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How to be Happy with What We Have
Today I’m welcoming a writing friend as a guest blogger. While welcoming guest bloggers to my site isn’t something I’m regularly pursuing, Daisy and I met long before I ever imagined I’d have a blog, and her words have been an encouragement to me. We met through Grove City Alliance Church, and Daisy passed her role as the Prayer Shield Coordinator onto me a few years ago. We reconnected this spring, and it’s an honor to share her words with you today. Daisy is the published author of Homespun Faith, a compilation of devotionals. She writes on her own blog at homespunfaith.com. How to be Happy with What We Have…
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How to Cultivate a Closer Relationship with God
The curtains wave in the breeze and a dozen songbirds chatter on the lawn. I sit with iced tea and a deep longing in my soul. At first, it feels like physical hunger. But as I sit in the silence with the longing, I recognize it: I’m longing for a closer relationship with God. Francis Chan speaks through the computer screen. There’s a tent on the stage. It’s a red and white camping tent – a modern-day illustration of the place Moses went to meet face-to-face with the Creator of the world. God spoke to man in the tent. The tent was holy. It was awe-inspiring and filled with wonder.…
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Scared of the Future? Cling to This Single Truth…
I remember it as if it were yesterday. I’m fiddling with the latch on my green Care Bears lunchbox when Mrs. Nagel gently encourages me to take a step to the left. Apparently, I’m the juxtaposed member of an otherwise pencil-straight line of kindergartners. I’m scared of pretty much everything these days. Mostly, I’m scared of the future in this wide and frightening world. I miss my mom like it’s nobody’s business, and this whole mess of leaving her for approximately 3.5 hours a day is just about more than my five-year-old heart can take. I have no idea how I’ll ever get married and leave the house. But I…
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How to Live for God and Find Deeper Joy in Life
The rhythm of the elliptical is like a cadence keeping time with my prayers. I pray while I exercise. Today I’m praying for single-minded focus to help me live for God in a world so full of distractions. I stare at a beautiful landscape background on my computer while a worship mix stirs my soul. I’m listening to Israel Houghton’s moving rendition of “To Worship You I Live” when a question startles me from my daze. How to Live for God I think of Paul’s words: “For to me, to live is Christ, and to die is gain” (Philippians 1:21 NIV). The song prompts me to consider what I live…
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Pray Big Things for Your Little Ones
Friday isn’t my usual day to post, but I’ve been guest posting quite a bit lately. It’s an honor to write alongside John Piper and other gifted writers at Desiring God. The links below will lead you to these articles and a few more: Desiring God: Pray Big Things for Your Little Ones God Carried Us with Promises: Five Truths Strong Enough for Any Trial The Praying Woman: Five Prayers Every Mother Should Pray for Her Children Her View from Home: To the Mother Who Feels Like She Doesn’t Belong Christian Devotions Ministries: The Promise for Your Affliction You Are Cherished Thanks for reading and sharing! Have a blessed weekend!
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Refresh Your Soul: 15 Creative Ways
I take Sweet Bekah to the woods for our first overnight backing trip and try to ignore anxious thoughts about leaving the boys at home and what we’ll do if I forget something important. As I stuff everything we’ll need for the night into our backpacks, I whisper, “Enjoy this, Stacey. Let this time in the woods refresh your soul.” Sweet Bekah is five, and she’s begged me to take her backpacking for months. I finally concede, and we go to the river on a sunny afternoon. I strap fifty pounds to my back and push the rest of our gear ahead of me in a double stroller. We have…