Disciplined out of Devotion
Have you ever found yourself determined to pray or read the word daily, only to find that a few weeks in you’ve already fallen off the bandwagon? So you reset, put a reminder on your device or create a habit tracker and again commit to praying or reading the word daily. However, yet again you find that after a month or two, you’ve fallen back off track.
The Call Doesn’t Come Easy
This is the part where I admit I had it all wrong. I once believed that God's call for my life would come easily. I believed that everything would just fall into place, that circumstances would naturally align, that the sea of life would part and that I’d walk simply into the promised land of my purpose. Did I already mention that I was wrong about that?
No Such Thing As JUST
Whether you’re called to pastor a large ministry, speak on stages to thousands, reach hundreds of people on a social media platform, serve a community in your neighborhood, or pour into your family of five- what you do has value to God.
To Watch Expectantly
“In the morning Lord, you hear my voice. In the morning, I plead my case to you and watch expectantly.” Psalm 5:3
For months and months, I’ve had that verse taped to my mirror in my room. As the days started and the evenings came, that verse would remain as one of the first things I saw each morning and before bed. I was recently in a season where things in life just always seemed to go sideways. Every door that I thought would be the one I would walk through, closed on me as I stood at the threshold. Job offers never came, all kinds of relationship issues arose, and constant feelings of anger and bitterness loomed over me daily…it was a constant merry-go-round for months.
The Power of Partnership
When the pandemic first arrived on the scene in 2019, many of us were forced into isolation unlike anything we had ever known. What we thought would be short-lived turned into an ongoing saga where we were forced to learn how to function alone.
Aromatic Influence by Bailey T. Hurley
I hate the moment when I am driving out of my garage, have turned onto the main road headed toward my busy day, and realize I forgot to put deodorant on. If my mental checklist of morning to-dos does not remind me, I am quickly alerted a few hours later when I get a whiff of my underarms.
Mustard Seed Faith by Camille Jones
In Matthew 17:20, Jesus spoke of the mighty mustard seed: “…If ye have faith as a grain of mustard seed, ye shall say unto this mountain, Remove hence to yonder place; and it shall remove, and nothing shall be impossible unto you.” Faith is the seed. When planted, it produces a cycle of kingdom building and expansion through ministering to others and uniting faith. My husband and I are on a mission to plant seeds of faith and move mountains, all for the glory and kingdom of God.
New Year, New Resolve
It’s 2022 and I could have never imagined a world in which Covid-19 is still a dominant factor in our lives. Yet, here we are dealing with another wave and another variant and simply trying to make the best decisions for our health, our families, and our well-being based on the information we have. It is a lot to deal with, and given all that we’ve been through as a society these last two years, just making it to 2022 is a major accomplishment.
Letting Go of the Past by Lydia McIntosh
I was 22 when I met my husband through an online dating website. He was cute in his profile so I took a chance and messaged him. After texting for a few weeks, we finally met for coffee. Clay was fun, easy to talk to and a true southern gentleman. We had conversations about our families, faith, values, and friends. I felt as though he had the whole package and after a couple of months of going on dates, I knew he was the one.
God Our Father
So often we hear God referred to as a Father, and rightfully so. In so many ways God is a loving and compassionate Father to us. If we study the Bible we can see countless examples of His love for us, most notably sending His only son Jesus to die on the cross both for us and instead of us. We can also find in the Bible how the love and relationship that existed between God and His son Jesus serves as a beautiful model of the kind of love and relationship God desires to have with us as His children.
A LAMENTATION FOR THE HOMELESS BY ZOE PATRICIO
Earlier this year, I wrote a lamentation. Wow. It speaks to what we need… help. Out of the depths I cry to you, Lord; Lord, hear my voice. Let your ears be attentive to my cry for mercy. My father is homeless. He is hopeless. He is suffering.
THE ROAD TO FREEDOM BY DEBORA SHANLEY
There was a part of my past that I kept out of my testimony for many years, and it increasingly burdened my heart as time went on. Until, in 2019, God gave me the courage to finally share it with the world, and the weight I had been carrying fell right off of me. The Lord has called me to write my story to encourage others with similar experiences, so I am currently working on a book in obedience to His direction.
SHARE YOUR STORY
I remember being a single mother; caught in a whirlwind between healing from an abusive marriage and raising a newborn. My world was flipped upside down in so many ways. In that season I fully realized who held my world.