In Times of Change

Leaves falling

“I’m Holding on Tight to You”

 

“Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever.”

-Hebrews 13:8

 

Do you have a bear or stuffie that you sleep with every night? Chances are, that stuffie brings you a lot of comfort, doesn’t he? No matter what is going on in life, or whatever fear you may have, you know that your beloved stuffed turtle or unicorn or favorite fuzzy blanket is right there with you through all the hard things.

 

For my son, that special lovey is a little white, beanbag-stuffed bear. He used to be more fluffy, but Mr. Bear has been well-loved. Older than he once was, there’s a kind of cuteness in the way he slumps over, and we have to be Read more

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To-Do List Blues

My life was on overload like the clutter of my email inbox

 

I can make anything about a checklist. A goal to accomplish. A race to be won.

 

Currently, I am trying to get better about drinking water: the way I go about dehydrating myself throughout the day to push for one more thing has complicated my health. Naturally, I put another pale yellow Read more

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“I’m a crabby person.”

“That’s just who I am,” I conceded to my husband the other day, my defeatist attitude brought on by a recent stream of moodiness I couldn’t seem to get a handle on. Any chance you’re in that kind of season, too? In “The Broken Way” calendar with daily quotations from one of my favorite authors, Ann Voskamp reminds me that sometimes the best way to remove the scales from my eyes and life is to evaluate where I’ve misplaced my identity. Ann writes, “Activity for God—is not the same as intimacy with God or identity in God. And it is your intimacy with Christ that gives you your identity.”

 

If I’m being honest, I must admit Read more

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Doors Thrown Open

A Disney Frozen-themed devotional for kids

 

“…We throw open our doors to God and discover at the same moment that he has already thrown open his door to us. We find ourselves standing where we always hoped we might stand—out in the wide open spaces of God’s grace and glory…”

-Romans 5:1-2 (MSG)

 

Have you ever set your sights on something you wanted to accomplish, and circumstances outside your control prevented you from achieving your goal? People sometimes call that a closed door. On a more positive note, there is the familiar phrase, “When God closes a door, He opens a window.” Though it might sound like Read more

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Does “2020 Suck” in the kingdom of heaven?

Dad's Facebook repost

The other day, I was outside doing chores when a neighbor walked by with his dog and his son on training wheels. As the dad tripped up on the slack of the dog’s leash, his trendy t-shirt slogan had me doing a double-take. In big bold letters, the shirt said “2020 SUCKS.”

 

The sentiment is felt, man. In 2020, death and disease have overcome our news feeds. Fear has overtaken our communities. Confusion has found a place at the table. And injustice is rearing its ugly head all around us. Neither can we help but notice the uneasiness within. “2020 sucks” is a lucrative slogan—a money-making graphic to be slapped on everything. Recently, someone even sent me an image of the numbers 2-0-2-0 shaped into a flip of the bird.

 

The truth of the matter is, you won’t find many people who would argue that this year hasn’t been hard—there are many scary things playing out. Bad news never goes on vacation anymore, and we would give anything to take one. This is surely no Garden of Eden, and we would be right to lament over the brokenness around and within. As real suffering is felt all over the world, affecting all of us to some degree, we mourn it from a posture of “this isn’t how it was supposed to be.” Further, we yearn for it to be made right, for when Heaven will invade Earth and God Himself will wipe every tear (reference to Revelation 21:2-4).

 

But in the here and now, what are we left to do? Can we just cancel out 2020 in our minds and hearts, much like we cancel public figures when they throw us a politically incorrect curveball?

 

This blog is all about removing the scales and revealing God in our everyday lives. In Romans, Paul advises us to “be joyful in hope, patient in affliction, faithful in prayer.”[1] Let’s break down this verse and see how we can apply it to this year of all years.

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The new I hadn’t perceived

 

When tragic life moments like what happened to #georgefloyd pass through our world, I could choose to shelter my ten-year-old white male child from the reality of the news blazing through my phone and on my computer screen. But I think he’s old enough, and he is curious. I chose to let him see the photo, watch the video (though I’m grateful the version he saw was not the heart-wrenching, kick-to-the-gut close-up eyewitness account I viewed), and witness the outrage. We have been talking about Read more

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From 9/11 to Covid-19: An Open Letter to the Class of 2020

A little bit ago, all your hopes, dreams and aspirations seemed to be running full steam ahead. You were just months away from graduation and all the excitement that comes with it: senior prank plans were in the works and pretty soon you’d be sending out all those graduation announcements and party dates. But all of that quickly changed as your news feed began to shift daily, and one big fat word was stamped in front of all of it: CANCELED.

 

I can’t pretend to know what it is like to have graduation, prom and every other celebratory moment canceled my senior year of high school. I can’t say that for four years, I looked forward Read more

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Certain God in Uncertain Times

The sun rose this morning with its sherbet oranges and pinks, its cotton candy blues. The green blades of the soon-to-be daffodils pointed upward toward the master painting swooped across the sky. This has been nature’s backdrop on our way to the school bus stop for the last several mornings, only the blades are taller now, indicating their bright yellow arrival is nearer than it was yesterday.

 

Something else is different as well. This will be the last time Read more

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Jesus Thaws My Frozen Heart

Plus, what is a frozen heart?

 

Did you know that physical temperature can be used to describe the way a person interacts with others? For example, have you ever heard someone describe another person as “cold?” Maybe you’ve even heard the phrase, “She gave me the cold shoulder.” It’s a common way to describe an individual who isn’t thinking about another person’s feelings. Oppositely, warmth is often used to describe someone who is using their heart in their thinking process, allowing them to consider others’ feelings, not just their own.

 

Stop and think: Have you ever Read more

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New Life? It calls me.

Plus, God’s mission to share it as observed through Moana

 

“If the voice starts to whisper to follow the farthest star, that voice inside is who you are.” – Moana’s Grandma

 

What’s your calling from God?

Ever looked down the path in the direction to which God is nudging you onward, and you can almost hear an imaginary forecaster in your head say, “more dense fog today”? My hand is raised. The road ahead can be hazy. The white mist has descended, settled in for the long haul and it’s clouded up the entire scene before me.

 

Even when the fog lifts and I see more clearly God’s exact plan for how He wants to use me, I lack understanding of how Read more

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