Obedience is not optional. Samuel spoke these words to King Saul: “Has the Lord as great delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices, as in obeying the voice of the Lord? Behold, to obey is better than sacrifice, and to
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True friends remind us of the truth in Ecclesiastes 4:9-10 (NIV). “Two are better than one … if one falls down, his friend can help him up.” We grieve a loss. A friend stops by
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When the announcement time came at the end of our worship service, he proudly proclaimed he had just celebrated his ninth birthday for the ninth time. He had been born with a purpose, after all.
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Fear over faith or faith over fear? You choose. Fear says: Life changes. Change hurts. I’ll stay where I am. God says: Chance change. Grow through pain. I’m with you all the way.
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A Good Decision? Maybe Not! In middle school, my daughter brought a friend home one afternoon, and I offered the only snack I had in the refrigerator: leftover fries. Even when I offered the fries
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Little did we know, as we delighted in food and family, how soon we would face a life-altering decision: Choose sorrow or choose joy. Gathered around our dining room table, joy overflowed that all our
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I told them the story and watched confusion cross their faces. One thing I love about teaching middle schoolers entails telling them stories about how things were when I was their age. When I was
Read more“It was the best of times. It was the worst of times.” So begins Charles Dickens’s A Tale of Two Cities. My husband and I can say the same about the past eighteen years. After
Read moreAlthough Deborah held several roles atypical for a woman in Israel’s patriarchal society, she did not back down from her responsibilities. God called her. She obeyed. Her straightforward response served her and others well throughout
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Friendship isn’t always easy. It seems like most celebrations of friendship (including mine) focus on the joys. Friends can make even the most difficult adversity a little more bearable and can expand the joys of
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