Glorious Colors

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  Almost everyone has a favorite color. Mine is yellow. I love the yellow sun, yellow buttercups, and yellow sweet corn. But I also like blue. I love going to the beach to see the vast blue sky and various shades of blue in the ocean. I’m not sure why those colors appeal to me—they just do. What amazes me is that God is the only One who could think of all the different colors. What is even more amazing is they have been in existence since the beginning of time. The sun is yellow, the grass is green, and…

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Let Him Shine

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  Do you ever wish for more time in the day? God can do that––extend your time. He did do it. The Bible says so. “The sun stood still, and the moon stopped, till the nation avenged itself on its enemies” (Joshua 10:13 NIV). God still does miracles today. Maybe the sun won’t stand still, but we can find more time to shine. He can do a miracle in our life so that He shines through us, letting others see His miracles in us. How to make that happen: Realize. What is our spirituality? It is God in us—serving each…

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Facing Uncertainties

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  We’re moving. That’s the extent of what we know about this year, or maybe next. My husband is going to retire or the business is going to close—we don’t know which will come first—and we’re moving closer to home. We don’t know if it’s the right time. Billy is eight years older and past retirement age, but I still have a few years to go before Medicare. I also have a condition that may or may not qualify me for disability, but it’s bad enough that we must have health insurance to help pay for all the annoyances associated…

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Step Out Courageously Trusting God

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  I have a beautiful white kitty with gorgeous blue eyes. His name is Sir Edmond and he has a problem being nervous. Anytime a new person visits the house, he puts back his ears and scurries toward my bedroom like his life is in danger. He often misses fun times with us because an unusual noise sends him running. Last winter, a tree limb fell on our house in the middle of a huge snow storm, and we had no heat for five days. The indoor temperature stayed close to freezing, but my husband and I kept a fire…

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How Mary touches lives

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We appreciate our volunteers who give of themselves to help others like Mary L. Hamilton. Volunteers like Mary touch lives with a few minutes of their time and have important contributions for the Christian Authors Network and our readers. If you haven’t read Mary’s work, let us tell you a little about this special and generous person and why she’s in our volunteer spotlight today. Mary L. Hamilton’s writing credits include non-fiction articles, a play, as well as novels for middle readers and young adults. Her years growing up at a youth camp inspired her Rustic Knoll Bible Camp series…

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Learning Patience

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  It’s interesting how God works. My picture book, Lexie’s Adventure in Kenya: Love is Patient, teaches children to be patient, and I’ve needed a lot of patience lately. For all of you who need a bit of encouragement as you learn patience now or in the future, here are a few inspiring quotes that may help. God’s not finished with any of us yet! “God’s way of answering the Christian’s prayer for more patience, experience, hope, and love often is to put him into the furnace of affliction.” Richard Cecil. Yup, I think surgery might be my furnace at…

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Walking by Faith

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  What does walking by faith mean? Romans 1:17 caused me some consternation. “The just shall live by faith.” Sounds simple enough. But when I was a young believer seeking to know Christ better, this idea seemed vague and confusing. I needed a how-to. You know…five simple steps. I heard this explanation: we’re saved by faith, trusting Christ alone; and we walk by faith, trusting Christ alone. Being an emotionally expressive person, I let feelings trip me time after time. When anger, worry, or discouragement robbed my joy or a bad decision knocked me off track, I’d come to the…

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Life’s Crazy Pace

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  “There is a time for everything, and a season for every activity under heaven” (Ecclesiastes 3:1). I’m reevaluating the pace of my life, my priorities, and how I use my time. What’s really, really important? Yes, there are expectations, obligations, and demands that try to push and pull me in all kinds of directions, but what is an appropriately paced life? While I know that my gifts will make space for me, there is a season for everything. Yet I also know that I need to manage that space. So what does that look like for me—and for you?…

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You’ll Be Hacked!

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If hacking hasn’t happened to you, it will. Hackers are on the rampage. Facebook posts, emails, tweets are compromised. “Share” posts contain hidden lewd images. Links illegally access your profile. Banks, hospitals, even government entities are not immune. It seems there is no firewall strong enough. Our souls are not immune to being hacked. Call him what you will…the devil, the evil one, Satan, the father of lies. Trust me, as soon as you begin to do God’s will, this hacker will show up. Big time! Satan knows the places where our “firewall” is the weakest. He wiggles in with a…

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Returning to My First Love

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  I’ll never forget the day I was cleaning my top dresser drawer and found a treasure. I read through the stack of aged, yellowed papers and instantly realized why I’d kept them. On them were written words of endearment—nearly 30 years ago—from my husband. They contained irresistible phrases like, “You complete me like no other” and “I love you desperately.” As I read through them, my eyes teared. And then my heart dropped. Why doesn’t he write these words to me anymore? It would have been easy to believe he was the one who had become distant, more critical,…

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