Hope On The Road Less Traveled
Suffering. How can one small word hold so much complexity? Even beyond the complexity of what the circumstances entail, whether or not you believe there's a God, and whether you believe he's good and sovereign, will completely change the way you interpret the word. Even in the Christian community, the way each interprets the pain,… Continue reading When Hard Places Become Holy Places
"So if you have been raised with Christ, seek the things above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God. Set your minds on things above, not on earthly things. For you died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God. When Christ, who is your life, appears, then you also will… Continue reading Growth Often Feels like Death
I slowly worked my way to the window and opened the blinds for the first time in over a week. My world had shrunk down to the next time I could take more pain meds, the next time I had to force down a little food and fluids to keep the ER at bay, and… Continue reading What’s the Point if the Pain Has no End
Recently, we were discussing at Bible Study what it means to seek God‘s face, as it says in Psalm 27:8: “You have said, ‘Seek my face.’My heart says to you, “Your face, Lord, do I seek.” As I listened, what struck me most was the importance of distinguishing between seeking God’s hand and seeking his… Continue reading Seek God’s Face Before You Seek His Hand
There are moments in life when you find yourself standing in a metaphoric wilderness. You believe God can provide, and you see him providing for many around you. And yet, as the heat of the sun beats down on you and the streams before you begin to run dry, you begin to wonder…”Is God really… Continue reading He Will Create Rivers in the Dry Wasteland
“I’m thankful God that has sustained me, but sometimes I don’t want to just be sustained, I want to be delivered," I confessed to my husband. It’s difficult to admit such thoughts because as a Christian, I know that God is working in my trials and I do believe he has a purpose. But there… Continue reading Sustained in the Fire
I stared out at the vast ocean and breathed in deep the warm salty air. I felt my mind slowly reconnecting with my body and realized, I hadn't been truly present in a long while. It took feeling my feet in the sand, the warm sun against my face, and the sound of nothing but… Continue reading Standing on God’s Promises When Circumstances Worsen
The past several years, God has been stripping away the frills of earthly success, independence, and self-confidence in me. Like Elijah, I have felt hidden by the Lord, severely tested by difficult and painful circumstances, and a battle of faith in response to God’s silence and the relentless furnace of affliction. My natural assumption of… Continue reading Don’t Lose Hope – God’s Writing a Story of Redemption In Your Life
“Though the fig tree should not blossom, nor fruit be on the vines, the produce of the olive fail and the fields yield no food, the flock be cut off from the fold and there be no herd in the stalls, yet I will rejoice in the Lord; I will take joy in the God of… Continue reading Lord, Help My Unbelief
"May your compassion come quickly to meet us, for we are in desperate need" (Psalm 79:8). This is the prayer that I've been praying with every frail ounce of my being right now. It's a prayer that, I admit, is riddled with thoughts of doubt and weariness over God's apparent silence to our pleas for… Continue reading Fighting for Faith When Doubts Abound
Set Apart 