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Does God Like You?
When I ask [“Does God like you?”], I try to keep eye contact, but it is amazing how quickly people drop their eyes to the ground. It is painfully clear this is an uncomfortable question. Rather than interrupting the uneasy silence that often follows such a question, I sometimes notice eyes starting to moisten. Why? What is behind
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When Jesus Met Women’s Problems
A large crowd followed and pressed around him. And a woman was there who had been subject to bleeding for twelve years. She had suffered a great deal under the care of many doctors and had spent all she had, yet instead of getting better she grew worse. When she heard about Jesus, she came up behind him
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Grief as Faith
I will never forget this awful time,as I grieve over my loss.– Lamentations 3:20 Among encouraging things and words praising God, this verse is highlighted in my Bible app. Because there are times when life is just sad. There are Christians who insist trusting God means they’re happy all the time. They never feel discouraged.
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Presence
One Wednesday night several years ago, my little Bible class student was unhappy. Very unhappy. It wasn’t unusual for her to show up to class a little fussy. It was the end of the day, the middle of the week, sometimes she had fallen asleep in the car… But usually I could coax her into
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Redeeming Love
A farmer and his wife drive down the road in their wagon. The horses trudge along, hooves kicking up dust. The farmer leans over his knees, holding the reins. His wife looks at him across the large gap between them on the seat, as they sit at either end of the bench. “You know,” she
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Nothing Changes Here
I am an ISFJ. If you don’t know what that means, it’s one of 16 personality types in the MBTI system. One common trait of ISFJs is that we tend to hate change. Any change. At all. The smallest change you can imagine. It’s usually portrayed as a weakness, and it certainly feels that way.
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“You Have Permission to Not be Anxious”
I wish I could remember where I read this quote, but that knowledge is long gone. But though the source has not, the idea has stuck with me. Our world contains a lot of pressure to be stressed. That seems backwards, doesn’t it? There’s so much talk about taking care of yourself and ways to
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Rejoice, Childless One
“Rejoice, childless one, who did not give birth;burst into song and shout,you who have not been in labor!For the children of the forsaken one will be morethan the children of the married woman,”says the Lord. In this passage from Isaiah, I love how God doesn’t tell the woman longing for children, “It’s fine, you don’t
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The Patience of Job?
Confession: Job doesn’t seem very patient to me. The first time I read the book for myself, as a teenager, I was highly disillusioned. I grew up learning that Job was this incredibly patient man through all the horrible things that happened to him, and it turns out he spends the whole book complaining. It’s
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He Carries Us in His Arms
Praise the Lord; praise God our savior!For each day he carries us in his arms.– Psalm 68:19 Each day. God carries you. He doesn’t get tired of it. He doesn’t get bored of you. He doesn’t wish he could put you down. He doesn’t think he has better things to do than carrying you. You
His Words, My Delight. 