Category: Faith
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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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Thinking on What We Already Have
Anyone else wake up thinking through their to-do list? Or zone out mid-conversation because someone said something that reminded you of another item to add to your to-do list? Many of us spend more time thinking about we need, want, or plan on than what we already have. What We Have as God’s Children The…
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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 Secret to Glorifying God
Looking at others around me, it’s easy for me to assume they’re God-glorifying because of what great people they are. Sometimes I want to ask, “what’s you’re secret?” As for me, I don’t feel like I’m good at glorifying God. “This has me so ugghhh,” I complain to a friend. What I wish I said…
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The Blessing of Endurance
Isn’t it interesting that we tend to count our blessings most when hard things happen? It is after a major accident that we are glad to be alive, or post-loss that we are grateful for those who truly love us. It seems that we need disruptions to remind us that life isn’t actually in our…
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Has This Already Been Paid For? (Mini-Series Part III)
One time, I accidentally stole. I was a kid in a bookstore and someone else was paying for my bundle. Reaching my hand up to the counter, I slipped a bookmark in the stack. Later, looking over my treasures, someone asked where I got that bookmark. Apparently, it wasn’t paid for. I still feel bad…
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What Does It Cost Me? (Mini-Series Part II)
He plucked at his fingernails with his arms crossed. Defiant young eyes averted and glazed over in anticipation of another scolding. At the end of a long work day, in the midst of an already stressful week, I felt certain my patience-tank was too empty to be as loving as I ought to be toward…
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Don’t Flush!
Rushing down the sidewalk after a few too many hours on road with stops, I couldn’t wait to reach the bathroom. Slamming the stall door shut, I suddenly found myself distracted. The rest stop caretakers had posted the most specific sign I’d seen in a loo. What’s happening that you need to flush your undergarments?!…
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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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Don’t Quit Praying When It’s “Over”
We pray before we eat. Before our days begin. Before we go to sleep. Often, we pray before big events and decisions. We pray as loved ones face difficulties. But we don’t have to stop there. We can keep praying after. God doesn’t say “cease praying” after the test results suggest the worst or the…