God's Sufficient Grace in Our Weakness
“The Apostle Paul’s life provides a captivating example of how to serve through weakness in ministry. Throughout his service to the Lord, Paul was imprisoned, stoned, beaten with rods three times, given 39 lashes five times, shipwrecked three times, adrift at sea, in danger from rivers, robbers, the city, the wilderness, his own people, the Gentiles, and false brothers, suffered through physical hunger and thirst, was left exposed in cold weather, experienced insomnia, and dealt with regular anxiety about his ministry (2 Cor. 11:23-28). This man knew suffering. He knew pain. He knew injustice. And still, by the grace of God, he endured ‘till the end. How did he do it?” God's Sufficient Grace in Our Weakness by Ashley Setterlind
Small Moments Might Just be the Big Ones, by Ashley Anthony
“We might daily read Scripture, pray, serve, and worship, but we might find they don’t always produce fruit as quickly as we’d like them to. Growth seems slow and sometimes tedious. These small moments—do they really make a difference at all? The life of the prophetess Anna declares that these small moments do make a difference—and not only do they make a difference, but these small moments are more significant than we might think.” Small Moments Might Just be the Big Ones by Ashley Anthony
What Has God Actually Promised? 20 Truths from the Psalms
“Over and over again, the psalmists reveal that their hope and faith in God rests not in prophetic promises of how God will remove the current struggle, but in the promise of who he is. Even in moments where the writer uses words like ‘deliverance’ and ‘salvation’, we have no idea of the timeframe, severity, or nature of the promised divine action. Like the writers of old, we too rarely receive specific promises stating that the cancer will go into remission, the work conflict will subside, or the support money will come in on time. In these trying moments of waiting and wanting, it is our knowledge of the character of our Heavenly Father that shapes our hope in the promises of who God is for his people.” What Has God Actually Promised? 20 Truths from the Psalms by William R. Osborne
When You Feel Like a Broken Record
“I’m so tired of my own voice saying the same words over and over” I recently lamented to an older mom, “I feel like a broken record. What am I doing wrong?! When will it click?!” “If you feel like a broken record,” she said smirking, “you’re probably actually doing it right.” She went on to highlight the need for consistency in training, as well as the fact that change and learning are a process—often a slow one. Often, I have the same attitude toward myself that I do toward my kids. Why do I keep failing at the same things over and over?! What am I doing wrong?” When You Feel Like a Broken Record by Abbey Wedgeworth
Why Should We Memorize God’s Word?
“How often do we scroll through Instagram, Facebook, or Google for help on a situation we’re walking through? How quick are we to shoot a text to a friend for advice or help? It’s so easy for us to look to tangible helps to soothe our souls (and there is good to be found in these things!). But how often do we neglect first going to the Word as our primary help? While our lives are ever-changing, God’s Word is forever; it is firmly fixed in heaven (Psalm 119:89). The Word of the Lord is perfect, flawless, (Psalm 18:30), and will stand forever (Isa. 40:8). The Bible is living and active, it has the power to speak to our hearts (Heb. 4:12), and it will not return empty (Isa. 55:11). In all things, the Bible speaks a more relevant word and offers timeless truths that will never pass away (Luke 21:33).” Why Should We Memorize God’s Word? by Hunter Beless
Do Our Prayers Change God’s Mind?
“What good is praying to a God whose will is sovereign? Does prayer change God’s mind? Most answers on offer seem to result either in a diminishment of God’s sovereignty, or a gutting of the power and relational meaning of prayer. We need not rest satisfied with such answers. Indeed, we need not accept without critique the questions in the first place, for they reflect a few common and critical missteps in approaching the relation between God’s sovereignty and our prayer.” Do Our Prayers Change God’s Mind? by Daniel J. Brendsel
Can Lament Be Worship?
“Have you ever felt like it was wrong to be honest about your grief? Perhaps you’ve told yourself, “It could be worse” or “At least...” Maybe someone said something that made you feel that by crying too much or lingering too long in mourning you weren’t living in faith or hope. But platitudes, conciliations, or guilt don’t help us much to navigate grief. It is painful to live in our cursed and broken world. This is not the pristine world God created. We were not meant to feel betrayal or disease. We were not meant to witness death or severed relationships. But we do. We live in the in-between—between Christ’s victory over death on the cross and when Christ will return and fix all the brokenness. While we wait, we face death, but we have access to rich grace in the face of death. We have lament.” Can Lament Be Worship? by Alyson Punzi
Four Reasons to Be Thankful for the Mundane
“If you think about it, the hills and mountaintop experiences are few and far between. The mundane is where real life happens, and if we look hard enough, we can find tremendous sweetness and joy when we recognize that the Lord goes with us, even in the everyday, humdrum routines. So rather than complaining or looking to the next more exciting season, perhaps, we can find many reasons to be thankful for this mundane season.” Four Reasons to Be Thankful for the Mundane by Abigail Houston
Hormones & the God Who Holds Us Together
“As women, our hormones can end up directing the traffic of our hearts. And they’re really not very good at it. A dip in one chemical messenger or an increase in another leaves us going along just fine one moment—and wrecked the next. Hormonal changes and imbalances leave us more prone than we might otherwise be to irritability, anger, depression, and unpredictable crying spells. But here’s the truth that we need to grapple with: While hormones can help us explain our shifting emotions, they are not an excuse for the sinful behaviors that can often follow.” Hormones & the God Who Holds Us Together by Whitney K. Pipkin
Believer, Who Are You Trusting for Your Sanctification? by Lara d'Entremont
“Books, apps, practices, habits—these tools are all God’s gracious gifts to us and can be instruments towards our change—but they are not the conductor. They can be a balm to our weary and sore hearts. Yet when we place all our hope in these tools rather than the One who, by his grace, makes them effective, we’re trusting in the wrong place.” - Believer, Who Are You Trusting for Your Sanctification? by Lara d'Entremont
Discover the Beauty of Slow Scripture Meditation
“As we begin to study and make discoveries in Scripture, we often want to know everything—immediately. The idea of pondering just one verse at a time seems frustratingly slow. But spiritual maturity and scriptural understanding most often come not through giant leaps and marathon study sessions but by steady faithfulness, day after day. Scriptural meditation helps us to slow down, to zoom in, and to hear the Lord’s gentle voice whispering through his Word.” - Discover the Beauty of Slow Scripture Meditation, by Katherine Pittman
5 Ways to Combat Half-Hearted Worship on Sunday
“It's already difficult for my weak flesh and distracted mind to worship the Lord rightly, and if I’m not doing anything to prepare my heart for worship on other days of the week, it's even harder. How much more would I benefit from Sunday’s blessings if I anticipated them rightly ahead of time? After all, worshiping God together alongside the body of Christ is a gift. Singing songs of praise, confessing our faith with other brothers and sisters in Christ, and hearing God's Word preached faithfully is something we as Christians look forward to each week, and part of anticipating its blessings is preparing practically for it!” - 5 Ways to Combat Half-Hearted Worship on Sunday by Lainee Oliver
False Gods and the One True King
“As I have come to understand idolatry, I’ve grown in awareness of my sin. Previously I believed generally that I was a sinner, but as a rule-follower with “good” outward behavior, I had never considered that my sin could be my inward motives, desires, and passive aggressive demands as motivated by ruling idols. By God’s grace, the more I became aware of my sin and the many ways I resurrect false gods, the more in awe I became of the One who lived the perfect life for me and paid the penalty my sins deserved. The more I see my tendency toward idolatry, the more I cling to Jesus, knowing that but by his grace my heart is prone to wander and leave the God I love.” - False Gods and the One True King by Kristen Hatton
The High Priestly Prayer: How Jesus’ Words Help Us Pray
“We can only imagine how heavy our Savior’s heart must have been as he washed his beloved disciples’ feet, knowing within a few hours he would be dying on a cross for them . . . and for us. He knew they would desert him at his darkest hour, and yet, he chose to pray for them . . . and for us. That powerful prayer—called the High Priestly prayer of Jesus—is found in John 17. As believers, we can apply that same prayer to our own lives today.” - The High Priestly Prayer: How Jesus’ Words Help Us Pray by Judy Dunagan
A Foolish Love by Katy Morgan
“It is one of the most moving—and terrifying—moments in the story of David. In 2 Samuel 6, the ark of God is brought to Jerusalem. As this symbol of God’s presence is brought through the city, David strips down to what is apparently very little and dances before it “with all his might” (v. 14). Later, David finds his wife Michal waiting at home. “How the king of Israel has distinguished himself today,” she spits sarcastically (v. 20). The narrator tells us she despises him for what he has done (v. 16). The story is moving because it reveals the depths of David’s unashamed devotion to God. But it’s terrifying because it forces us to realize that we’re a lot less like David than we think. Too often, we’re rather like Michal instead.” - A Foolish Love, by Katy Morgan
Praying the Psalms: An Invitation to Intimacy
“The Psalms show us that it is right and good to bring all our authentic emotions to God in prayer. They invite us to come to him, raw and unfiltered, in every circumstance we face. The Psalms demonstrate how an honest, angry prayer can also be humble and God-oriented, or how the act of prayer itself can reshape our fear and worry into praise. Moreover, we remember that the Psalms were intended for corporate use, bidding us to bring our unmasked selves to church and to our Christian community. Our only mistake would be to refuse the Psalms’ invitation, bottling up our emotions or attempting to handle what we are facing in our own strength.” - Praying the Psalms: An Invitation to Intimacy, by Caroline Cobb
Leaving a Legacy: Learning from Puritan Women of Faith
“The main lesson all of us—whether single, married without children, or married with children—can take away from this story is that it is vital for women to pass on the faith in their families and communities, and though there may be many factors working against us in accomplishing this task, we can move forward with faith and labor to the best of our abilities knowing God has equipped us. For Lucy Hutchinson, this meant applying her skills of reading, writing, and thinking to author an entire book. But for Hutchinson’s mother, Hutchinson’s daughter, and even Hutchinson herself, this didn’t mean becoming professional theologians. It simply meant fulfilling their God-given duty and entrusting the fruits of their work to him.” - Leaving a Legacy: Learning from Puritan Women of Faith by Jenny-Lyn de Klerk
The Worth in Our Waiting by Jenn Hesse
“The Lord gradually opened my eyes to his deeper purposes for that hard season of waiting. He wasn’t pressing me under his thumb as a harsh faith lesson. Instead, he wanted more for me than any earthly desire. Through waiting I came to realize that God’s plan is always the long game. He created us in Christ for good works he prepared beforehand (Eph. 2:10). He is committed to complete the good work he started in us at salvation (Phil. 1:6). By His Spirit we are being transformed into his image from glory to glory (2 Cor. 3:18). Waiting might feel like wasted time to us, when nothing is happening and we’re not able to reach our goals. That’s not how time works with God. His Word shows us that waiting is open season for sanctification. In the interval between wanting and receiving, he actively grows us to become more like our Savior.” - The Worth in Our Waiting by Jenn Hesse
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
When Justice Feels Far
“I bet you’ve breathed long enough to see injustice. Our chests tighten as the question of justice sticks in our minds like a bee stinger hard to remove. So, we who follow a just God turn to him and ask “How is this just?” We know he rules. We know he is good and righteous. We see the discrepancy between God’s character and this world, and we want to know if he is doing anything. We’re not alone in these questions. They are the questions God’s people have been asking for millennia. We stand in their legacy as we ask, and we can read what the Lord spoke to them in the Scriptures to know what he would say to us as well.” - When Justice Feels Far, by Taylor Turkington