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Three Weeks Away
I don’t know about your household, but repeatedly the phrase, “this is crazy!” is said around here. We could be referring to the change in the last two weeks in general, the state of the grocery store, or the way people aren’t taking the word “pandemic” seriously. However, despite all the crazy, life continues and having some normalcy and even things to celebrate are especially important right now. Case in point? Did you realize Easter is less than three weeks away? I’m not sure as Christians that we prepare and celebrate Easter as it should be. Like Christmas, the commercialism of all the bunnies and chicks has taken away its…
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Clear Echoes
Our backyard extends into a field and then woods further on, but to the right of our backfield there are acres of fields that turn into a shallow valley at the base of two large hill ridges. It makes great conditions for echoes. If the clouds are low in the sky, then it’s like being in a long concert hall if you happened to need to walk in the backyard and call your dog (or husband). 😉 The closest train track is about 2 ½ miles away as the crow flies, but on a cloudy day its loud air horn sounds like it is right over the ridge. Cupping your…
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Forgive, Forgive, Forgive
And forgive again! This is what Jesus commanded. Forgiving Others The truth is forgiveness isn’t really about the other person but more about us and specifically, our hearts. Almost every time, it is pride that gets in the way. We are too prideful to admit we are wrong. We are too prideful to forgive because we won’t get the satisfaction of punishing them for their wrongdoing. (And sometimes they don’t care whether we forgive or not.) When we think about what we did to Jesus – ALL our sin was placed on Him when He died on the cross, and He forgave it ALL – how can we not forgive…
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The Age of Rage
This post was originally published for Julia Bettencourt’s 2020 Bible Memory Challenge on Proverbs 18:15. Check out her website in the link provided. You can also find her on Facebook at Creative Ladies Ministry! I don’t know if you have noticed, but we live in a day where it seems it is acceptable to be angry. Whether it is angry at parents, mad at kids, outraged at politicians, annoyed at spouses, indignant at teachers…The list can go on. Anger is the emotion felt when we think something or someone has wronged us. Basically, we do not like the way we were treated. Our pride was hurt. Someone may point out,…
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Fake Fan
My husband played football from preschool through college, but being an English major, I am not as bent toward sports as him. However, a local university in our town has a competitive basketball team in which we have season tickets, so on we go. During the season we attend most of the home games and even hit an away game or two. If anyone were to observe me watching the game, they would find I invest energy into it by cheering for the our players, getting upset when I think the ref made a bad call, and even make an annoying, loud noise when the other team is shooting foul…
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The Blame Game
The Devil Made Me Do It? My recent Bible reading has had me in Job. The trials (attacks) Job experienced are beyond anything we can imagine. He even says the things he “greatly feared” in life came to pass (Job 3:25). He was heartbroken, he was in distress, and he was physically in pain, but he did not blame God. Through it all he did not sin, and most importantly, he did not lose his faith in God. He continued to trust and praise Him through it. Compare that to the first man and woman in Genesis, Adam and Eve. When they were tempted with sin and then committed the…
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The Danger of Comfort
This quote… This quote was in my most recent blog post, but when I was thinking about the danger of comfort in the believer’s life recently, I realized the quote applied to that topic as well. You see, we are creatures of comfort. Raining outside? Give me a cozy blanket and good book to read. Snowing outside? Give me a cozy blanket and a good book to read. Sunshiny outside? Give me a cozy blanket and a good book to read. For you it might include a movie or a coffee or something else, but you get the idea. We like comfort, to be comfortable, to not have things in…
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Fresh Starts
Here we are looking at a new year and a new decade. As we grow older we realize God’s Word on life being like a vapor is accurate (James 4:14). After all we are about 60 days from spring, 100 days from Easter, 150 days from summer….oh, and about 360 days until Christmas. 😂 Haha! Some of those things seem so far away, but we know how quickly 2019 went. With the New Year, many of us decide it’s a great time for a fresh start whether it’s to do things differently or to improve in areas of our lives. We make resolutions or pick a word-of-the-year to strive to…
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How’s Your Appetite?
This post was originally published for Encouragement from Women Who’ve Been There. I am currently taking a break for the Christmas holiday to be with my family. 💚 Growing up in the foothills of the Appalachian Mountains, my family planted a huge garden every year. Whatever vegetables or fruits we did not grow ourselves, we rarely bought or ate. It was a very Southern meat and three sides cuisine I was raised eating. Having the opportunity in high school to travel to Mexico for a mission trip with the youth ministry, the possibility of differences in food vaguely crossed my mind. I mean, Mom made those Ortega taco kits which I…