Inscribed By God
BREATHING GRACE Amazing grace, how sweet the sound that saved a wretch like me! Beautiful song! Perhaps one of the most well-known songs of all time. But as I’ve come to learn more each year—and as I reflect back on this year in particular—His amazing grace really has saved me, and I’m not just talking […]
NEVER EXPECTED THIS Never did I ever think THIS would happen. If you’ve thought that, you’re not alone. Definitely not. Life has a way of throwing curve balls, splitters, and all-out fouls. And by foul, I don’t mean the kind of throw that gets you a free pass to first base. I mean, F-O-U-L. Unexpected. […]
INTERCESSION NOT ACCUSATION In the last post, I jibber-jabbered about accusations vs. intercession. So many times it’s easy to fall into and become entrapped in the soul realm of complaining when we are encountering a battle coming through a human agent. It’s easy, right? Someone launches an attack, maybe founded, maybe not. Maybe the attack […]
DON’T TAKE THE BAIT! In the last post, I invited you to join my mind meanderings on encouragement vs flattery. But not all messages, spoken or unspoken, are uplifting or even carry the appearance of being positive. Sometimes they’re harsh and accusatory. What happens when false accusations start to fly? Do we fly off the […]
THE FLATTERY COUNTERFEIT Wow, you look so nice today! Sounds like a compliment, right? Compliments are nice, I mean, who doesn’t like a little confidence booster here and there? But what if… It’s actually not a compliment? What if there was a different—hidden—agenda behind those sweet-sounding strings of words? What if they were instead— flattery? […]
HONOR VS. PEOPLE PLEASING In my book, I made a proclamation. It was true at the time, but looking back, I realize it was something I never should have owned for myself. People-pleasing. In Gentleness: It’s Not What You Think I called myself a pathological people-pleaser. Now, years later, look back on those words […]
HONOR: A VERY WEIGHTY WORD Honor. Sometimes just saying the word makes my mouth feel heavy. But it’s not because the letters H-O-N-O-R weigh any more than S-I-L-L-Y. I mean, that would be just…silly! (Sorry, I couldn’t help myself.) It’s not the ink in the black letters printed on a piece of paper or the […]
But, God, This Isn’t a Garden! Victory Wilderness and victory? Maybe these two words don’t naturally connect in our minds, but then again neither do wilderness and garden. The last several months, I’ve welcomed you into my mind wanderings on the wilderness and the invaluable lessons that become woven into our souls there. Dependency, […]
But, God, This Isn’t a Garden! Identity How many times have we asked ourselves Who am I? And how many times have we been asked What do you do for a living? Or conversely, What are you studying or planning to be? From the introspective wanderings of our souls, searching for answers to some of […]
BUT, GOD, THIS ISN’T A GARDEN! INTIMACY Intimacy. It’s something we crave—no, we need—as human beings. We crave it because we need it. That’s perhaps a better way of putting it. God created the first human, we call that person Adam, and then decided it wasn’t good for that person to be alone. Cue Eve […]