Spritual
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10 Bible Verses When You’re Feeling Anxious
It feels like there are so many reasons to live in anxiety, especially in this day and age. But as Christians, God tells us not to fear or be anxious. He promises us that He is with us. How do we know what He has promised? We have the Bible – the God-breathed, inspired word of God. When the world is spinning out of control and everything seems gray, His word is black and white. Though it was written thousands of years ago, He still speaks to us through it today. If you’re struggling with fear or anxiety, I pray these verses encourage you and keep your eyes fixed on…
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A Picture of the Church Before Revival
I slept but my heart was awake. Listen! My beloved is knocking; “Open to me, my sister, my darling, my dove, my flawless one. My head is drenched with dew, my hair with the dampness of the night.” I have taken off my robe- must I put it on again? I have washed my feet- must I soil them again? My beloved thrust his hand through the latch-opening; my heart began to pound for him. I arose to open for my beloved, and my hands dripped with myrrh, my fingers with flowing myrrh, on the handles of the bolt. I opened for my beloved, but my beloved had left; he…
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What I’ve Been Reading Lately
A while ago, I did polls on both my instagram and facebook asking if you would like to see book reviews on the blog. The answer was unanimously yes! Unfortunately, I hadn’t been reading a whole lot at the time. Packing up a house and moving does that to a person. I also found that I was trying to read only nonfiction, “practical” books that would benefit me, homeschooling, my walk with Jesus, etc. While those books are important and still part of my reading, reading those exclusively caused me to not like reading as much. After we moved, I started reading fiction again and remembered why I love reading so much. Since then,…
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The Beauty of Full Surrender
Ah, surrender. When we hear that word, it often stirs up uncomfortable feelings. As human beings, we like to have things our way. We like to have control (or at least feel like we do). But it’s hard to actually retain some semblance of control over most areas of our lives. And sometimes (okay, most of the time), our way isn’t the best way. In my quiet times with the Lord this week, I’ve felt a call to a deeper surrender. We’ve been in a period of transitioning to a life that’s completely different from what we’re accustomed to. The biggest change has been Peter’s job. We are so thankful…
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The Legacy of Faith
“All these people were still living by faith when they died. They did not receive the things promised; they only saw them and welcomed them from a distance, admitting they were foreigners and strangers on earth.” (Hebrews 11:13, NIV) “These were commended for their faith, yet none of them received what had been promised, since God planned something better for them so that only together with us would they be made perfect.” (Hebrews 11:39-40, NIV) It’s easy to believe in what you see. In fact, that isn’t faith at all. Hebrews 11:1 confirms this: “Now faith is confidence in what we hope for and assurance about what we do not…
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Legalism vs True Obedience
A person is not a Jew who is one only outwardly, nor is circumcision merely outward and physical. No, a person is a Jew who is one inwardly, and circumcision is circumcision of the heart, by the Spirit, not by the written code. Such a person’s praise is not from other people, but from God. – Romans 2:28-29 NIV I’ve been working my way through Romans recently. As I was reading Romans 2, I was struck by the difference between legalism and obedience. Much of Romans 2 is about legalism and hypocrisy. Some might argue that legalism is a form of obedience, but it’s truly not. I would contend that…
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What Love Looks Like
Ten years. A whole decade. A third of my life. That’s how long Peter and I have been married. At first it seemed easy to dismiss. After all, I know a lot of people who have been married for much longer than I have. But then I look at society around me and realize that many marriages don’t make it to the 10 year mark, especially for people who marry so young (I was 19 and Peter was 20). I have jokingly said that once I hit the ten year mark, I can confidently say that I will know half of one thing about marriage. There’s some truth to that…
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Big News …
And, no, I’m not pregnant 😜 I referenced in my last post that I was sticking to quick/easy/crockpot meals, because there’s a lot going on right now. I promised I’d share more about that, so here I am making good on that promise. On May 20th, Peter resigned from his pastoral position at our current church. We felt the Lord had brought us here for a season and very specific purpose. That purpose has been accomplished and the season is ending. Our last Sunday here will be June 3rd. So, what’s next? We are planting a church in IL! We are so excited. We have been prayerfully trying to reach…
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When We Don’t Recognize Jesus
Immediately Jesus made his disciples get into the boat and go on ahead of him to Bethsaida, while he dismissed the crowd. After leaving them, he went up on a mountainside to pray. Later that night, the boat was in the middle of the lake, and he was alone on land. He saw the disciples straining at the oars, because the wind was against them. Shortly before dawn he went out to them, walking on the lake. — Mark 6:45-48 Jesus walking on the water. This is a very well known Bible story. In fact, many people who haven’t read the Bible have heard some sort of “water walking” reference.…
