Embarking on a new year offers the opportunity to look back, take stock and project ourselves into the immediate future with resolutions, expectations and wishes. Any survey of what shaped 2021 would easily highlight COVID-19 as number one. A more detailed questionnaire would zoom in on the many negative consequences of the pand[...]
This is a tricky question because three motivational thoughts usually guide the answer. I want it now, I want it my way, and I want it to be pleasurable. The idea that we have to wait or work for it is not pleasing to us and causes us to change our wants and adapt to easy, quick and satisfying things. The Bible is God's Word, a[...]
I don’t know about you, but I’m the kind of person who is always trying to find meaning in everything. I don’t like to waste anything. That’s actually one of the reasons I follow Jesus; I don’t want to waste my life! Now and then, I have dreams that really make an impression on me. Usually, when I wake up, I try to re[...]
“Oh Lord, we thank You!” It’s a phrase we should share with Him every day. In our waking up. In our lying down. In our everyday ins-and-outs. “Oh Lord, we thank You!” I know in my life, I can often get caught up in only sharing and praying the “play-by-play” of the things immediately at hand in my daily livin[...]
“Guess what, Aunt Valda. I have a boyfriend!” my niece looked at her dad as she giggled. “Oh, really?” I hadn’t seen my niece for three months. This new development in her six-year-old social life was a shocker. “Who is your boyfriend?” She stated his name. “He’s in my class at school.” Her young face glow[...]
The following is a testimony of how a study of Psalm 71 impacted one of our Heartstrong Lifegroups: At the Lifegroup session on December 6, 2021, during the discussion on Psalm 71, two verses captured Judy Morris's attention and deeply spoke to her: "Do not cast me away when I am old; do not forsake me when my strength is gone[...]
"He answered, 'The Scriptures say: Bread alone will not satisfy, but true life is found in every word that constantly goes forth from God's mouth.'" Matthew 4:4 TPT I am not a gardener. At least not a good one. Despite all my efforts (and I try a lot), all my plants end up dying fairly quickly (I'm grateful that a misguided fr[...]
"He will cover you with his feathers. He will shelter you with his wings. His faithful promises are your armor and protection." Psalm 91:4(NLT). Have you ever noticed that sometimes when you are fighting a battle, when you are scared, you just want to run and find a safe space where the rest of the world cannot find you? A bad[...]
"Before I formed you in the womb I knew you before you were born I set you apart; I appointed you as a prophet to the nations" Jeremiah 1:4-5 (NIV). By far, the greatest gift in life is the gift of understanding. Understanding who you are, whose you are, and why you are here. Knowing that your identity is a child of the Most[...]
"Where two or three are gathered in my name, there am I with them." Matthew 18:20 (NIV). Isn't it interesting how misled the general population is on the importance of having an active church body in the community? There are truly a thousand things going on at Church that exist beyond the Sunday sermon, and all of them are bene[...]