Content with What We Have

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Seated at the table with seven other women attending the women’s retreat where I was speaking, I enjoyed visiting with these young moms. Each one introduced herself and then we started talking about the gift of hospitality. Sarah spoke up and motioned to the woman beside her. “Natalie has the most amazing gift of hospitality. Her husband must have had it in mind when he built their huge house. She just makes everyone feel welcome.” The women nodded their agreement. Then another friend of hers offered, “Natalie’s house is so inviting, you’d never guess it’s 6,500 square feet.” Everyone nodded…

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Joy is Strength

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In writing our first in the series of Discovering the Bible: Discovering Hope in the Psalms: A Creative Bible Study Experience, we dug into the familiar passage of Psalm 1. Immediately, my heart began a consistent prayer, Lord, make me a strong Psalm 1 tree! The first time I read that psalm, evn as a child, I knew I wanted to be one of those trees that no storm, no wind, no natural disaster could topple– but reflecting on the Psalm now, more than 50 years later, I see through life experience, just HOW MUCH we need God to help…

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Peace in the Midst of a Storm

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Let’s be honest. Life is filled with ups and downs. Oftentimes there are more downs than ups, and it’s important to remember where our hope lies. Our hope is in the Lord—and sometimes the things that seem so important really aren’t. Other times there are pretty big and scary things we have to face. No matter what the issue, my faith and trust in the Lord help me to deal with whatever I’m facing. My go-to verses to remind me of this are Proverbs 3:5-6. “Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; in all…

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Joy is Relationship

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On my birthday, as my newest book, Discovering Joy in Philippians: A Creative Bible Study Experience released, I pondered “What is joy, really?”  As I look back, seems God had me on a learning trajectory to find then live out joy. As a child, first born daughter of an alcoholic dad, I was naturally joyful but our home situation was chaotic and unpredictable so when things got volatile due to my dad’s anger or his own depression, I retreated and became a sullen, sometimes, pouty and often emotionally teary-eyed little girl. But God had something greater, something better for me…

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Holding Hands Underground

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In 1998 we moved from California to Atlanta, and a new friend asked, “What do you miss about California?” Of course, the main things were family and friends, but then it hit me. “The Redwood Forest. It’s beautiful and Majestic, and I learned life-lessons from those giant trees.” When you drive into the National Park and get out of your car, you enter a new world—an eerily quiet one. Your eyes scan the height of the magnificent trees, some 300 feet tall only allowing a trickle of light to peer through. The fringed tops seem to touch the sky, and…

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Portable Edens

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In Bible study on the Book of Exodus, our lecturer said the Ark of the Covenant was a “portable Eden.” It was a gold box God told the Hebrews to create so He could once again dwell among His nomadic people on earth and be in covenant with them as they traveled. Once the temple in Jerusalem was built, God then dwelled there, in the midst of the land He’d promised them. It became “Eden.” That talk sent a flutter through my chest. Why? Paul told the Corinthians that their bodies were the temple since the one in Jerusalem had…

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Spinning Out of Control

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“Commit to the Lord whatever you do, and he will establish your plans.” (Proverbs 16:3 NIV). Spinning is a popular form of exercise almost everywhere now. Although, in my neighborhood, spinning has a totally different connotation. When I hear the word spinning, I immediately visualize a gym with a spinning class. Don’t you? But in my neighborhood, bicycles are not used for exercise per se. Yes, they are a means of exercise for my neighbors, but their primary purpose is to provide transportation by spinning to and from their alfalfa fields before sunrise. As I watch my neighbors spinning by my house in the early…

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God Bless America

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This is the week of our nation’s Independence Day. And in today’s times there is a greater need for bright lights of the gospel and  people of faith living out their Christianity. “Blessed is the nation whose God is the LORD . . .” Psalm 33:12 NASB “and My people who are called by My name humble themselves and pray and seek My face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, will forgive their sin and will heal their land” (2 Chron. 7:14) In Devotions for Women on the Go and Devotions for Men on…

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U.S. Flag Trivia

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  The upcoming Independence Day holiday is all about fun, food, family, and celebrating America’s freedom from Britain. Here are five interesting facts about the U.S. flag you can share with your kids while waiting for the fireworks to start. History states the red, white, and blue colors of the U.S. flag represent valor (red), liberty and purity (white), and justice and loyalty (blue). There have been twenty-seven official versions of the American flag, each with a different number of stars. Of the six American flags that were planted on the moon, five of them are still standing. Which one isn’t?…

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The Heart of the Matter

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  This is the victory that has overcome the world, even our faith. Who is it that overcomes the world? Only the one who believes that Jesus is the Son of God (1 John 5:4b-5). She rested on her deathbed with saddened eyes and asked her clergyman, “How do I know if I’ve been good enough?” She had believed that Christ was the Son of God, trusted Him for salvation, confessed her hopelessness to absolve her sins, and given her life over to God. Yet, somewhere along the line, she held to a misconception that her good deeds, which were…

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