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Made for Another World
For you have not yet come to the final stop and inheritance the Lord your God is giving you (Deuteronomy 12:9). “Mommy, I think lately God has been trying to tell me something.” Her big blue eyes stared deeply into mine. The air in the room, so still and quiet a moment before, quivered like a pool disturbed by a noiseless earth tremor. “He is telling me that He is coming soon. Jesus is coming… Read More
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The God I Do Not Understand
I will wait for the Lord… I will put my trust in Him.Isaiah 8:17 As a new follower of Jesus, I understand that if I confess my sins and ask God’s forgiveness, I will be forgiven. New life will be mine. New spiritual birth is promised, and I will leave the old nature behind, the new work of the Holy Spirit beginning in me His work of regeneration and sanctification. The Lord Jesus will dwell… Read More
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No Reputation: The Humility of Christmas
Lord, how magnificent is your reputation throughout the earth! You reveal your majesty in the heavens above.Psalm 8:1 (Jesus), being in the form of God, thought it not robbery to be equal with God: But made himself of no reputation, and took upon him the form of a servant, and was made in the likeness of men: And being found in fashion as a man, he humbled himself, and became obedient unto death, even the… Read More
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When the Journey is too Great
And the angel of the Lord came again a second time and touched him and said, “Arise and eat, for the journey is too great for you.” And he arose and ate and drank, and went in the strength of that food forty days and forty nights to Horeb, the mount of God.1 Kings 19:7 When they had gone, an angel of the Lord appeared to Joseph in a dream. “Get up,” he said, “take… Read More
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The Branch and the Vine
Abide in Me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself unless it abides in the vine, so neither can you unless you abide in Me.John 15:4 I have spent the past 23 days by the side of my child who is suffering indescribable pain I cannot take away. I have wrestled with God and asked hard questions. It is difficult to express in words such intimate moments between the beloved… Read More
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Gratitude for What I Cannot See
I have watched as a loved one recovers from the devastation of third-degree burns. Beneath the anguish, behind the suffering, lies a lesson in gratitude for what I cannot see. Sometimes the most profound truths are revealed through the severest sorrows. But thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ! 1 Corinthians 15:57 Is it possible to have gratitude for what I cannot see? There are times when healing… Read More
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Gratitude: Chosen, Not Rejected
I took you from the ends of the earth, from its farthest corners I called you. I said, 'You are my servant'; I have chosen you and have not rejected you. (Isaiah 41:9).Isaiah 41:9 …For I have chosen you and have not thrown you away.Isaiah 41:9b, NLT About midnight Paul and Silas were praying and singing hymns to God, and the other prisoners were listening to them.Acts 16:25 The verse they inscribed in my book… Read More
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Gratitude for What I Have Entrusted to Him
…I suffer as I do. But I am not ashamed, for I know the one in whom I have put my trust, and I am sure that he is able to guard until that day what I have entrusted to him (2 Timothy 1:12, NRSV). What if he doesn’t come back? I tried to swat the harassing thought away like a wasp, knowing it had the power to hurt me if I allowed it to… Read More
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When I am Afraid
I sought the Lord, and he answered me; he delivered me from all my fears.Psalm 34:4 When I am afraid, I put my trust in you.Psalm 56:3 The incessant rise and fall of drum rhythms pounded through the inky blackness, creating a sense of desperation, terror and pending doom in our East African village. Men, women, and children danced around the large fire in the middle of the compound, their undulating forms casting eery shadows… Read More
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Don’t Travel Hungry
I am the Lord your God, who brought you up out of Egypt. Open wide your mouth and I will fill it.Psalm 81:10 The desert sand mounded along the shoulder of the road, if it could even be called a road. Two tracks, created by others who had gone before us, wove across the dehydrated landscape. The way was barely visible as I craned my neck to peer over the steering wheel of our 4… Read More