The first time I taught the study you’re about to dive into, I gathered a room full of women in my local church to talk about what’s going on in our heads. We met for six weeks, and lives were changed. The first night those women streamed into the chapel where we were meeting, they…
Abandoning the Approval of Others
Do you want to be liked or do you want to actually do something significant with this life? ~ Jennie Allen The Lord is with me; I will not be afraid. What can mere mortals do to me? — Psalm 118:6 It was pretty late. Most of the lights were out. I had gotten tied…
Let Us Not Shrink Back from God’s Plan
In The War of Art, Steven Pressfield observed, “The more important the work, the more resistance you need to expect to feel.” Why does it feel so hard to not be numb? Because there is a war waging for our hearts, to shut them down. To disable those who love Jesus, and especially those who…
Make the Shift
Are you ready for a shift? Ever wonder why it seems some people are happier than you, even if they are going through more difficult circumstances than you? Maybe you have visited Christians in developing countries thinking you were there to minister to them in their need, only to realize that in their smile and…
A New Way to Live
My oldest went to college this year and, like all slightly crazed mothers, I tried to cram every last lesson into his precious mind in the final weeks before he moved out, as if this was the last legal time to preach to the poor kid. Here was the last speech, the final words, my…
Stepping Into His Story
In His great mercy He has given us new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, and into an inheritance that can never perish, spoil or fade. — 1 Peter 1:3-4 Prayers like anything place us in the midst of stories. These stories have an Author who writes…
The Difficult Stuff Is the Beginning of Joy
While I may have read in my Bible that we are in a spiritual war, that truth had not fully adjusted my expectations of this life. To accept that life is supposed to be hard is the beginning of joy. There is freedom in understanding that Heaven is coming and we are not there yet.…
What’s Keeping Us from Dreaming?
He chose us in Him before the creation of the world to be holy and blameless in His sight. – Ephesians 1:4 What could cause us to miss God’s plans? I think a lot of us are afraid. We’ve got hang-ups, and some of us have deep needs that we don’t even have words for.…
Anything for His Glory
Father, I want those you have given Me to be with Me where I am, and to see My glory, the glory You have given Me because you loved Me before the creation of the world. — John 17:24 What do I want most? For me, there are so many things. I want a few…
Restless: What Are You Passionate About?
William Wilberforce knew his passion. He resisted it, but this passion held him captive as a young man, nearly at the same time that he became completely captivated by Jesus. He met God and wanted nothing more than to begin vocational ministry; he was convinced this was the best way to serve God. But the…