Finding the Courage to Choose May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace as you trust in him, so that you may overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit. — Romans 15:13 Let’s begin by acknowledging I am probably going to hurt someone’s feelings with what I am…
Breaking Free from Body Shame: Hope and High-Waisted Jeans
Do you remember the first time you encountered someone whose perception of her body was not in line with culture in the best way? The first time you met someone who lived in radical freedom, acceptance, or abundance as it pertains to her body? Did you notice another mother playing hard on the beach with…
Grateful Even When Bad Gets Worse
Though the fig tree does not bud and there is no fruit on the vines, though the olive crop fails and the fields produce no food, though there are no sheep in the pen and no cattle in the stalls, yet… I will rejoice in the God of my salvation! — Habakkuk 3:17-18 Habakkuk described…
Pleading with Confidence
Is faith a gift that some people have been given and others have not? No, faith is a choice. There’s an old story, a favorite of mine, about a veteran tightrope walker who, after demonstrating he could push a wheelbarrow filled with sand across Niagara Falls on a tightrope, asked the applauding crowd for a…
Relentless: A Prison
A God who is with you in your doubt ~ John Flavel, Late minister of the Gospel at Dartmouth It was my third trip to the airport in four days. And I had at least a half dozen more coming up in the days to follow. The day after traveling home from a conference and…
Wait While God Works
So here I sit in the waiting room. The receptionist took my name, recorded my insurance data, and gestured to a chair. “Please have a seat. We will call you when the doctor is ready.” I look around. A mother holds a sleeping baby. A fellow dressed in a suit thumbs through Time magazine. A…
Rescue Eve
Then God blessed them, and God said to them, “Be fruitful and multiply; fill the earth and subdue it; have dominion over the fish of the sea, over the birds of the air, and over every living thing that moves on the earth.” — Genesis 1:28 Three years ago I fell deeply in love with…
Step Outside the Boat
Making God laugh with your plans isn’t something you have to avoid at all costs. While your mind is busy producing, creating, and planning, don’t allow the idea that your plan may not pan out the exact way you have in mind keep you from producing at all. If you’ve come to a place…
Good Goes Hard
Then the man said, “The woman whom You gave to be with me, she gave me of the tree, and I ate.” — Genesis 3:12 I’ve got to be honest with you. When God challenged my heart toward Eve, it shifted the way I related to Adam. At first, I felt bad for the…
It’s Not Supposed to Be This Way: Dust
I grabbed my chest while tears slipped down my cheeks in an unending stream. The pain in my heart wasn’t physical. But the stabbing emotional hurt was so intense I could hardly breathe. My hands were shaking. My eyes were wide with fear. My mouth felt paralyzed. My life had gone from feeling full and…