Good morning... Following our recent post My Stupid Decision, she wrote a very encouraging email, encouragement I think we all can learn from in the classroom of God's grace. ****** Dear Sue, Stupid decisions, the little ones: I make them every day. Usually it is hitting “send” too quickly. But the recent big one came in a very [...]
Good morning... Certainly our anxieties could run rampant, with a deadly tornado suddenly ravaging Nashville, the wildfire spread of the Coronavirus, and the biggest drop in one day seen by the Stockmarket. Yet overwhelming anxiety is not our only option. Beloved author Max Lucado says, “Anxiety and gratitude cannot share the same heart.” I actually think anxiety and gratitude [...]
Good morning... "Oh Sue, do not beat yourself up," she wrote after yesterday's relatable post, My Stupid Decision. "Paul Tripp writes we are never 'grace graduates' and how blessed we are for that never ending hope." We are never "grace graduates." The phrase captures my curiosity. We never graduate from God's School of Grace. Life continually offers us advanced [...]
Good morning... I made a poor choice and paid the price. On the spectrum of stupid decisions, mine was pretty tame, but gratefully it gave me a small taste of embarrassing shame. My mistake set my mind wondering. How do people get out of bed the morning after a devastating affair is exposed, a preventable accident brings permanent [...]
Good morning... Leading a yoga class on the beach, the instructor said an interesting phrase, "Surrender. Do nothing but allow..." I have never really considered the practical definition of surrender. When I look it up now, I discover these addition phrases. Stop resisting an enemy. Submit to the authority of an opponent. Give into the powerful influence of another. [...]
Good morning... "God sent Jesus to make free persons of us," points out spiritual mentor Henri Nouwen. "He has chosen compassion as the way to freedom. That is a great deal more radical than you might at first imagine. It means that God wanted to liberate us, not by removing suffering from us, but by sharing it with [...]
Good morning... "Get beyond yourselves and protecting your own interests; be sincere, and secure your neighbors’ interests first," urges Philippians 2:4 in the VOICE translation. In verses five through eleven, God's Word continues: In other words, adopt the mind-set of Jesus the Anointed. Live with His attitude in your hearts. Remember: Though He was in the form of God, [...]
Good morning... As I have invested hours upon hours creating a companion journal for our upcoming "Awake To Wholeness" Women's Retreat, I ran across these very life-giving words: "Only those who have confronted their pride and come to humility fully experience harmony in relationship with God, with others, and with self," says ninety-four year old Christian mystic Betty Skinner. [...]
Good morning... First Peter 2:23 sticks with me most constantly from this first week of Lenten blog posts. When [Jesus] was reviled, he did not revile in return; when he suffered, he did not threaten, but continued entrusting himself to him who judges justly. Many times in our lives stressful storms come our way, and often we cast blame [...]
Good morning... "Why did Jesus send his disciples into the storm?" asked yesterday's dynamic devotional quoting Paul David Tripp. "He did it for the same reasons he sometimes sends you into storms - because he knows that sometimes you need the storm in order to be able to see the glory," came the quick, tidy answer. "For the believer, [...]
