ENCOURAGE - EQUIP - EMPOWER
IT STARTS HERE.
Are you the person who prepares for an upcoming event or are you the person that just lets it happen? When it comes to vacations, once I have made a reservation, I forget about it until it's time to show up. I am not the person who plans all the things to do and see in the new place until I get there.
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It was my friend’s birthday. I called her and invited her out to a surprise lunch date. I had planned to take her to an upscale restaurant as a treat. This place had a high-falutin reputation and was thought to be very special. So I picked her up, we went and it was very nice. On the way home, although she was grateful, she said something that made me realize that I had missed the mark.
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The new year will soon be upon us and it’s time for those resolutions! You know, the ones you make every year. People try to make resolutions each year, with varying degrees of success. Just for fun, what do you think the top 10 New Year’s Resolutions of 2020 were? Take some guesses, then take a look …
For as long as I can remember, I have always found comfort in nature. The crash of the ocean waves, a good thunderstorm, and the sun shining through the clouds are a few of my favorite things. There is an indescribable beauty found in these pieces of the earth that surrounds us. I never thought much of it; I figured it was simply something beautiful so naturally I would cherish it and find peace in it. It wasn’t until recently, when a woman from my bible study group mentioned it, that I even considered this being a form of God revealing Himself to me.
I do not doubt that God exists or that He loves me. The doubt I struggle with is the doubt that niggles its way into my mind in the quiet moments of life. It’s not even a doubt that God CAN do the impossible, it’s just that I doubt that He will. I go to God with my prayer requests and lay them at his feet but I sometimes doubt that his answer is best. When I pray, I hate to admit it, but I sometimes assume the outcome I least desire is what will happen -- kind of a “Murphy’s law” of prayer.
Are you asking questions about Christianity? Or are there questions others ask you and you cannot find the right words? Questions like “If God is so great, why does he allow bad things to happen?” Or maybe it’s the hypocrisy you find in some Christian followers. Or maybe you’re logical, like me and question the reality of what is written in the Bible and search for the evidence. I mean, I’d personally like to see more water turned into wine!
My quarantine baby is about to be 1!! Born at the start of shut down, his arrival was very exciting, but not necessarily in all the usual good ways. I can hardly believe it’s been a whole year! First birthdays in our family are fun, big, celebratory parties that include our large family as well as friends.
Have you ever sat around a bonfire with friends late into the night? Every once in a while someone adds an extra log or pokes the pile with a stick to keep the blaze alive, but inevitably there comes a point when it’s time to let the fire die. The flames slowly shrink until there’s nothing left but the red glow of embers, and your fingers and toes quickly begin to feel the difference. If you stay out for too long, even the blanket you’re wrapped in won’t do you much good.
The first thing that was destroyed when sin entered into the world was man’s relationship with God. Genesis 3 talks about the Great Fall -- “…I heard you in the garden, and I was afraid because I was naked; so, I hid” (Genesis 3:10). Despite the disobedience in the Garden of Eden, God still loved Adam and Eve but did not hesitate to call out their sin.
Embracing a new year means something different to each of us. Many will be racing out of 2020 in full sprint. It was a hard year for so many. Job loss. Deaths to family and friends. Isolation. Changes in routine. Missing the normal way of life. Some look back to see how 2020 changed perspective and provided opportunities: More time for what matters most. Keeping their job. Their people were not impacted by coronavirus. No matter what camp you fall under, one thing we can all cling to is that God was faithful all year long, He has been and will always be.
Before beginning my fellowship with International Justice Mission, I was a mental health therapist for seven years. Working with children who had behavior and mental health concerns, my roles included outpatient therapist, mobile therapist, behavior specialist consultant, and meetings facilitator. I had been trained in different evidence-based therapies. I was a professional.
In matters of theology and science, I often consider myself “the dumb it down expert.” Give me something complex, and I’ll try to make it easy for you to understand. It’s National Mental Health Awareness Month, and so I want to bring this “expertise” to bear on a complicated concept that straddles both theology and science: depression.
