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Cling to Christ
Stepping into the airplane, I noticed a sign that made me laugh. The content wasn’t humorous. It wasn’t the design that cracked me up. There wasn’t really anything funny about the sign itself… But it was stuck with packaging tape…on to the side of a jet plane. Jet planes travel around 600-900 miles per hour….
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The Gift of Living Out of Context
We recently had the privilege of spending a week exploring England. It’s been a while since I took a whole week off! Rest is not my strong suit. When we got back, a friend who also recently took a vacation commented, “now that I am back, I feel like I remembered that I’m a person…
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The Secret to Glorifying God
Looking at others around me, I find it easy to assume they’re God-glorifying because of what great people they are. Sometimes I want to ask, “what’s your secret?” I don’t feel like I’m good at glorifying God. I mean to praise the Lord, but I end up assessing what could be better instead. I wish…
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Times I’ve Rediscovered I’m Not God
I’d never outright tell you, or myself, that I’m God. But sometimes I live like I am. Like when… Something I’ve worried about endlessly works out without my intervention. God is sovereign, I am not. I see God change someone’s heart who I thought I’d need to push and pull into growing the way I…
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Grow in Grace
As a new mom, a friend of mine regularly reported sleeplessness. Sipping hot drinks while her infant alternated between fussing and sleeping, she told me how it had occurred to her one late, loud night that her baby was doing his job: He was growing. The sweet little guy didn’t understand what was happening as…
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I Should…
I should really be doing something productive. I should really give her a call back. I should really make that appointment. I should really stop daydreaming. I should really do so very many things, but most of all, I should probably stop dwelling so much on the “I shoulds.” Perhaps you know what I mean,…
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Confirmation After Faith
Sometimes when we beg the Lord for confirmation or a sign, what we’re really saying is that: We don’t want to walk by faith- we want to walk by sight. We don’t find His direction in Scripture enough. We don’t take Him at His Word that He’ll always be with us. God’s leading often asks…
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Counting Down, Being Still, Laying Up
I’m a countdown kind of person. If I’m looking forward to something, I’m counting down the days. If I’m enjoying something, I’m counting down how much time is left before it has to end. If I’m struggling, I’m counting down to when I think things will be okay again. The benefit of this is that…
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Do You Think About These Things?
“Bethanyland is a magical place,” I like to say to my husband when he calls me back to reality because I stopped listening and got lost in thought (again). The truth is, I spend a lot of time thinking. Most of us do. We dwell on things in the shower, in the car, at work,…
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The Steadfast One
Our car broke down. Gainful employment was scarce. We’d struggled to find a new church community after moving. Loved ones faced challenges with their health and needed help, but traveling to reach them was more than we could afford. Overall, it seemed we were lacking. We were short on finances, resources, energy, community, availability, and…