Tag: god
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Why Did You Bring Me Here, God?
I remember the excitement when the phone call came. “We just have to finalize it, but you can schedule that moving truck,” the Midwestern man’s voice exclaimed. Expectantly, we did. We waited. But the paperwork never arrived. Weeks later, the same voice apologized on the phone. Unforeseen circumstances arose. The position was canceled. We’re weren’t…
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What Does God’s Will Include?
One summer, I got food poisoning that set my body off-kilter for months. Crashing on the couch after just an hour of work made me feel useless in every way. Another time, I couldn’t find work. All I had was freelance writing, and all the projects wrapped at once. Day after day for a season,…
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My Simple Best
More than a writer, I’m a thinker. My brain is constantly active- digging, absorbing, sorting, putting together, observing, etc. Etc. As a thinker, I like details. I like to organize them all and fit them together to create a big, powerful picture. I love making points that lead up to a concept that sticks. And…
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My Shrug, God’s Shrub
There’s this shrub in our yard. When we moved in, it was bare like everything else. I couldn’t figure out what it was, or what to do with it. So, while I learned about our other plants and began tending garden, this shrub was left for God to manage. It was a harrowing experience. My…
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Why I Don’t Want to Be Full
“What are we arguing about again?” my husband asked. After some discussion, we came to the conclusion. We were arguing because I was bored. Being bored makes me rather grumpy. How about you? Some of us Type A people believe relaxation involves a checklist. Doers tend to associate a full schedule with a full heart….
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The Who, Why, and What of “God Works Everything for Good”
Before I knew Christ as my Savior, I was familiar with the phrase “everything will work out for good.” The more familiar I became with evangelical Christianity, the more I learned similar phrases like “God won’t give you more than you can handle,” and “God helps those who help themselves.” As a determined optimist, I…
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God Erases Our Regrets
I’m a know-needer. It’s not that I think I know it all, but that I want to know it all. The “what-ifs” of life are maddening to me. When they come up, I tend to identify every possibility and follow it to its end. At least that way I feel that I’ll know what to…
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A Sneaky Strategy of Sin
One of the strategies of sin is to wear us down. My husband recently said that to me, and oh did it resonate. Often, we think of temptation as a flashing sign, a beautiful handwritten invitation, or the suggestion of something alluring. We say “that’s tempting” to junk food and vacations and fun plans when…
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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…