Love never fails.  –1 Corinthians 13:8a Whoever does not love does not know God, because God is love.              –1 John 4:8, 16 I feel this week’s blog post should come with a warning: The following post contains math.  So for those that hate math, you’ve been warned!  However, it’s very simple math and shouldn’t cause too much distress.  Think back to high school Algebra.  Remember the beginning, simple building blocks of Algebra?  It included straight-forward equations l

You, dear children, are from God and have overcome them, because the one who is in you is greater than the one who is in the world.  –1 John 4:4 Remember the old Looney Toons episode where the two dogs, Spike and Chester, spend the whole episode trying to catch Sylvester the cat?  Initially Spike, the bulldog, is the hero and Chester, the hyper terrier, is the sidekick.  Chester idolizes Spike, but by the end of the episode Chester becomes the hero because he succeeds in taki

I recently had the awesome opportunity to attend a training on inner healing prayer. One of the focuses of this particular type of healing prayer is to continually ask God for His perspective on a given event in our life or to ask what His truth or opinion is about us. This is a real paradigm shift for most people, and one I feel led to make a habit in my own life (though as someone who really enjoys figuring things out for myself, laying that down and simply asking God for H

For the revelation awaits an appointed time; it speaks of the end and will not prove false.  Though it linger, wait for it; it will certainly come and will not delay.  –Habakkuk 2:3 Living in a more metropolitan area, traffic delays can become a frustrating but common part of everyday life.  As a self-proclaimed “get-er-done girl” I like to get where I’m going as soon as possible.  In fact, in an ideal world I would be able to blink and go instantly from one place to another,

Wake up! Strengthen what remains and is about to die, for I have found your deeds unfinished in the sight of my God.  –Revelations 3:2 This week, I want to speak specifically to people who may feel their opportunity to fulfill God’s purpose for their life has passed.  God wants you to know: it’s never too late! There’s never a time where God cannot lead you to your purpose for that season of your life. You might think, “I’ve made too many mistakes, I lived too many years away

For we are God’s handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.  –Ephesians 2:10 I was recently invited to speak at a local church on finding your purpose. My schedule prevented me from being able to accept the invitation; however, it did get me thinking about this topic, so in lieu of presenting in person, here are some of my thoughts: We may be called to more than one purpose. Our human minds sometimes think in such black o

and he said, “This is what the Lord says: I will fill this valley with pools of water. For this is what the Lord says: You will see neither wind nor rain, yet this valley will be filled with water, and you, your cattle and your other animals will drink.  This is an easy thing in the eyes of the Lord; he will also deliver Moab into your hands. You will overthrow every fortified city and every major town. You will cut down every good tree, stop up all the springs, and ruin eve

Behold, the former things have come to pass, and new things I now declare; before they spring forth I tell you of them. –Isaiah 42:9 Given the brutal winter most of the U.S. has experienced this season, it has been a most welcome sight to see tiny leaves budding on some of the trees around where I live. There aren’t many, mind you, but still…a few leaves and flowers peeking out here and there lets me know spring is rapidly approaching. It’s a relief for many who have felt thi

Every valley shall be lifted and filled up, and every mountain and hill shall be made low; and the crooked and uneven shall be made straight and level, and the rough places a plain.  –Isaiah 40:4 During the deep-freeze much of the United States experienced recently, many people (who aren’t normally used to such low temps) experimented with the phenomenon of watching boiling water turn into snow in the frigid temperatures (click the link provided to check out one example). How

By faith Abraham, when called to go to a place he would later receive as his inheritance, obeyed and went, even though he did not know where he was going. By faith he made his home in the promised land like a stranger in a foreign country; he lived in tents, as did Isaac and Jacob, who were heirs with him of the same promise. For he was looking forward to the city with foundations, whose architect and builder is God.   –Hebrews 11:8–10 I experience the same thing every year s

One thing I ask from the Lord, this only do I seek: that I may dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life, to gaze on the beauty of the Lord and to seek him in his temple. –Psalm 27:4 If any of you have a mud room in your home, you know its primary purpose. This is a place for muddy shoes to land so dirt isn’t tracked into the clean part of the house. This is where backpacks and bags land so they don’t clutter up the rest of your space. Isn’t it wonderful that our

Now this I know: The Lord gives victory to his anointed. He answers him from his heavenly sanctuary with the victorious power of his right hand. Some trust in chariots and some in horses, but we trust in the name of the Lord our God. –Psalm 20:6,7 In the course of my career thus far, I have read and heard some incredibly tragic personal stories. It never ceases to boggle my mind how some have endured and survived so much. It’s also amazing to watch people that have overcome

Who has believed our message and to whom has the arm of the Lord been revealed? He grew up before him like a tender shoot, and like a root out of dry ground. He had no beauty or majesty to attract us to him, nothing in his appearance that we should desire him. –Isaiah 53:1, 2 It’s interesting to watch first-time home buyers on TV. They house hunt with their ideal home in mind, but typically end up with something that is different than what they expected. Many home buyers have

He asked me, “Son of man, can these bones live?”  I said, “Sovereign Lord, you alone know.”  Then he said to me, “Prophesy to these bones and say to them, ‘Dry bones, hear the word of the Lord!  This is what the Sovereign Lord says to these bones: I will make breath enter you, and you will come to life.'”  –Ezekiel 37:3-5 Being spiritually dry can feel a lot like the dry bones referenced in these verses.  Our belief in God has not changed and our faith in Him remains strong,

Am I now trying to win the approval of human beings, or of God?  Or am I trying to please people? If I were still trying to please people, I would not be a servant of Christ. –Galatians 1:10 One of my favorite Christmas cartoons as a kid was Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer. For the first part of the movie, Rudolph’s parents are embarrassed by his glowing red nose and cover it up with dirt to keep it a secret. For discussion’s sake we could say they were so concerned about what

“Kings will be your foster fathers, and their queens your nursing mothers.  They will bow down before you with their faces to the ground; they will lick the dust at your feet.  Then you will know that I am the Lord; those who hope in me will not be disappointed.” Isaiah 49:23 I remember a couple years ago, I was visiting a dear friend and her family for the weekend.  One of her kids was having a birthday, so I helped her prepare for a birthday dinner that weekend.  Our goal w

Jesus replied, “And you experts in the law, woe to you, because you load people down with burdens they can hardly carry, and you yourselves will not lift one finger to help them.” Luke 11:46 I watched a movie a few months ago called “The Prize Winner of Defiance, Ohio”, starring Julianne Moore and Woody Harrelson.  It’s the true story, set in the 1950’s and 1960’s, of a couple who has 10 children.  In order to help support her family, Julianne Moore’s character enters numerou

When the Pharisees saw this, they asked his disciples, “Why does your teacher eat with tax collectors and sinners?”  On hearing this, Jesus said, “It is not the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick.  But go and learn what this means: ‘I desire mercy, not sacrifice.’ For I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners.” Matthew 9:11-13 One of my favorite types of show to watch on TV is a good makeover, whether it’s a person or a room.  I love seeing someone or something

For when you did awesome things that we did not expect, you came down, and the mountains trembled before you.  Since ancient times no one has heard, no ear has perceived, no eye has seen any God besides you, who acts on behalf of those who wait for him. Isaiah 64:3-4 What an incredible passage, so full of promise!  How many times do we dream small and expect little when God is dreaming big and expecting much?  It’s easy to trust God when things are going well, or when somethi

God saw that the light was good, and he separated the light from the darkness.    Genesis 1:4 God made two great lights—the greater light to govern the day and the lesser light to govern the night. He also made the stars.   Genesis 1:16 Have you ever looked at these two verses together?  I think they have a lot to say to us about how God handles the light and the dark.  In Genesis 1:4 we see two things: 1) God sees light as a good thing and 2) He made a decision to separate l