until I can’t. When I can’t, I feel myself slipping away. The girl that knows herself, stands confident and brave in the face of adversity, with the armor of God, she starts to take a knee until she’s on her back, tears streaming into her ears, crying out that she can’t do this anymore."
On today's episode: "I am consistently amazed at how time and again the response that Jesus gives to those that would sin is simple kindness. It’s love. Sure, He detests sin, but His response was kindness upon the undeserving and it is through that kindness that the undeserving are led to salvation and redemption."
On today's episode: "All of those bad things in this story represent every “wrong” thing that’s present in your life right now. The stuff that hurts, makes you angry, tests you, and on and on…those are always going to be present. But the diamond is still there...which is every small thing (and big!) we have to be thankful for."
On today's episode: "The whole point to anything we do as Believers is to bring people to the Kingdom. If we were able to accomplish anything great by our own might, virtue, talent, ability, we get the glory. But when things just don’t make sense, it’s a crazy act that defies every law, and there’s no way THAT person could have done the thing, God gets the glory."
On today's episode: "But I chose to extend love and grace in this moment because as a Believer, I’m called to. It’s in moments of inconvenience and frustration that I feel more and more of a tug and whisper of the Holy Spirit asking me if I see Him. It’s funny because we so often cry out for mercy when we’re the ones begging for it in light of a mistake. We can be so stingy with the extension of it when we’re on the giving end. Ultimately, at the end of the day, we’ve all been given so much grace and mercy that we never deserved and can’t ever repay."
On today's episode: "It's all this time later that I can finally see Romans 8:28 clearly in this situation. When we stand in the current time and glance back over the big scary things we’ve faced in the past, I hope we can recount all the countless ways that God pulled us to the other side."
On today's episode: "But return to that opening verse? “…he struck the Egyptian dead and hid him in the sand.” That seems to be a tiny detail that we gloss over when we talk about the great Moses and the work he did for God’s Kingdom. We forget where he came from. We overlook the fact that he was a simple man and committed a big, mortal sin. He murdered, and then he tried to cover it up. In fact, it wasn’t until years later when he was doing the menial jobs of tending his Father in Law’s sheep that God spoke to him. Think on that task. He was a regular run of the mill dude shepherding sheep that weren’t even his. And then? A bush erupts into flames and we know how the rest of that story goes. (Exodus 3)"
On today's episode: "My heart began to fill with possibility. What might the world look like if every single Believer truly embraced what it means to live with the power of Jesus within them? What then might happen for the lost that lived with THAT reality being what they experienced in the world day in and day out?"
On today's episode: "There are times when the hurt is too deep to form words. The pain is too blinding to complete the thought. It’s too much and we don’t even know what to pray. So much is wrapped up in such a simple statement. “God, be with her.” Even now, as I type, I can feel the profound sense of nothingness settle into my soul. It’s like every human emotion collides at once until they combust into devastating emptiness. On the other side of that, I can hear God whisper to me. “Just wait.”"