I have to confess I desire worldly success. After years of mothering, homeschooling, homemaking, I’d love to do something ‘significant’ and maybe even get a paycheck. Even though I know better, I’m tempted to believe worldly success will make me feel valuable. I have friends in the homeschool community who would say I have been…
Freedom
…before Christ came…we were slaves to the basic spiritual principles of this world. But when the right time came, God sent his Son, born of a woman, subject to the law. God sent him to buy freedom for us who were slaves to the law, so that he could adopt us as his very own children….
a precious cornerstone
So this is what the Sovereign Lord says: “See, I lay a stone in Zion, a tested stone, a precious cornerstone for a sure foundation; the one who relies on it will never be stricken with panic.” Isaiah 28: 16 (NIV) God speaks through Isaiah, a prophet who lived seven hundred years before Jesus was born, and prophecies…
Increasing and Abounding in Love
…may the Lord make you increase and abound in love for one another and for all… I Thessalonians 3:12 (ESV) What motivates your love? Is it the love of others? Their attention or approval? Gifts? The Bible says, we love because God first loved us (I John 4:19). As I grow to know the love of Jesus…
Our first love
In the first eleven verses of Revelation in the Bible, John receives a word/vision from Jesus which he is told to write to the churches in his day. The picture John is given is of seven lampstands, each representing a church which is given the task of reflecting the light of Christ in its specific…
Thorns
“Cursed is the ground because of you; through painful toil you will eat food from it all the days of your life.It will produce thorns and thistles for you, and you will eat the plants of the field.” Genesis 3:17-18 (NIV) “Other seed fell among thorns, which grew up and choked the plants.” Matthew 13:7 (NIV) Then Pilate took Jesus…
Happily Ever After
And God raised us up with Christ and seated us with him in the heavenly realms in Christ Jesus, in order that in the coming ages he might show the incomparable riches of his grace, expressed in his kindness to us in Christ Jesus. Ephesians 2:6-7 (NIV) So many fairy tales end with these famous last words—and they lived happily…
Providence
In old classic literature providence was used to describe how God used natural events—however extreme—to demonstrate his power and his care. “For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the Lord, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.” Jeremiah 29:11 (NIV) In Daniel DeFoe’s Robinson Crusoe, his protagonist experiences a shipwreck and twenty-eight (28) years stranded on a deserted island to…
Immesurably more than all we ask or imagine
Now to him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us… Ephesians 3:20 (NIV) More than we ask or imagine— I wanted to be loved and accepted, but feared rejection. Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who…
the valley of the shadow of death…
Covid’s delta variant is rampant and claiming lives. Lockdowns, mask-mandates, and vaccinations strike passionate chords in cultural debate. When will it end? The Taliban has taken over Afghanistan and amidst the panic to escape the country there are reports of executions of civilians. America’s allies all over Afghanistan are in grave danger. Anxiety and depression…
