Those who suffer according to God’s will should commit themselves to their faithful Creator and continue to do good. — 1 Peter 4:19 If our kids always behave and our boss is always pleased and our home is always orderly and our bodies always feel good and we are patient and kind and thoughtful and…
Your Best Friend
For Adults I am your best Friend, as well as your King. Walk hand in hand with Me through your life. Together we will face whatever each day brings: pleasures, hardships, adventures, disappointments. Nothing is wasted when it is shared with Me. I can bring beauty out of the ashes of lost dreams. I…
The Beauty of Baptism
Baptism is a deeply mysterious and beautiful act in which we step into our future and declare we are identifying with Jesus in His death and resurrection. It’s stepping into what God says is true about us. Jesus’ own baptism invoked deeply held stories of the exodus — the Israelites leaving Egypt, trusting God, and…
Get Out of Your Head: Spiraling Out
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…
Becoming a King
It is not what a man does that is of final importance, but what he is in what he does. The atmosphere produced by a man, much more than his activities, has the lasting influence. — Oswald Chambers Travel with me for a moment back to the narrow dirt roads of a first-century Roman…
The Cost of Discipleship
Every Christian is a disciple. In fact, the Lord’s Great Commission was to go into all the world and make disciples… teaching them to observe all that I commanded you. — Matthew 28:19-20 That means the mission of the Church, and the goal of evangelism, is to make disciples. Disciples are people who believe, those…
Remembering Billy Graham
Billy Graham 1918–2018 I am convinced the greatest act of love we can ever perform for people is to tell them about God’s love for them in Christ. ~ Billy Graham It was September 14, 2001 — three days after the September 11 attacks robbed nearly three thousand people of their lives. A service of…
Shield of Strength
Captain Russell Rippetoe was serving in Operation Iraqi Freedom in March 2003. Previously, while serving in Afghanistan, Rippetoe saw men die, which brought a renewal to his Christian faith and a new passion for the Bible. On the chain around his neck, he wore a “Shield of Strength,” a one-by-two-inch emblem displaying a U.S. flag…
What Holds the Key to Your Heart?
When Jesus heard this, He said to him, “You still lack one thing. Sell everything you have and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in Heaven. Then come, follow Me.” — Luke 18:22 I long to be a woman who follows hard after Jesus. And I’m not talking about a plastic-Christian life,…
Leading from the Heart: What if Jesus Were CEO of Your Company?
Jesus called them together and said, “You know that the rulers of the Gentiles lord it over them, and their high officials exercise authority over them. Not so with you. Instead, whoever wants to become great among you must be your servant, and whoever wants to be first must be your slave.” — Matthew 20:25-27…