rebelling against low expectations
I cringed as I went to answer the phone at work for what felt like the hundredth time that day. Customers had been anything but easy on this particular afternoon, and I was way past ready to go home. Masking my frustration with a smile, I greeted the customer on the phone. Ugh. This was an especially difficult customer. No matter where you work, you’re bound to have days like this. When I think...
Sometimes, we’re called to walk alone. When I first thought about writing this article, I realized it would be the hardest I ever had to write. Doubts plagued me: did I really have something worthy to share? The answer is yes. God did give me something to share. But when he did, I nearly chickened out—because this is one of the most vulnerable lessons I’ve had to learn during my walk with Christ...
Almost every hero in history shares a common trait: they started young. Jonathan Edwards went to Harvard at age 13. He would become one of the most influential figures of The Great Awakening and write a series of 70 Resolutions as a 19- and 20-year old. Blaise Pascal began studying geometry at age 12. He would go on to invent the calculator at 19. Jane Austen started writing seriously as a child...
I once had this perception of college. The perception that every single college student has it all together. That while I’m still floundering, these students have their lives figured out at age eighteen. That while I contemplate and wonder if this is God’s will for my life, they somehow have the ability to know the future and every plan God has ordained for them. I would stress and feel...
I shivered as I read. I knew that many of Christ’s apostles and early disciples were heavily persecuted; but I wasn’t prepared for the gruesome deaths detailed on the pages before me. I closed my eyes, but couldn’t remove the gory pictures from my mind. Stoned. Fed to lions. Burned as torches. And worse. Would you do it for me, Anna? I hesitated. Tears filled my eyes. Lord, I don’t know if I...
Do Hard Things. It’s something most of us have heard said so many of times. It’s a motto. It’s something we say to motivate each other. It’s a catchphrase– a saying. But if we’re not careful, that’s all it is. The Rebelution movement first began years ago by two teenagers wanting to break the status quo and truly do something meaningful. They made a choice to break past the low expectations...
George Muller cared for 10,000 orphans. Don Richardson preached the gospel to a violent tribe that had never heard it before. He saw half of that tribe embrace Christ. David Wilkerson preached the gospel to the gangs of New York City and watched as God transformed the lives of countless drug addicts. When I look at these great Christian heroes, I feel overwhelmed. I too want to serve the Lord...
Do you ever feel like you receive so much insight and depth in your relationship with God, and other times, it feels so…dry? I grew up in Southern California, so I’m quite familiar with what it’s like to go through a drought, and what it’s like when the drought ends, and rain finally comes again. I often think of my spiritual life as being like that weather…sometimes it’s really dry and hardly...
Last night, I lay in bed thinking about the 100 Hard Things challenge. Doing one hundred hard things over the course of three months sounded exciting and impossible at the same time. But as I thought about potential things I could accomplish, I came across a potential problem. While the challenge could foster great accomplishments in denying self, it could also become a pathway to pride or a...
“What car were you in?” He asked. “I wasn’t in a car. I was running home and wanted to offer any needed assistance,” I replied. After thanking me for stopping and returning to the phone clutched in his hand, I resumed my Garmin watch, though home was a mere three-tenths of a mile from the intersection where multiple cars collided on a sunny afternoon. Did the Holy Spirit prompt me to stop and...
rebelling against low expectations
