It was a beautiful Monday evening, as I headed outside for one of my favorite evening chores- watering my garden. There’s something about standing in the peaceful sunset moments and listening to the water sprinkle over the plants. It’s quiet. And no matter how hectic the day’s been, I can just be still for a minute. As I approached the garden, I jumped back with a start at some movement in the dirt. I stepped closer again to see if it was a snake or mole. I was slightly relieved to see it was just a bird….a small bird, his head just swiveling around. He was kind of cute, so…
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A Wonderful Promise: Our God of Covenant
When it comes to reading my Bible, I’ve always been a New Testament kind of girl. It seems more practical. More comprehendible. But lately, I’ve been stuck in the Old Testament, discovering that with a little bit of knowledge about the text, it is a treasure trove of wonderful and applicable things to discover about God’s character and the world He created. When we read some of these narrative portions of the Bible, which is much of the Old Testament, we often read them with the idea that we should find out how we can relate to the main character. What can we do the same or different than them? …
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Camping Buddies
“There’s a group of us that planned on going camping this weekend, would you guys want to join us?” The question was posed to a sweet young couple with three little kids. The couple had never been camping, and they had none of the necessary equipment. But they were assured that all they needed to bring was a tent and some food…..everyone else would pitch in and help out with the rest. Not normally the spontaneous type, they debated, but decided that it sounded like fun. So they bought a tent, went to Kroger, and packed up the kids and headed out for the weekend. This couple was my parents….almost…
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Hide It In Your Heart : Why We Memorize Scripture
When it comes to the disciplines of the Christian life, I feel like, by God’s grace, I’ve made some real progress these past couple of years. I’m no super-Christian. If I live to be 103, I’ll still have work to do. But God has worked in my life and helped allow some of these disciplines to really take off. I have a pretty good Bible reading habit, and a pseudo developed prayer life. But the area I struggle in the most is Scripture memorization. Actually, is it considered a struggle if you don’t even attempt it? That’s me. Lately, though, it just keeps coming up in things I’m reading or…
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What Kind of Name Is Hephzibah?
Lately I’ve been studying the book of Isaiah. For those of you not super familiar with the Bible, it’s not a common study subject. It starts the section of the Bible that is primarily prophesy. Prophets were considered ‘seers’ or ‘pronouncers’ in Old Testament times. God used prophets to convey to both the His children (the Israelites) and surrounding nations what His plans were and how they were to live in light of the things revealed to them. So when the Holy Spirit started pushing me toward Isaiah, I had my doubts. I thought I was in for a bunch of boring curses on other nations and condemnation for Israel’s…
