faith
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The New Year arrives without ceremony. The clock shifts. The body keeps its memory. I am still myself, which feels like the point. I have never trusted the fever around January. The promises shouted into champagne glasses. The talk of becoming “new.” As if the soul were a costume that could be swapped overnight. God…
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For the next 12 days, we are returning to posts from the past that have been the most popular with YOU! Here’s our 8th post as a nod to our readers. The Stench of Guilt (first published September 2020). The problem with sexual abuse and crimes that are perpetrated by family members is that most…
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There’s a quiet magic in these days leading up to Christmas, in the ordinary moments that feel anything but. I find myself pausing over the little things—my children’s crooked letters on a freshly completed worksheet, the way a first attempt at a poem or a drawing comes out uneven but full of heart, the way…
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For the next 12 days, we are returning to posts from the past that have been the most popular with YOU! Here’s our second post as a nod to our readers. There are 60 million survivors of childhood sexual crimes. One in nine don’t report. The real number of victims is staggering but no one…
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There’s a strange dignity in dropping the polished version of yourself at the door and walking into God’s presence with the mud still on your boots. The old writers understood this. The heart doesn’t grow when it hides. It grows when it’s exposed to light, air, and the risk of being seen. We keep trying…
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Christmas season asks you to slow the frantic machinery. It asks you to step out of the rushing current and stand still long enough to feel your own breath. The world keeps shouting for speed. God whispers for stillness. And the whisper is the only voice that actually feeds you. There’s a strange beauty in…
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Come into my home with me today, join me in my prayer life, and my daily reading. Welcome! A Jewel: Faith is an extrordinary weapon in life. Use it diligently and find its true meaning. It is faith that builds hope. “Just as Abraham believed God, and it was credited to him as righteousness, [as conformity…
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People pretend that joy is suspicious. Modern culture treats happiness like it needs to be justified with a tragic backstory. If you smile too easily, people assume you are shallow. If you laugh loudly, you are told to lower your voice. Misery gets treated like depth and joy gets treated like naivete. That is backwards.…
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I hated discipline. Every form of it. Until I learned that disciple is not punishment. Growing up we were punished for every slight infraction we made in my father’s kingdom. If you spoke or behaved inappropriately, a leather belt was waiting to connect with your raw skin. Any infraction, after he delivered his punishment, was…
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On the question of fear, ask yourself: Do I fear people I know to be abusers? Fear can be an unpleasant emotion caused by the belief that someone or something is dangerous, likely to cause pain, or a threat. That seems like a healthy thing, doesn’t it? Then why do we have such a hard…