Latest writing
April 8, 2022
Loneliness is a hard reality in a lot of our lives. We all face hardship this side of heaven. Even when we are surrounded by other people, we can feel alone. The sad reality of the prevalence of anxiety and depression, even in younger generations, makes it hard for us to believe we aren’t alone. Yet Scripture abounds with reminders we are not alone. In fact, the Lord adamantly tells us we are never alone.
March 24, 2022
To love justice and hate evil doesn’t free us from the sin of this world. As long as we live on this earth, we will sin. All of us fall short of the glory of God, Paul wrote to the Roman church, every one of us. But the desire of our heart to repent of the sin which so easily entangles us matters to the LORD. He sees our hearts, and it matters more than the outward battle of sin.
March 23, 2022
In an instant, the Lord can cover our lives, our unexpected messes, with His mercy. We can’t see what’s coming, but He can. He goes before us and behind us, and covers us.
March 12, 2022
When we take the time to read the Word daily and apply it to our lives, the Holy Spirit will often bring those verses back to us when we are praying.
March 2, 2022
Over the course of our lives, life within the love of the Lord Jesus becomes more obvious. There are certain character traits of God which become obvious to us, and changes in our lives which become obvious to others. The challenge is to remain in the obvious state of child-like faith in the Lord, with an obvious hunger to learn and grow in our daily walk with Him.
February 11, 2022
In Christ, we find the ultimate redemption – not performance driven but heart surrendering. Because we find this level of forgiveness, mercy and compassion in Christ, we can turn to each other with the same perspective of redemption in our everyday lives.
February 9, 2022
Though all of us will not have pastoral careers or specific assignments in the field of ministry, we are all called to evangelize the Gospel, and here is what that means in our everyday lives.
January 31, 2022
Peter’s words are playing in repeat in the air pods of my heart today, as I choose to stay laser focused on how to show kindness to my daughter when she needs a day to rest. God is so faithful to rescue us from ourselves, over and over again. He sees it all, knows it all, and though we wander and wear ourselves out, He is never reluctant to come to our rescue.
January 20, 2022
“Oh, give thanks to the LORD, for He is good! For His mercy endures forever” (Psalm 107:1).
Eyes rolled and the door slammed shut in response to my, “Have a good day, love you!” Parenting is tough, because when our kids misbehave, we see in them a glint of our own rebellious selves. It’s hard to give children consequences, because it’s no fun. My kids are my favorite people! I love having adventures with them, and it brings me joy to generously provide all they need and beyond. It’s too bad they are humans, just like me. Humans who are so prone to forget gratefulness.
Psalm 107 illustrates God’s love for us in four specific situations which can be applied to our everyday lives, and the praise which our lives are meant to express in response. Though our social media feeds would have us believe everything is turning up daisies in our lives, the reality of life on this earth requires some hard work, and tough lessons along the way. The world isn’t always fair, just, or comfortable. People don’t always act the way we were designed to. Despite the fallen, sinful nature of humanity, God’s love for us remains the same.
The Hebrew word for God’s mercy, goodness, and lovingkindness mentioned in Psalm 107 is chesed. There is nothing we can do to lose the Lord’s chesed towards us. Mercy is defined as “compassionate or kindly forbearance shown toward an offender, an enemy, or other person in one’s power; compassion, pity, or benevolence.” Goodness describes moral excellence or virtue; and loving-kindness, “a tender kindness motivated by or expressing affection.” Chesed encompasses all of these characteristics. Only the One True God is capable of chesed towards us. We are prone to wander, sin continuously, and instead of running to our God for chesed - we isolate ourselves in sinking ships. Psalm 107:2-3 reads:
“Let the redeemed of the LORD say so,
Whom He has redeemed from the hand of the enemy,
And gathered out of the lands,
From the east and from the west,
From the north and from the south.”
The Lord has called each of us – our children included – to do the hard work of faith. Faith is a verb. Parents are charged to instill proper boundaries and consequences as guardrails to the lives of our children. We never outgrow this cycle, for our Good Father will consistently ensure we continue to grow in faith, even if He has to allow painful consequences into our lives.
Faith is a verb. The Lord is active. It would be nice if we listened to the wisdom the Lord speaks to us through His Word and the people He purposefully places in our lives, but often we run the other way. Change is hard, and criticism is difficult to receive at any age. Psalm 107 gives us a peek into four different human conditions, and illustrates the consistent love of God through each one – and beyond. Faith is a verb. We are called to take action. Chesed requires deliberate movement.
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January 14, 2022
We all wake up to the opportunity to make an impact each day, just by being the irreplaceable people we were always meant to be, the people we are. It starts small, just by looking around, choosing to pay attention to people, and aiming to work hard at the things we are good at and passionate about. It’s never too late to make an impact on this earth.
January 12, 2022
“Look to the LORD and his strength; seek his face always” (1 Chronicles 16:11).
Prayer is powerful. When we make the Lord our first resort, seeking Him in prayer, the power of His presence is unleashed in our lives. 1 Chronicle uses the words look and seek. In some translations, the text is translated into the English word for seek in both instances, but they are two different words in the original Hebrew translation. The Hebrew Lexicon explains that “look,” in regards to seeking, means to seek out God, specifically. The other “seek” means to require, desire, exact, or request. Paul wrote to the Philippians,
“Don’t worry about anything; instead, pray about everything. Tell God what you need, and thank him for all he has done” (Philippians 4:6).
Instead of scrolling for inspiration, we can seek the face of the One who knows our hearts completely. Nehemiah wrote, “the joy of the Lord is my strength.” The origin of our strength is rooted in the Lord. Prayer makes us strong!
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January 12, 2022
Not all of the kings of Israel and Judah were fully corrupt. Jehu was one such king, who was obedient to God in dismantling the wicked King Ahab, whose evil queen Jezebel was known for leading him astray to worship Baal.
December 20, 2021
"A voice came from the cloud, saying, ‘This is my Son, whom I have chosen; listen to him’” (Luke 9:35).
The human ear is exposed to 20-30,000 words in a day. We may not be able to control everything we hear, but we do get to decide what we listen to. When we listen, we choose to turn in a certain direction. Scripture is filled with words, but unless we allow them to pierce our bones and convict our hearts, we miss out on the supranational power of the living word of God.
Photo credit: ©Getty Images/Tatiana
December 20, 2021
God created us, through Christ Jesus. His desire is for every heart to come to Him through Jesus. The greatest love story of all time didn’t begin in the manger scene, but at the very beginning.