I have a good friend who feels stuck. That’s not an uncommon feeling. You have probably felt that way at some point in your life; that point may even be right now. Perhaps you’ve experienced the feeling of being stuck in your marriage, your job, your home life, or your…
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If the Jesus story is encouraging to us, think about what it did for the people whose lives were intertwined with his. "Jesus was radically reconfigured and redefined by resurrection," said Eugene Peterson. “And now they were being just as radically reconfigured and redefined by resurrection." Now they knew for…
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One Saturday, on the day of rest, Jesus and his disciples were walking through a field of wheat. The disciples were hungry, so they plucked off some heads of grain and rubbed them in their hands to eat. But when some of the Pharisees saw what was happening, they said…
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Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life. Psalm 23:6 That’s quite a promise. Goodness and mercy will follow me forever? Really? I want to believe it, but many days it feels like anxiety and fear follow me around. Goodness and mercy—they seem like fictitious…
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There’s a picture in a pile of old family photos that’s worth a thousand words. I’m about six years old, my brother, about seven and a half. We’re sitting in front of the Christmas tree with our newly opened gifts. Me with my new doll and my brother Jeff with…
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One of the biggest challenges about the anxious thoughts we have is that there is some truth in them. That’s why they can be so powerful. If there was absolutely no truth to our thoughts, we wouldn’t be tempted to dwell on them. But half truths are only half true,…
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“Time doesn’t heal all pain, you need to learn how to let go.” —Roy T. Bennett, The Light in the Heart One sunny afternoon in 1981, I walked to our neighborhood supermarket to buy some Chips Ahoy! cookies—my favorite snack. After I made my purchase, I eagerly exited the store…
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They were longing for a better country—a heavenly one. Hebrews 11:16 Early one summer morning, my sister Jay and I drove down to the little Maryland farming community of Sykesville to visit Grandma Clark. She wasn’t really our grandmother. She and Jay had become friends at the tiny stone church…
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This Thanksgiving, many Americans are hurting. Though most of us have what we need, millions are either without work or struggling to make ends meet and provide for their families. Even as we thank God for His blessings, we continually pray for God to meet their needs while also seeking…
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Our place as sons and daughters settles our present and our future. It designates us as partakers of the life-transforming benefits of grace. Children who feel secure enough to call God “Abba, Father” are not worrying about securing their own good by their own means. If we strive to make…
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