rebelling against low expectations
A couple of years ago, a struggling friend told me, “Everyone always leaves.” Around that time, whenever she and I talked, we would pretend we were sitting on a bench in a park, just the two of us. Because somehow the world felt a little lighter that way. When she mentioned her fear of my leaving, I told her I would stay and, without hesitation, she asked, “What if it rains?” A couple weeks ago...
Is it possible to have hope when your world feels like it’s crumbling around you? What can you practically do to stay grounded in times of loss, suffering, and pain? Randy Alcorn joins the podcast today to talk about the reality of the hope we have in Heaven (and what Heaven is really going to be like) and how this hope has sustained him through his own seasons of loss and suffering. If...
Trees stand cold and bare like great brown skeletons. Grass lays brown and crunches with frost. The earth is hard like stone. Snow and ice lay in freezing, crusty piles. The days are short and dark. Your breath leaves your mouth in clouds, and it feels as if you are exhaling your soul as frigid air makes your lungs ache. The wind stings your face and causes your eyes to water. January. Christmas...
“I feel like a tornado just ripped through our lives. We all survived, but it still caused devastation. There are still piles of wreckage to be dealt with. Still evidence of the tornado’s presence. And it didn’t just cause new pain, it tore the doors off rooms where old pain lay dormant and scattered it everywhere.” I penned these words a few weeks after my momma came home from the hospital. On...
If you have been a Christian for a long time, I’m sure you have heard the Christmas Story a dozen times. We hear it so much that we’ve become blind to the goodness of it. We forget to take in what it really means. The Christmas story about God becoming man to build His kingdom here on Earth is very intriguing, but I think we miss the reason Christmas is such a sweet time. God was unable to be...
The first time I encountered mental illness, I was twelve. By fourteen, I’d witnessed physical, mental, emotional, and social abuse that we now call trauma. Today, Millennials and Gen Z are 27% more likely to report mental health issues than any previous generation. But too many of us suffer alone. I did. We all know many things can impact us, from the way we think or feel to the relationships...
If you’re like me, you may recall seasons of vibrancy and zeal in your Christian life. Spiritual disciplines come easy: time in God’s Word is fruitful, prayer is often, the gap between each journal entry is minimal, and fellowship brings glee. The streams of God’s endless love and grace flowing from the fount of Christ are delightful to drink. But if you’re like me, you may also recall seasons of...
I have a confession: I don’t think I’d ever studied the book of Revelation in its entirety. That’s why I was so excited when my Sunday school teacher announced we’d be studying it this past Summer. To be clear, I had read Revelation in bits and pieces as I studied other books of the Bible. There are passages I can nearly quote verbatim (Revelation 19:11 has always appealed to my equestrian heart)...
It was in the darkest moments that I understood the power of music. Since I grew up in a musical family, I’ve always been around music. Until a few months ago, however, I never truly valued music. Only recently I understood what a gift it is. I have seen what it can do to my mind and my heart. I have seen how God can use it. In the last year many songs have helped me speak truth into my life when...
Corrie ten Boom is known for rescuing hundreds of Jews during WW2 through her work in the Dutch underground. Telling this incredible story in The Hiding Place, she begins slow, with glimpses into her childhood, her life as a young adult trying to navigate her future, and the years preceding the Nazi occupation of Holland. What is remarkable is how the lessons from these times, as Corrie frames...
rebelling against low expectations
