The Goodness Of Singleness

When I was a freshman in high school, my friend in the youth group made a bet with me that I would be married by the time I turned 25. While the bet was made partly in jest, the lingering idea that I could be married made me hopeful. So I followed Jesus closely throughout high school and college, avoiding the many temptations that encompass the college party scene, assuming the Lord would honor the bet by granting me a godly husband by 25. In my mind, I thought that I had to wait for a few months then God would lead a godly man that looked like Jess Mariano straight to my doorstep.

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Romans: Adopted Heirs

Being adopted into someone’s family is life changing. In the Roman times, a childless couple could adopt a son, making him their heir. This was a deliberate decision a father would make to have someone carry on his name and inherit his estate. As a result, the child’s old debts would be canceled, he would receive a new name, he would be set to inherit all of his father’s wealth, and his father would become responsible and liable for the son.

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Six Instagram Accounts To Follow If You're A Homemaker

In the last five months, I’ve had some pretty big life shifts. My husband and I were married in November, learned we were pregnant (our post-honeymoon little one) with our first child in December, then my husband shipped out for Army training at the beginning of January. It’s been a crazy whirlwind, and in the middle of it all, I’ve been grappling with what it means to care for my home.

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Enter The Flow

I’ve been spending many of my summer evenings at the river, swimming in the salty marsh river near my home in coastal Georgia. Before I jump in, I watch the water. The current flows confident and trusts the tides to continually flow. I want to enter the flow. I want to feel the flow on my skin. I want, even more, to feel the flow in my soul. I want to enter a flow state.

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Romans: Life in the Spirit

This week’s study focuses on two parallel lives, the root of each stemming from either living according to the flesh or according to the Spirit. Whatever you live according to is determined by what you set your mind on: the things of the flesh or the things of the Spirit. To set your mind is more than just thinking about something though, but instead, it implies a deeper focus on something - to become preoccupied with it, to let your attention and imagination be captured by something.

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Romans: Why Do We Do What We Don’t Want To Do?

We’ve all experienced that sinking feeling when you’ve messed up yet again and did the thing you told God you wouldn’t do anymore. You know you shouldn’t have, and for a while, you did so good, but then a hard day or something triggers you and the flesh wins out. And in that moment, the enemy will tell you that you’re the only one like that; like everyone else has it figured out but you’re the only one constantly struggling. Yet, here we have Apostle Paul saying, “For I do not do what I want, but I do the very thing I hate.” So, if a man like that struggled with this too, where do we find the hope? Let’s study that this week.

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I'm Not Who I Want To Be

For as long as I can remember, insecurity has been a part of my life. As a child, I had a skin disease called vitiligo, which causes loss of color that appears in patches. Fortunately, these blotches have become far less noticeable as I’ve grown up in the desert sun, but during junior high, I was incredibly insecure about my pale skin. I had ultra-white patches on the eyelids which made it look like I was constantly wearing eyeshadow and I always had to wear twice as much sunscreen as everyone else and constantly take breaks during my soccer games to reapply. Until wearing make-up became acceptable and age-appropriate, I would hate seeing myself in the mirror.

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Float To Faith

I lean my head back, spread out my arms and legs and allow the water to softly suspend me on the surface. I’m not swimming, forcing forward motion, or treading water, barely keeping my head above water. I’m floating: free to rest, be still and simply be. I welcome the weightlessness and wonder why I don’t float more often. Floating, in the water and out in the world, both takes faith and renews my faith. And I’m beginning to believe faith is a float.

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