Amazing Faith on Perseverance Road

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Dianne Barker here with encouragement for your journey. Discouragement is a persistent enemy. That’s why I love offering others a sip of nourishment as they travel Perseverance Road. For most of us, hearing from God isn’t the problem. Our problem is continuing to believe God. We clearly heard his voice and gladly followed him. And then…the straight path grew narrow and tangled. Exhaustion turned our feet to lead and doubt set up camp. Lord, is this the road you chose? Did I miss a signpost?

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Launch Out into the Deep

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Dianne Barker here with a few words of encouragement. Are you tired of jumping hurdles and pushing past obstacles that seem to impede every step? Here’s an idea. Launch out into the deep and let down your nets! The Lord told Simon Peter after a disappointing fishing trip, “…Put out into deep water, and let down the nets for a catch” (see Luke 5:1-11). A crowd had gathered around Jesus by the Lake of Gennesaret to hear his teaching. He got into Peter’s boat and asked him to take it out a little further from the shore. Then he sat…

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Believing God for the Impossible

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Dianne Barker here…just thinking about my biblical friend Abram. The Lord had given him huge promises. “I will make you into a great nation…To your offspring I will give this land” (see Gen. 12:2, 7). He kept talking about the future (Gen. 13:14-17), but nothing seemed to be happening.

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Try Breathing Praise

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Dianne Barker here with a few thoughts about praise. “Let every thing that hath breath praise the Lord…” (Psalm 150:6). Everything that has breath? That includes me. And there are no exclusion clauses.

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Wrestling the Dream-killer

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Wrestling the Dream-killer Dianne Barker here, wondering…have you wrestled the dream-killer? Weariness and its family—exhaustion, fatigue, disillusionment—are experts at destroying dreams. Their persuasive whispers can talk us out of doing what we believe God called us to do. Authors battle weariness on many fronts. We begin a project with enthusiasm but time and trials slay our energy and our expectation. Who hasn’t felt searing pain when an editor slashed hope of publishing the manuscript we penned in heart’s blood? Who hasn’t stumbled under the weight of marketing demands? Who hasn’t declared, “I give up!” In such a place, questioning the worth…

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Tips from the pros: Dianne Barker

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Greetings from the winter-draped Rockies in Colorado. Davalynn Spencer here to introduce multi-published author, Dianne Barker. Dianne, how did you get into writing? As an eighteen-year-old college student, I landed my dream job writing for my hometown newspaper in Johnson City, Tennessee. When Billy Graham held a crusade in Knoxville in 1970, the newspaper sent me to cover the event, which made national headlines with the visit of President Richard Nixon. Through the influence of my friend and mentor Dr. Sherwood Wirt (founding editor of Decision magazine), the crusade executive committee chose me to write a commemorative book about the…

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