We’ve all been in waiting seasons, when you’re somewhere you maybe no longer want to be, dreaming of someday. Or maybe you’re content with where you are, but your heart also longs for a different season, whether that’s a new job, graduating college, moving, falling in love, healing, starting a family, or becoming a mother. That feeling of longing and eagerly expecting something is what this week’s study is about.
Read MoreHomosexuality. This is a topic very close to my heart. God granted me the privilege of building friendships within a gay theatre community. I was able to talk to many men and hear their hearts and struggles. God granted me the privilege of an unusual friendship with a Christian young man (not a part of the theatre ) walking the journey of finding his sexuality in Christ and surrendering his sexual tendencies to Christ.
Read More“Having children is like a walk in the park. Jurassic Park, to be precise.”
Before I had kids, this was a quote that I laughed at but didn’t really understand. Now, it’s something that I laugh at because it can feel so true. It doesn’t matter how many of your friends or family have kids before you and offer their advice and experiences to assist you on your own journey, there is truly nothing that can prepare you for what lies ahead. Much like the crew that John Hammond assembled in the first of this movie franchise - not a single one of them knew enough about dinosaurs despite all the books they’d read and bones they’d assessed to face them in real-time.
We had just moved from Chennai, India to Auckland, New Zealand. My husband started designing bridges here. Within a couple of weeks, the boys, 18 and 14, were busy with studies, and Ranjan worked long hours at the office. I realized I could not work as an architect in New Zealand with my Indian qualification. I took that and everything else to the Lord in prayer.
Read MoreWhen 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.
Read MoreBeing 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.
Read MoreIn 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.
Read MoreSomeone once pointed out something interesting about this passage of Scripture. Shiphrah and Puah are mentioned by name. The King of Egypt is not. Do you know why?
Read More“Do not despise the day of small beginnings…” I have a confession to make. I was never super excited about “Tirzah at Work”. It was the one section that I just couldn’t gear up the passion to write for. In my years of writing, I’ve never contributed to this section until now.
Read MoreI’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.
Read MoreThis 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.
Read MoreHave you ever felt God calling you to do something, but you definitely did NOT want to do it? Let me introduce you to Jonah. He would probably be saying, “Same, girl, same.” Jonah is the Biblical icon of disobedience to the Lord.
Read MoreI don’t know about you, but when I used to think of missions, I limited it to preaching the gospel to developing nations that are hundreds, if not thousands, of miles from home. Little did I know, I was putting God in a box. I limited the gospel to impoverished people who live far away from me.
Read MoreIf you Google “the Bible” and “justice,” you’ll find lots of websites that walk you through the story of Joseph (the guy who had the coat of many colors), you’ll find mentions of mercy, and there will be a lot of Psalms. You might stumble across the mention of Biblical justice.
Read MoreIn Happy Valley, South Australia, Travis and Pixi Johnson call 72 Candy Road their home-away-from-home. Built in the 1800s, the little old church sits proudly on the corner, sheltered by peppercorn trees and besides a grassy hill often dotted with kangaroos.
Read MoreWe’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.
Read MoreThe most daunting portion of mission work is often the first step of the journey. It can make any potential missionary candidate to sweat a little, if not a lot, over any number of things that can crop up. There are so many questions, and a slew of potential unknowns.
Read MoreWe’ve got a responsibility as artists, creatives, writers and the like to handle the Great Commission with care. So what are we doing about it?
Read MoreYou really couldn’t have thought the story was over...right?
Read MoreWhat does mission work look like now, after a year of most everything being shut down? This is a question I’ve been pondering lately. When we hear the word “missions”, most of us think of someone living far off, possibly even in another country. Today, I believe it looks like that, plus something a little different.
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