Scars of Love
“We tend to think of aging and pregnancy as the only things that mark our bodies. But we all have other marks we can point to, each with a story to tell. Some are stories of joy. But many of our scars tell stories of physical pain. Many of our scars too are acquired in sacrifice for the people we love. It is these scars of love that mark the ways we’ve given of ourselves for the sake of others. And the story of Easter reminds us that our scars of love are not alone.” - Scars of Love, by Elizabeth Santelmann
Fearfully and Wonderfully Made?
“The self-love culture is so pervasive that many of us do not even realize we too have bought into it. While self-love diagnoses the human problem as a lack of appreciation for ourselves, the Bible diagnoses the human problem as a lack of appreciation for our God and our neighbor. The great commandment of our culture is “love thyself!”, but the great commandment of Jesus is “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind” and “You shall love your neighbor as yourself” (Matt. 22:37, 39).” - Fearfully and Wonderfully Made? by Paige Stitt McBride
Unity in Female Friendship: A Liturgy
“May we be full of hope for each other,
believing the best about one another,
rejoicing with pure hearts at our sister's success
and carrying her burden when the weight is too heavy.
May we lay our lives down,
as our first Friend taught,
filled with honor and binding ourselves in love,
trusting that Your generosity extends to us all.” - Unity in Female Friendship: A Liturgy by Audrey Elledge and Elizabeth Moore
Identifying our Sin Patterns for Growth in Godliness
“Recognizing your tendencies towards certain sins is the first step in fighting sin and walking in obedience. Thanks be to God, the penalty for our sin was paid for once and for all by the atoning work of Christ on the cross. But the painstaking journey of transformation is one we will walk until we are home at last in Heaven. Recognizing sinful patterns in our lives that can become habitual if left unchecked is important because it helps us to quickly acknowledge and address the areas that keep us from being conformed into the likeness of Christ.” - Identifying our Sin Patterns for Growth in Godliness by Meredith Boggs
Remembering Our Identity as We Engage the Online World
“We all want lives that are rich in relationships and memories. We want to feel connected to a real community with a deep sense of belonging. And we want our work and service to make a difference in other people’s lives. But we will never experience the fullness of these things if we are looking to our screens to tell us who we are. In Scripture, we will discover the truth about who we are, how we were made, and what our purpose in life really is. In God’s sanctuary, we not only find deep quiet and genuine soul rest, but we also find everything our identity-driven hearts have been longing for. For our identity is found not in a screen, but in Christ alone.” - Remembering Our Identity as We Engage the Online World by Denise J. Hughes
How to Respond to Words of Offense
“Regardless of what kind of speech the culture says is preferable, we should desire to hear wise and righteous words of warning and advice. Instead of being quick to anger, we ought to praise God when that exhortation comes from our loved ones. They know us! And they speak truth to us and reprimand us best as those who live in close proximity to our sin. Admonishment can be hard to hear for a variety of reasons, but if we prepare for what we may hear in advance, we will be in a better position to listen and accept reproof.” - How to Respond to Words of Offense by Sharon Ide
Hope and Healing in the Bread and Cup
“Through the Lord’s Table we are invited into a special aspect of on-earth-as-it-is-in-Heaven: we choose healing instead of bitterness, we choose love over hatred, and we choose to belong to each other. We participate in the ministry of reconciliation rather than amputating ourselves from the body of Christ. In Communion with the local church, mercies are made available to us that we wouldn’t otherwise experience. This is the mercy of ushering down to earth parts of heaven, bringing to parched ground the living waters of God’s Kingdom. Together, we take, break, eat, and drink in remembrance of the God who has come and will come again.” - Hope and Healing in the Bread and the Cup by S. A. Morrison
The Church: Essential to Our Endurance
“These brothers and sisters whose lives have been woven into mine have encouraged me, prayed for me, welcomed me to their tables, and adopted me as “auntie” to their kids. We’ve lived through high highs and low lows together, prayed for God’s provision and lifted up our longings and laments to him, pointed one another back to Jesus and the good news of the gospel time and again, and seen God at work in many ways. Church has always been part of my life, part of my week, and often part of my work. But it’s taken a pandemic and a sabbatical to reveal to me that church is not just important, it is essential to faithfully following Jesus.” - The Church: Essential to Our Endurance by Jenilyn Swett
The Life-Giving Joy of a Hobby
“When I was a kid, my grandfather taught me how to use a camera. I enjoyed it enough to even take a photography class in college, but once I graduated and started my first ‘real’ job, I no longer had time for it. But, one evening in the middle of the 2020 lockdown, I decided to get my camera out and go out and take pictures of the sunset—just to have a reason to get out of the house. And that was it. I found something I had forgotten I enjoyed, and it helped me make it through the worst of the pandemic. I think you should have a hobby too. And I know you think you’re too busy; I get it. But if you’ve read this far, perhaps you’ll be willing to consider these four reasons why I think you should not only have a hobby, but also protect time for it on a regular basis:” - The Life-Giving Joy of a Hobby by Matt Lantz
Honoring God with Your Bank Account
“What matters to you? Before noodling this, take a quick look at your bank account activity, including your credit card records. What do you see? You see evidence of what matters to you. Consider it this way. Actions are evidence. Our behavior is reporting in. Our bank accounts are important. What are they telling us? Before we do a deep dive, let’s look at the big picture. All that you ‘own’ is really all God’s on loan to you. The journey to honor God with our bank account begins with this biblical perspective.” - Honoring God with Your Bank Account by Valerie Hogan and Miriam Neff
Remembering the Gospel
“An unfortunate thing happens to many of us after we have been a Christian for some time. The gospel becomes so familiar that we begin to take it for granted. Without even realizing it we start to view the gospel message as basic or rudimentary, as something we move beyond once we come to Jesus. But in truth, we will never arrive at a place where we no longer need the gospel. There is never a moment when our hearts and our minds do not need to be saturated with the message of God’s goodness and grace to us in Jesus. As believers, we must remember the gospel. Sometimes this practice is described as “preaching the gospel to ourselves.” But what does that mean? It means we remind ourselves of what is true based on the promises of God as revealed in his Word.” - Remembering the Gospel by Erika Allen
When Anxiety and Fear Press In
“What if, instead of torturing ourselves by getting on every fear ride and daydreaming about all the bad things that might result from our current reality, we used our imagination to visualize what God has said is true in his Word? Jesus is present with us, and he loves us. What if we imagined him lovingly sitting with us in our kitchen as we struggle to manage three active children, holding us on the couch as we walk through the disappointment of another argument with our husband, comforting us with his kindness when we get the scary phone call? Jesus’ love for us is what is real, not the stories we spin in our fear. What if we daydreamed about that?” - When Anxiety and Fear Press In by Hope Blanton and Chris Gordon
The Tale of Two Days
“Have you ever had one of those days where you fall into your bed at night and rehearse all the ways you blew it? You are angry with yourself and angry with everyone else who made you act in all the ways you don’t want to act. As you toss and turn unable to sleep you wonder if God is as disappointed in you as you are in yourself. Or conversely, have you ever had one of those days where you slowly descend into your bed on a cloud of peace and rehearse all the amazing things you did that day? On and on the list of your good deeds goes, and the longer it gets the more convinced you are that you’re really excelling in the fruit of Spirit that your pastor preached on last week. As you drift to sleep you wonder if God loves you a little bit more today. However, the one thing that’s missing from both days is any thought of Jesus.” - The Tale of Two Days by Jessica Thompson
Uprooting the Weeds of False Beliefs
“Sin affects every area of our lives, including how we think and what we think. However, we’re not without hope, and we’re not without help as we address deeply rooted thoughts and beliefs. Second Peter 1:3 tells us God’s “divine power has granted to us all things that pertain to life and godliness,” and in John 14-16, Jesus teaches that the Holy Spirit works to help us, teach us, convict us, and guide us into all truth.” - Uprooting the Weeds of False Beliefs by Ashley Chestnut
3 Reasons to Pray (Especially When You’re Exhausted)
“‘Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest’ (Matt. 11:28). What a beautiful invitation! What a compassionate call crossing the centuries to intersect our busy, 21st century lives. Jesus doesn’t berate us into praying more. Rather, he invites us to experience the thing our souls truly crave more than sleep, more than another cup of coffee, more than a shopping spree. Our souls were made to find rest in Jesus, and he alone offers true rest in his presence.” - 3 Reasons to Pray (Especially When You’re Exhausted) by Asheritah Ciuciu
Our Good Father's Discipline
“As an adult, I find I continue to resist discipline, particularly God’s discipline. When trials, disappointments, and challenges come my way, I see them as things to avoid or resist. I look for ways to get around them. I find myself saying that all-too-popular childhood complaint, “It's not fair.” Other times, I look at hardships as punishment for something I've done wrong. Or perhaps, I think, I wasn't good enough and God is disappointed in me. Rarely though do I pause to consider, “What might God be doing in my life? What might he want me to learn? How might he use this hardship to make me more like Christ?”” - Our Good Father’s Discipline by Christina Fox
What Makes a Woman Great?
“What makes a woman great? Is greatness about reaching some expected status like “engaged” or “married”? Does it mean climbing the corporate ladder, gaining influence, and outdoing those around you? Maybe greatness is about finding your “thing” and becoming an expert at it. Or perhaps it’s about becoming true to ourselves by listening to the voice within. Maybe greatness is learning how to unhitch ourselves from everyone’s expectations in order to find true happiness. Or is it?” - What Makes a Woman Great? by Kristen Wetherell
When Intrusive Thoughts Keep Intruding
“Because we all live with a nature warped by sin, we all fight intrusive thoughts. From aggressive insecurities, to catastrophic fears, to disturbing mental images, intrusive thoughts can take many forms. Sometimes we can banish unwanted thoughts as easily as swatting flies. But there are other times, perhaps more frequent, when the door to our mind keeps violently banging open. As followers of Jesus endowed with the mind of Christ (1 Cor. 2:16), what can we do when intrusive thoughts keep intruding?” - When Intrusive Thoughts Keep Intruding by Erin Davis
I Want to be a Christian, but There’s One Thing
“I wanted to be a Christian, but I wasn’t going to let my girlfriend go. That was my one non-negotiable. Surely, there was a way around that. Surely, God really didn’t care about who I was attracted to, who I married, who I loved. Right?” - I Want to be a Christian, but There’s One Thing by K. Price
Help! I'm Trapped in My Insecurities!
“If we can see each other we can say hello, we can make a new friend, we can have a funny conversation about Colossians or Kingsolver or Costco. We can let the stifling air squelch out like an untied balloon, flying out of our fingertips until it flops to the ground, deflated and powerless, no longer trying to lead the way. De-weaponized awkward balloons make way for something else to lead the way: like truth.” - Help! I'm Trapped in My Insecurities! by Holly Mackle