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THE POWER OF THANKSGIVING: FAITH OF A CHILD
āIn every thing give thanks: for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus concerning you.ā ~ 1 Thessalonians 5:18 (The Bible) With Thanksgiving only a week (or less š) away, the LORD has really been reminding me of the power of a grateful heart. It is so easy to look around at the world and give into despair or our own frustrations and pains while conveniently ignoring the many commands in Scripture to āgive thanks in all thingsā. When we donāt feel like it or things around us are genuinely bad, the idea of āgiving thanksā can seem ludicrous or downright wrong. Yet, that phrase āall thingsā is…
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KEEP STANDING
āTherefore take up the whole armor of God, that you may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand.ā ~ Ephesians 6:13 (The Bible) One of my very favorite works of fiction is J.R.R. Tolkienās The Lord of the Rings trilogy. As a writer, his powers of description, world-building, and language are tremendously inspiring; as a person, his themes of unconditional love, courage, and hope in the face of overwhelming evil deeply resonate within my heart. Truly, it would be difficult for me to pick a favorite aspect of Tolkienās work but, if pressed, I would have to boil it down to a concept…
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WOMAN UP, AMERICA: ITāS TIME TO TAKE RESPONSIBILITY FOR OUR ACTIONS
āThe wise woman builds her house, but the foolish pulls it down with her hands.ā ~ Proverbs 14:1 (The Bible) Itās time for we women to take responsibility for our actions. Weāre embroiled in a current election war in our nation the likes of which most of us have never seenāor wanted to see. Our country is as divided as it has ever been except, perhaps, in the days before the Civil War (or āWar Between the Statesā, if youāre from the South). If you look at the election map by counties, that division becomes painfully clear. Just like the 2016 election {map pictured}, almost every city and metropolitan area…
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LET ME LIVE
āOpen your mouth for the speechless, and in the cause of all appointed to die. ā ~ Proverbs 31:8 In six days, our Nation will face what can only be described as a truly historic Election Day. Opinions and emotions are running high: seems like everyone has something to say. Yet, with all of the voices clamoring and crying out, there is one voice we canāt hear, one voice too small to perceiveā¦ One voice with more at stake in this election than any of the rest of us. Below is a song my Mother recently wrote(*) capturing the innocence and desperation of that one voice. As you go to…
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LIKE FATHER, LIKE SON: SONS AND DAUGHTERS OF THE KING
āAnd this is eternal life, that they may know You, the only true God, and Jesus Christ Whom you have sent. ā ~ Jesus Christ (John 17:3) And so we reach the conclusion of this series. Weāve talked about the heart of the Father, the heart of the Son, and how the heart of Jesus on earth was to do His Father’s business. We discussed what it means for man to be made in the image of God and the great sacrifice both God the Father and God the Son (including God the Holy Spirit) made to bring mankind back into the intimate relationship we were made for: adopted forever…
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LIKE FATHER, LIKE SON: THE SACRIFICE
āFor God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life. ā ~ John 3:16 āOh Paā¦Whatāll I do now?ā In one of my favorite episodes of The Rifleman (“The Schoolmaster”, Season 3, Episode 10), young Mark McCain has had about all he can take of a difficult (and, yes, unfair) teacher. He threatens to quit school but his wise father, Lucas, tells him he canāt run from his problems and that they will figure it out together. So what does Mark do? Skip school with his best friend, of course. In their thrill of freedom,…
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LIKE FATHER, LIKE SON: IN HIS IMAGE
āThen God said, āLet Us make man in Our imageā¦ā ā ~ Genesis 1:26 Have you ever wondered what it means to be somebodyās āspitting imageā? I still have no idea where the āspittingā part comes from (and donāt really want to know š), but Iām pretty familiar with the whole āimageā thing. It never fails. Wherever I go, if my family has gone before me, someoneās going to notice and feel the need to say it: āYou look just like your Dad!ā Those words are a bit strange to hear when youāre a girl, yet I always smile and say āthank youā because I know itās true. I do…
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LIKE FATHER, LIKE SON: THE FATHER’S BUSINESS
āDid you not know that I must be about My Fatherās business?ā ~ Jesus Christ (Luke 2:49) If someone were to ask you why Jesus came to this planet, what would you say? That He came to save sinners? Do good things? Teach people about Heaven? Or maybe youād be like, āWait: whoās Jesus?ā If the answer is the latter, check out āThe Hidden Meaningā on this blog before going any further. If not, let us proceedā¦ š Why did Jesus come to this planet? If the question āWhy does it matter?ā comes to your mind, well, Iām glad you asked it because the answer to that question is the…
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LIKE FATHER, LIKE SON: HEART OF THE SON
āI have come in My Fatherās nameā¦ā ~ Jesus Christ (John 5:43) āJesus, what would You like for me to say in this blog post?ā Itās taken over a month for me to be able to return to this series (“Like Father, Like Son”). The reasons for the delay have varied yet the desire to understand more clearly the heart of the son has remained ever constant. As I mentioned in my first post, the classic t.v. show The Rifleman has been a key element in this journey, showing so clearly the love of a father for his son and a son for his father: watch the show for about…
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LET ME BE A PATRIOT
āPatriot ā A person who loves his country, and zealously supports and defends it and its interests.ā ~ Noah Websterās 1828 Dictionary This weekend marks the 244th birthday of the dearest place on the planet (to me, anyway): The United States of America! In celebration, I decided to take a brief pause from my latest series āLike Father, Like Sonā and share something the Lord gave me last year about this time. Iām no poet, but the words come straight from my heart. I pray they touch yours as wellā¦ āLET ME BE A PATRIOTā “Let me be a patriot. I know you may not agree. You may not feel…
