‘Be perfect like your Heavenly Father is perfect’ says Jesus in the very last verse of Matthew 5. This is an important hinge in the chapters we call The Sermon on the Mount. Jesus’ kind of perfect was so very different from the ‘perfect’ defined by the world. Jesus not only described it, he modeled it for us.

Just as I want to help my child and see him succeed, God wants the same for you. As much as I love my child, God loves His children more. Motherhood has shown me how much you can love your child and has given me a new understanding for how God loves us, his children. 

‘The Lord is my Shepherd, I shall not want’ took on new meaning for me. I am amazed at the dots which the Lord connects,  just to provide for us. He loves us as if we were the only one on the planet! Look back at your own life and make a list of all the Lord has provided for you. Some of God's miracles are small, let us not forget them. Jehovah Jireh - The Lord will provide.

The circumstances in our life that we are confronted with on a daily basis has a tendency to define us; but when we daily roll the losses we encounter onto the shoulders of a God who loves us fiercely and intimately, we learn to walk in His strength and not our own.

I suppose there are many of us who, at times in our lives, have questioned whether or not we took the right path. The varying degrees of this thought pattern are multifaceted and can range from “I wish I would have done such and such a thing” to “Where would I be if I had made this choice?” We treat our life as if it’s a cosmic “Choose Your Own Adventure,” forgetting about the variables that surrounded us at that time, variables that most certainly swayed us one way or another.

There is an abundance of self-help resources because we live in a fallen world. Yet, as believers, we can know and rely on God for help and share his Word with others who are hurting.

The Panama sun beats down on the cracked ground, even in the mid-morning. I have never been out of the country in my nineteen years of life, but here I find myself in the suburbs of Panama City, serving with global missionaries and other students from my college. 

Groups like ANM help people receive and access the Bible - in their NATIVE language. Right now, we are partnering to promote them giving Children’s Storybook Bibles to China. These Bibles could end up in the hands of children who have NEVER been exposed to Jesus. How cool is that?

As I watch the news headlines scroll across my television screen, I’m left in a state of helplessness and heartbreak over the lost lives and utter destruction taking place in Ukraine and across the globe. In the last few weeks of praying for the Ukraine/Russian war, the Lord continually reminded me that He is in control and has a purpose and a plan through even this sudden terror.

When we cannot find the words