It’s okay if we’ve had some misconceptions about grace, holiness, and mission. But it’s time for us to go back to the beginning of our faith and sort them out. ✦ Suggested Reading in Dance, Stand, Run: Intro, Chapter 1 (To be read by facilitator) Intro Ladies, friends, sisters: are you ready? This week, we’re…
Life Is Short: Enjoy It!
How do we enjoy life? Each Day Totally We do not know how long we have to live, so we should live every day with gusto. Oh, how sweet the light of day, And how wonderful to live in the sunshine! Even if you live a long time, don’t take a single day for granted. Take delight…
All Things New: The Hope of Renewal
Picture a treasure chest. Not a small box that might hold jewelry on a girl’s nightstand — a large treasure chest, larger than any suitcase you own, larger than any suitcase you’ve ever seen. Picture a massive oak treasure chest, like pirates might have used, with large iron hinges and a huge clasp. The size…
The Dance of Grief and Gratitude
Editor’s Note: It’s Thanksgiving — a day of thankfulness and joy. As we celebrate this season of gratitude, remembrance and recognition of God’s provision, and celebration, we also acknowledge that we and those around us may be in a season of struggle or pain. We pray that you find comfort and encouragement from this…
Hope Is Faith Waiting for Tomorrow
Creatures are not born with desires unless satisfaction for those desires exists. — C. S. Lewis We all are hopers. We are creatures who cannot stop wishing. We are four-leaf-clover collectors. We wish on the evening star. We tell stories about genies coming out of a bottle to grant three wishes. After a turkey dinner,…
Hopelifters Need Hopelifters, Too!
Therefore encourage one another and build each other up, just as in fact you are doing. — 1 Thessalonians 5:11 “How do you fill your pitcher?” I’ll never forget hearing the speaker’s words as she finished pouring water into several glasses and held up an empty pitcher. I could relate to feeling empty after pouring…
Unanswered Prayers
It’s easy to slip into the mentality that we somehow fell through the cracks of God’s good plans. Things are too final. The ink is too dry. The page has been turned. Their heart is too hard. Your heart is too hurt. The doctors have said impossible. The account is too bankrupt. The biological clock…
Grabbing the Lifeline of Hope
We who have run for our very lives to God have every reason to grab the promised hope with both hands and never let go. It’s an unbreakable spiritual lifeline, reaching past all appearances right to the very presence of God… — Hebrews 6:18-19 The Message I am haunted by this passage. The promised hope.…
A New Understanding of God’s Love
Your salvation depends on what [Christ] has done for you, not on what you can do for Him. It isn’t your hold on God that saves you; it’s His hold on you. ~ Billy Graham WELCOME “Jesus loves me, this I know, for the Bible tells me so…” From our earliest years, many of us…
Praying to Move On with the Lord
“I’m still on shaky ground,” I said to myself as I drove to church one Sunday morning nearly a year after coming to know the Lord. Even though my life was much improved, I still had this uneasy feeling that at any moment I could lose the stability I’d gained. I feared that my glimpses…