“Do not let your heart be troubled; believe in God, believe also in Me
–John 14:1.
How many times have I read this verse? Quite a few, yet because I am prone to worry, I come back to it again and again.
Isn’t it easy to grab hold of a verse and try to stick it onto our souls like a bandaid? As if one quick fix and the bleeding of our hearts will stop.
No more worries and no more struggles.
Yet bandaids will not cure the troubles of our souls, any more than pulling a single verse out of context will fix our brokenness.
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For by one sacrifice he has made perfect forever those who are being made holy. Hebrews 10:14
How often have we felt our prayers inadequate? How many times have we held back our heart’s cry in a group for fear of being misunderstood? What is our response to the scriptures that remind us repeatedly to pray always?
I remember my earliest exposure to prayer. It was formal, stiff, ethereal. In a word impersonal.
I never witnessed nor experienced prayer in my formative years in a personal and up close way. Prayer was for the pious, and quite honestly, I didn’t know any truly pious people.
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Every year, when the calendar season starts fresh, I get super excited. It’s like the slate is wiped clean and I have a fresh start.
Then I ruin it by creating all these lists of things I want to do. Lose more weight, eat healthier, read my bible more, exercise more. Usually by this time, three weeks or so into the New Year, I’ve already failed at most of my resolutions.
It’s exhausting. Wanting to be more. And feeling like you are never enough.
Can you relate at all?
What if this year we stopped wanting to do more, more, more?
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Photo credit: dhester from morguefile.com
My New Year’s resolution to eat less sugar crashed and burned in the candy aisle at 7-11. We’d been on the road for 10 hours. I was tired, the kids were cranky, we had another hour of drive time left to go, and that candy bar was doing the cha-cha and calling my name. I had earned that chocolate.
It was January 2.
40% of Americans make New Year’s Resolutions. 8% of us keep them. There’s something about the promise of a new year that makes us lift our heads and strain to catch a glimpse of something better.
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This week I had the opportunity to experience several moments of Grace, and it wafted a sweet fragrance…Petrichor?
After what seemed like an eternity wondering what my next career move might be, I landed in the hospitality industry. I work beside people who consistently challenge me outside my comfort zone; our lives are different, our experiences and expectations as far as East is from West, and yet we are the same…children of a Loving God. How I interact with them is the manifestation of the Something within me, and my children are watching.
Some days, as a function of poor planning or unfortunate traffic or timing, there is not enough time to pack breakfast and/or lunch to carry me through work days that routinely stretch 10-12 hours.
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Plenty of people miss their share of happiness, not because they never found it, but because they didn’t stop to enjoy it. – William Feather
Just a few weeks into my One Word 365 and I’m certain I made the right choice. I feel it seeping into my heart and mind and almost constantly new revelation on the word slow becomes part of me. This years word complements last years so well. It allows me to continue walking on the path God placed me on last year – minus the self-inflicted stress. Discipline is the result of a slow, methodical, thoughtful life path.
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I don’t usually make New Year’s Resolutions. But since the last half of 2014 brought so many really BIG changes in my life, I broke my “NO RESOLUTIONS resolution”. It made sense to begin a brand new life in a new state by writing up a few specific goals for 2015.
During the last weeks of 2014 I signed up for three different “Starting Over” type online mini-courses by respected writers that I admire. I was gearing up to hit January 2015 with drastic changes. My personal goals had to do with setting up a more disciplined daily writing schedule and taking charge of my day by adding exercise, healthy eating and a more aggressive approach to my writing dreams.
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No matter where my journey takes me in life, Psalm 23 has been a constant companion. It brings me comfort in my greatest times of need, and reminds me of the care and protection of my Good Shepherd.
I would like to share with you a few of my reflections. I pray that they will minister to your heart in your time of need.
The Lord is my shepherd; I shall not want. (Psalm 23:1)
The Lord cares for and watches over me, and provides all that I need. He is my Caretaker, Shepherd, Overseer, Guidance Counselor, Daddy God, Father, Provider and Giver of all things.
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