hope
Touching Women’s Lives
One woman was caught in the scandalous act of adultery. Another was rejected and ignored because of her promiscuous lifestyle. And even another was shunned for her shameful condition. Nonetheless, Jesus personally reached out to those three while He was on earth. Sharon wanted to use their stories to connect with women in her area. So she prayed and planned an outreach at the community center. She chose to show a film about their stories. Many wept as they viewed the movie https://www.youtube.com/user/magdalenatoday Some prayed to receive Christ, while others rededicated their lives to Him. Friend, help others understand true freedom and value are found only in Christ. He still reaches women today no matter what their story might be! To learn more, go to https://www.youtube.com/user/...
New Knees
“If anyone is in Christ, the new creation has come: the old has gone, the new is here!” 2 Corinthians 5:17 (TNIV) “Like newborn babies, crave pure spiritual milk, so that by it you may grow up in your salvation…” 1 Peter 2:2 Here I am, preparing again to go to the gym for a strenuous workout. For a person who finds the most pleasurable exercise to be turning the pages of a book, these experiences are not high on my Happiness List. Nine months ago I was the recipient of a new knee. The surgeon assured me that—in time—my mobility would be back to normal with a limping gait and constant pain only a distant memory. The key words in his prognosis were “in time.” While there have been no physical complications, recovery has not been without its challenges. First there were six weeks of therapy a...
Choices
Colleen Reece had a career choice to make! She’d been offered the position as personal assistant to a bank president. Definitely a step up the ladder for Colleen. And to add icing to the cake – the salary she was offered was twice what she was making as a school secretary. Colleen had given her life to the Lord many years before. And a big part of her life since, was counseling at Christian youth camps. It was something she loved to do. This new bank job would change all of that! Her summers would no longer be free. In Revelation 2:4 God reminds His church: “Do not forsake your first love.” Do the things you did at first. Colleen stayed where she felt God was using her. And she has never regretted it. Follow God’s leading for your life....
Forgiving is Not Excusing
Forgiveness is not excusing! Nor is it pretending. To forgive is to move on, not to think about the offense anymore. You don’t excuse him, endorse her, or embrace them. You just route thoughts about them through heaven. Revenge is God’s job. By the way, how can we grace-recipients do anything less? Dare we ask God for grace when we refuse to give it? It’s a huge issue in the Bible. Jesus was tough on sinners who refused to forgive other sinners. In the final sum, we give grace because we’ve been given grace. In the story Jesus tells in Matthew 18:32, the master calls the servant in. “You wicked servant, he said, “I canceled all that debt of yours because you begged me to. Shouldn’t you have had mercy on your fellow servant just as I had on you?” It’s a good question. We’ve been...
In the Midst of Depression and Anxiety, There’s Hope
Please be advised: This post contains references to suicide and suicidal ideation. In 2001, I attempted suicide. I came to a place where the emotional pain was too heavy, the darkness too strong. Hope was gone, and God seemed far away. As a Bible college student, a pastor’s wife, and a long-time believer, depression felt like a failure, and two lies became poison that led me to feel like there was no way out: I am worthless. I will never be well again. If you have also struggled with these lies, my heart-felt desire is to free you. There is one name that proves both wrong: it’s in the beautiful and incredibly powerful story of Jesus. I am worthless. Jesus’ life and death prove this isn’t true. Until I faced off with depression, I didn’t realize that my version of God’s love involved provin...
Fighting for Moments of Joy and Hope
On the Jesus Calling® Podcast, author Dawn Barton shared how she’d lost a child, survived rape, beaten Stage 3 breast cancer but lost her sister to the disease just a few years later, watched her mother suffer through a brain aneurysm, and walked her husband through the depths of alcoholism on the hard journey to sobriety. Dawn has every excuse in the world not to be joyful. But in this excerpt from her new book Laughing Through the Ugly Cry: And Finding Unstoppable Joy, Dawn shows us why she has made it, as she says, a goal to “scream from the mountaintops why we should be joyful, and why it’s a choice.” A DEEP BREATH AND a huge, slow eye roll. That was my immediate reaction. A family member had just said to me, “You get to.” This was her attempt at reminding me of the holiest of pos...
The Hope of Heaven: Kristen Kill & Donna Barrett
Our first guest is Donna Barrett. While working as a missionary in Nicaragua, Donna’s life was affected not only by the systemic poverty she witnessed in this country, but the relationships she formed by working alongside the team who accompanied her on the trip; in particular a gregarious young woman who God placed in her path, who would have an impact on her life for years to come. Our second guest is writer Kristen Kill. Kristen was exhausted, depressed and desperate for a change. Something sparked in her when she read the Psalms and discovered the true meaning of “selah” – the pause, rest or interlude between the notes in song. Kristen discovered the secret of finding selah in her own life, and shares how others can also find this rest. Narrator: Welcome to the Jesus Calling podcast. W...
Seize the Opportunity
“When tests and challenges come at you from all sides consider it a joyful opportunity.” Jesus Always, August 23 Mr. Opportunity Walt often greeted me with, “Hey, Dan, I have an opportunity for you.” This was how many of our conversations began. Over time I learned to laugh and beat him to the punch. “So Walt, what opportunity do you have for me today?” Walt was one of those happy, easy-going guys who had the gift to see the positive in every situation. Even the worst of times was an “opportunity” for someone to learn something new, to grow, to rise above expectations and do great things. Walt lived as if every “opportunity” was a moment for us to remain faithful, do our best, and then watch as God showed up to redeem and transform a difficult situation. I was a young man whe...
