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Titus 2:11–14 gives us the reason for why we should live as godly men and women, old or young, and in our places of service (Titus 2:1–10)—the saving grace of God has appeared in the person of Jesus Christ to teach us how to live godly lives. Part of this godly life is to expect our Lord Jesus Christ to appear again. Titus 2:13 describes us as “waiting for our blessed hope, the appearing of the glory of our great God and Savior Jesus Christ.” In the last phrase of this clause, we find one of Scripture’s strongest declarations of the deity of the Lord Jesus Christ. Jesus is not just our Savior and the Christ, but He is also “our great God.” Some prefer to understand “our great God” to refer to the Father. If this is the case, Jesus is identified as both the glory of the Father and as our Sa...

“Therefore we do not lose heart. Though outwardly we are wasting away, yet inwardly we are being renewed day by day. For our light and momentary troubles are achieving for us an eternal glory that far outweighs them all. So we fix our eyes not on what is seen but on what is unseen. For what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal.” 2 Corinthians 4:16-18  Our physical lives are an arc, and from the moment we are born we are growing, developing, strengthening…until we’re not. And then we’re aging, wasting, and decaying. The science of the how, and the timeline of the when are complex, but the reality is inescapable. Outwardly we are wasting away. Yet all the while, if traversing those days, months, and years hand-in- hand with Christ and His word, we are being renewed from w...

God is love and He loves us. We know that in our minds, but often we don’t live that way. But the reality of God’s love surrounds us day by day, as revealed in these inspiring Bible verses about God’s love below. We learn that… God’s love is steadfast and unchanging God’s love comforts us God’s love is revealed to us through Jesus Christ God’s love is poured into us through the Holy Spirit God’s love compels us to love one another Many of us grow up doubting the love of God because of the relationships we have with others. Broken relationships, hurt from others, or even our own bad choices and cause us to doubt why God would choose to love us. Sometimes well-meaning churches even misguide us into thinking that we need to earn God’s love by behaving or acting “good enough”...

Photo Credit: Canva There is no doubt that this Thanksgiving season is different from last year. We’re dealing with the delay of a presidential election, Covid 19, natural disasters (hurricanes to be specific), racial tension, am I missing anything? Not to mention, the personal tests and trials that we go through as Christians, right? Yet, here’s the thing, sis. This Thanksgiving, we can still be grateful for who we have and what we have. Meaning, we can still be grateful that we have Jesus, family and friends who love us. We can be thankful that we have a roof over our heads, clothes on our bodies, a church home, and food to eat. You see, as believers, no matter how hard it may ever be in our lives or on this earth, the Lord promises in Hebrews 13:5, “I will never leave you, nor forsake y...

It wasn’t as bad as I thought it would be. Justin gave me warning: Hell week was going to be tough. And I’m not talking about the hell week of college–that week before finals when you attempt to study like mad and, at midnight, press your face as far as you can against the screen of your window and participate in a quasi-cathartic collective scream with thousands of other freaking-out college kids. No, this hell week was going to be different. Hell week for the St. Ignatius exercises is a week of imagining yourself in hell, with all the smells and sounds and textures and torture that come with being completely removed from the presence of God.  Not fun. That’s for sure. I was frightened. I shed lots of tears. But my experience of hell, in my imagination, was so different than I expect...

8 Things Every Nonprofit Leader Needs to Know By: Jennifer Maggio BCBS Wings Webinar, 1/30/2019 In 1999, I was a young single mom of 2 small children, who resided in the middle of the projects. Although I graduated high school valedictorian and class president,  balancing two jobs, parenting alone, and college classes proved to be too much, and so I dropped out of college.   I worked in a small furniture store as a bookkeeper, making $9,000 a year.  I had no money, very few friends, and even less hope.  The next years presented unspeakable challenges of having to make choices, such as fleeing an abusive relationship, choosing to feed my children or myself (since there wasn’t enough food for both), and even contemplating suicide. Ultimately, my story has a happy end...

Here is the blank page, Father, where I need you to come and write on me. Let there be no boundaries here for the love you want to show me–wrapping me up like the girl I am, transcribing the Word of Life on my heart, holding me in your words, the Life of the words that makes me sing. Let me let go of all expectations today. Let me hang loose, feeling no weight on me.  You carried my cross–I can hardly believe it. And you forgive me when I think, in my pride, my vanity, that I can come close to shouldering any of the weight–or that what you did, to begin with, wasn’t enough. Here I am, Father, palms up, heart open, asking you to cleanse me again.  Slow me down to see you–trusting you more than myself, your heart more than mine.  I surrender.  Let me do nothing out o...

Did you ever play the game “Trust”? The “victim” stands facing away from a group of people and is to freefall into the arms of the “trusted” and be caught. A popular game in my high school youth group, but I never could muster the courage to fall. When I attempted this game, I would instinctively take a step backward to catch myself. Every single time. My friends would hoot and holler and I would laugh at my own inability to trust even my closest circle. As small children, learning to walk with shaky steps, we reach out our hands for something to grasp. Our arms stretch for the solid support of our wobbly legs. The thrill of taking the first steps bring elation as a new perspective is gained. I often watch as my children tackle something new with the same amount of trepidation. They each h...

When a tragic, unexpected death happens, do you shake your fist and proclaim “Not today, Satan! We will make the devil pay!” or do you trust God’s ways are higher than yours and say like our Lord, Jesus, “Not my will, Lord, but Yours be done” and trust that He will use that trial for your good and for His glory? Suffering is a reality for everyone on this earth, including believers. To deny that, is to deny reality of the fact that we live in a fallen world and Christians are not exempt from the results of it. Remember, the Apostles suffered greatly and many of them died horrendous deaths as martyrs. But it was all for God’s glory and a part of His sovereign plan for their lives.  James 1:12 shares us a beautiful promise about suffering: “Blessed is the one who perseveres under trial&...