“Give thanks in all circumstances; for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus” (1 Thessalonians 5:18).

It’s often easier for us to look back on certain memories with happier feelings than we perhaps had at the time. And while we are certainly called to give thanks in all circumstances, it’s sometimes easier to see the ways God was at work in our lives after everything has played out.

So when I think back on my first (and so far only) Thanksgiving away from family, I can clearly see the ways that God provided for me, even if it wasn’t exactly what I imagined.

Let me set the scene, with a quick story:

Photo credit: ©Getty Images/Katarzyna Bialasiewicz

God is so good. No matter how our lives are currently going, whether everything is falling perfectly into place or falling apart, God is still good. He cares so deeply for your that He sent His Son to earth, to live a perfect life that we could not, and to die a sacrificial death in our place. Because of His great love for us, we can have eternal life in Christ. There is nothing better than that!

Bad theology, whether well-intentioned or not, can pop up anywhere in our world. But it seems to show itself the most on social media. Inspirational posts and messages twist Scripture or outright lie about the promises of God, but present themselves in such a way that it seems like a good thing.

I recently came across one such inspirational post that said “If you chase after God like you chase after love, He will send you a soul mate you won’t have to chase after.” Doesn’t that sound pretty and hopeful?

However, it’s a terrible thing to be telling the single Christians in your life, for a whole host of reasons. Let's take a look at why.

Photo credit: ©Getty Images/Prostock-Studio

When I was first learning to run, I’d do one mile every day, and I’d always listen to the song “Mr. Blue Sky.” It’s not my favorite song, but it has a great beat that helped me to stay on pace while running. When I hit half a mile, I knew where in the song I should be. When the song ended, I knew I should be turning a particular street corner. At first, I needed the song to help me finish the run. But after a few weeks, my legs and lungs knew what to do on their own.

The Bible sometimes describes our Christian journey as a long-distance race. It takes dedication and practice. It’s often hard work, but the reward is beyond any earthly prize. But sometimes, when we are running this race, we can get off of our desired pace. Stresses from work or family obligations, unexpected disasters or obstacles, even just boring seasons of life can get us distracted and pull us down.

The best remedy for this is time in Scripture or prayer, or community with other believers. But God has also gifted us with music. There are so many beautiful Christian songs out there, many that pull their lyrics directly from the pages of Scripture, to remind us of how loved we are and get us back on track. Other songs may just preach the gospel into our weary hearts, or praise God for his power and majesty. Some songs may give us a loving smack and remind us that we have been embracing a sinful behavior, and we need to repent and return to God.

Regardless of what you are feeling or what you are in need of, I pray that these five songs will encourage you and keep you “on pace.” Listen to the lyrics and write down a lyric that stands out to you, or one of the verses I’ve included. May they remind you of why we run this Christian race.

Photo credit: ©Getty Images/Prostock-Studio

As an introvert, I love my extroverted friends and can see so many ways that their personalities, as an opposite of mine, give them unique strengths to engage with others for Christ. My extroverted friends are usually more comfortable striking up a conversation with someone new or shy, getting the conversation in a Bible study flowing, and leading different groups and ministries within the church.

After all, 1 Corinthians 12:12 reminds us that we are all separate parts of the same body; we all have different skills, talents and passions that we can use to grow the Body of Christ. If we were all the same, the Church wouldn’t have the same strength, and wouldn’t be as effective at reaching out to the world.

All that being said, as an introvert myself, it seems like every week there’s a new article going around about how introverts can challenge ourselves to be more social, more outgoing, more confidant. But there are far fewer resources encouraging extroverts.

We all have our strengths, both introverts and extroverts, and we both have our weaknesses. Sometimes, we need to challenge ourselves to lean into those weaknesses, to find ways to overcome or embrace them. So, my extroverted brothers and sisters, here are three ways that you can challenge yourselves in your faith journey, and grow to embrace the silence and solitude.

Photo credit: ©Getty Images/monkeybusinessimages

How you start your morning can set the mood for your entire day. An unfortunate number of times, my day starts with me browsing Twitter. I like to be aware of what’s going on in the world, but all too often, I’m hit with a wave of anger, yelling and vitriol, all while still rubbing the sleep out of my eyes.

Other days, we may open our phones or our newspapers and see heartbreaking tragedies. The current events in Afghanistan and Haiti can make us feel incredible sorrow, fear and helplessness. Even local events, like the constant changes regarding COVID-19 precautions and rising case numbers, can plant worry and fear in our hearts.

It’s good to be informed and to know what’s going on in the world. Like Esther, we were put here on earth “for such a time as this” (Esther 4:14). Burying our heads in the sand and never watching the news would be no good either, but what do we do when it starts to get to us?

The other morning as I browsed social media and clicked through some posts about current events, I walked away so angry. Even after I closed the app and started my day, I was still seething. I noticed that other, completely unrelated issues kept popping up in my mind and fueling this anger. I had to pause my morning and ask that God would give me a reset. “Give me peace God, and help me to choose joy today,” I asked.

And He did! It takes a level of discipline and awareness to shut down those negative thoughts, but when we ask God for peace, He is always willing to give it.

We can always ask Him for a reset. We can surrender our fears to Him. We can ask that he would cool the fiery anger in our hearts and help us to love those around us. We can pray for peace in the midst of disaster. We can pray that in the midst of the chaos, He would give us joy and help us to share that peace with others who are hurting.

When the news and current events start to feel overwhelming, here are five prayers to help you reset.

Photo Credit: ©GettyImages/fizkes

I love being outside. The fresh air and blue sky provide a welcome break from the screens that seem to dominate our lives nowadays, and just being outside to watch and listen is such a joy for my soul.

It’s easy to see signs of God’s handiwork when you look at nature. Gazing out at the ocean and contemplating its enormity reminds us that God holds the oceans in the palm of his hand, and has cast our sins as far as the east is from the west (Psalm 103:12). Hiking in the mountains reminds us of his majesty, and puts our carefully crafted bodies to work. Even sitting on my porch watching the birds and squirrels reminds me that our God cares about the smallest creatures in creation.

He is a God of physics, crafting gravity and the basics of engineering to keep my second-story balcony upright. He is a God of biology, who orchestrated every leaf and root of my tomato plant to produce fruit. He is a God of genetics, who gifted man with the ability to cross-pollinate plants to create beautifully colored flowers. God’s fingerprints are seen all across creation.

But the effects of sin are also clearly seen in our world – especially in nature. Unnatural heat withers the flowers and grass, turning it brown and dead. Our selfishness and carelessness fills the oceans with garbage, suffocating the animals there. Storms and wildfires tear through towns and landscapes, leaving a path of destruction.

These effects of sin on our world are not something we can fight. When man battles nature, nature will always win. But God did give us a duty when he put mankind on this earth – to rule over the land and care for it.

Photo credit: ©Getty Images/weerapatkiatdumrong

It’s humbling to remember that even if we work hard and save plenty of money, if our plans are not in line with God’s plan, it just isn’t going to happen. That’s not to say that our plans and God’s will never align, but we need to be seeking after Him first, and our plans and priorities second.

God is called our Good Father, and he is the ultimate loving teacher and guide. But how often, when we think of our lives and our sin, do we tuck tail around Him? It can be easy for us to talk ourselves into the lie that God is sitting up in Heaven doing the “I’m watching you, punk” look.

But that’s just not true.

God speaks to us through His Word, so take some time each day this month to write down the following Scripture. If you have time, you might want to also write a prayer.

Photo credit: ©Pexels/Negative Space

In college one year I took a history class that focused entirely on Stalinist Russia. (It was not the most uplifting class.) But one of our assignments was to read a biography of a woman who was arrested and put in various prisons and communist work camps. One of the things she did to keep her spirits up, and to encourage her fellow prisoners, was to recite poetry from memory.

My professor asked us what we would recite if we ever found ourselves in a similar situation. Some people said song lyrics, some said favorite stories from movies or books, and some did say they would recite Scripture. But my professor’s question to all of us – especially those who said the Bible – was how much would we actually be able to remember?

Everyone has a favorite song or two, and every Christian has a favorite Bible verse. But how much of the Word do you actually have memorized? Lord forbid any of us should find ourselves in a situation like the woman in my class discussion. But even in everyday life, we remember that “all Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness, so that the servant of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work” (2 Timothy 3:16-17).

Photo credit: Unsplash/Gift Habeshaw

Unless you have been gifted with a beautiful singing voice, at one time or another, all of us have struggled with singing in church. It's an established part of Sunday mornings in almost every church around the world. But do we have to sing? Let's take a look at why we sing, and what the point of it is anyway.