Tel Aviv is a tangle of concrete, buildings, cars, exhaust, and armed guards. At first, we were swept up in the metropolis, gasping for air. We definitely felt like outsiders, unwieldy and unwelcome, trying to find a place to fit in. After a few hits and misses, we finally found a respite to turn to…
Only Love Today: My Vow to Soften
By being softer you can hear more, learn more, feel more, and love more. I’ve had enough of my hard edges. I’m tired of straining my voice. I’d like to loosen up and laugh a little more, be positive rather than negative. I’d like to feel the upward curve of my lips. I’d like to…
Grace: Resist the Funk
Let your conversation be always full of grace, seasoned with salt, so that you may know how to answer everyone. — Colossians 4:6 Thought for the Day: The reason I can give grace is because I so desperately need it. I like this verse. I really do. As a matter of fact, I’ve challenged my Proverbs…
The Spirit-Filled Life
Simple Truths Make a tree good and its fruit will be good, or make a tree bad and its fruit will be bad, for a tree is recognized by its fruit. — Matthew 12:33 We human beings tend to overlook the simple truths of life and forget that the profound is usually revealed in…
Loving Your Kids Like Our Good, Good Father Loves Us
As I sit here thinking about how I teach my children about God’s deep love, I find myself in awe. My love is so imperfect… finite where His is infinite! How am I supposed to be able to teach my children about the perfect love of God? God takes my love, despite its imperfections, and…
What You Have, Not What You Lack
Editor’s note: Jody Jean Dreyer worked for the Walt Disney Company for 30 years and in Beyond the Castle she shares one-of-a-kind stories and insights into what sets the Disney experience apart, as well as secrets to help readers discover their own “happily ever after.” Jody’s personal experiences and her underpinning faith help her to offer practical and sometimes…
Only Love Today: One Kind Thing
In a world quick to condemn, criticize, and overreact, be quick to be kind. The summer before I started middle school, I gained a lot of weight and developed unsightly stretch marks on my thighs. I was ashamed. While my parents worked during the day, my older sister took me to the neighborhood pool. I…
Following the Golden Rule
“Oh [Jane]! you are a great deal too apt, you know, to like people in general. You never see a fault in any body. All the world are good and agreeable in your eyes. I never heard you speak ill of a human being in my life.’’ “I would wish not to be hasty…
Little Sparks of Kindness
Editor’s Note: Following is an excerpt of God’s Little Angel: Shine Your Light Devotional by Sheila Walsh. Girls need to know that they can be bright, shining lights for God — and this devotional by Sheila Walsh will teach them to do so by thanking God, learning His Word, telling others about Him, and showing…
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