CategoryEncouragement

Fight the good fight of faith… 1 Timothy 6:12 Clinging to my dad’s leg, I hid my eyes behind my hands until his cheers gave me the courage to peek between my fingers. I saw two boxers in the heat of battle and it was intense. As a little girl, this was a Friday night ritual for my dad and me. My dad was an avid boxing fan, and… well, I was just a daddy’s girl wanting to be wherever […]

Growing up, some of my favorite memories were from summer vacations spent in the mountains of upstate NY. A most vivid memory is of my mom gathering us together at the end of our trip so we could clean the place from top to bottom before we left. Of course one of my siblings or I was sure to complain, “But mom, it didn’t even look this good before we got here!” And she would always answer, “You should always […]

“Life’s a rat race!” or so the saying goes. It’s true if we live as the world demands. We’re encouraged to strive for more and better and as quickly as possible. A better job, a bigger home, a fatter bank account, and so on. It’s not wrong to achieve and be successful. In fact, God wants us to be fruitful in this life, but our priorities are what make the difference. Years ago I saw a bumper sticker that said, […]

“Lord, please speak to me…” How many times has this been your prayer when you need answers from God? I pray this often. But what happens when we get an answer from God and it’s not what we wanted to hear? Uh-Oh. Do we pretend we didn’t hear? Do we suddenly have selective hearing, only acknowledging what we agree with? Like a rebellious child, do we dig our heels in the ground and refuse to budge? In all honesty, I’ve […]

In times of adversity, we don’t have problems, we have the potential for promotion. A problem or obstacle will introduce us to ourselves and announce to the world who we really are. Problems provide the potential to get bitter or better. I choose better. What about you? It helps me to remember that all problems have a life span, and they will end. As the old saying goes…”This too shall pass.” It’s just a matter of time until good gives […]

What is the cure to every ache in our heart, every ailment we’ll ever face, and every need we’ll ever have? More of God’s love. Don’t believe it? Well, then I encourage you to pursue a love relationship with the Lord and be amazed at how your life is transformed. Even if you consider yourself to already have a relationship with Him, I encourage you to go deeper. God has more for you! God’s love is so vast that it […]

We hear a lot about self-care these days, don’t we? And while some of the advice we hear can be helpful, it often becomes more things to add to our “to-do list” that we feel we “should” be doing. I should drink more water, I should get more sleep, I should take better care of myself, I should, I should, I should…. And then when we don’t do them, they become yet, more things we feel guilty about not doing! Does anyone […]

Humility attracts God, and I don’t know about you, but I want…no I need…actually I crave MORE of God in my life. If you examine the people in the Bible who walked closely with God and experienced Him in amazingly, powerful ways, HUMILITY was evident in their lives. In my own walk with God, I began to experience His Presence more fully when I finally understood what it meant to humble myself before the Lord. Humility is the landing strip […]

At the beginning of a new year many people are compelled to make resolutions in hopes of having a better year than last. While it’s said New Year’s resolutions are made to be broken, as believers we can have greater success when we partner with God for change. Psalm 37:5 says, Commit your way to the LORD; trust in him and he will do this: We commit – He does it! This is God’s grace in action! As we lean […]

Like me, you may have felt the intense resistance in the spiritual atmosphere over the last several weeks. It’s because we’ve been in a spiritual battle. If we look in the natural, we can get discouraged, but remember, even as evil increases, God is always in control. It’s times like these, He calls us to step more securely into the position of power He created us for. We’re not destined for defeat, but to rise up as a great and […]