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Letting Love In
In life we all go through stuff. We all have our own hurts and scars. Trauma and broken hearts can lead us to shy away from love. But love is not something to run away from or to keep hidden. It can be scary and hard to accept love when someone is trying to give it to you. You might be afraid of it. Afraid of getting hurt and losing something inside of you. But pure love is healing. Sometimes you just have to let people love you. Letting people love you doesn’t have to be big things. It can be accepting a gift or a coffee from a friend.…
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Hate Thanksgiving? Read this
We see the happy family in the movies and TV shows and think wow, I wish my thanksgiving could look like that. Holidays can be hard if you have an unconventional family or situation. But even in the midst of trauma and bad memories, we can still make the best of the holiday. We don’t have to go on hating the holidays. It’s typical to think of all the things we’re thankful for on thanksgiving, hence the “thank” part. So we can practice gratitude. Gratitude changes everything. You can go from hating your life to actually enjoying getting up in the morning. Sometimes you have to look up from the…
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Listening to God
It’s important to listen to what God tells you. Sometimes it’s something simple like, “turn off that TV show, it’s not okay.” I didn’t listen to God tonight. I watched a show. God said I shouldn’t. I kept watching it. The thing is it wasn’t an inherently bad show. It mentioned suicide, swearing, mentions of sex. But I am sensitive. At the end, a character died and it was a gruesome death. That’s what bothered me. That’s why I should have listened. Sometimes we think we know better than God. Like I did with that show, I thought, it’s okay, I’ll be fine. At the end I felt sick. To…
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Fear v. Hope
The difference between fear and hope is that fear is without love. You don’t feel fearful when you know you have someone who has your back with you. Struggles with anxiety are well known in this day and age. If you’ve ever felt fearful to do something but your friend is also fearful, if you go and do the feared activity to prevent your friend from being scared—you just combated your fear with love. “Perfect love casts out fear.” 1 John 4:18. God is perfect love. He can eradicate you from fear. Lift your fears to him. Lay them at his feet. He is a kind and listening father. God…
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A little encouragement for the discouraging times
There are moments in life where situations suck. We all go through something in life. Whether it’s illness, mourning, loss, financial issues, the list can go on and on. There are circumstances in life that are unfair. It can feel like evil is running the world. That could be true, but God is bigger than the evil and the injustice we face. He is gracious, loving and fair. He says to leave the wrongs done against us to him and he will take care of it when judgement comes. We can trust that even if justice doesn’t come in our mortal life, that we will see justice when we are…
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Everything, yet nothing
It’s easy to think the world revolves around money since everything seems to have a cost. We buy all the fancy cars, houses, shoes or appliances. And if we can’t afford them we lust for them or take out loans. We strive for them. Once we get the car or the house or the wife or the kids we think we will be happy. But when we find get them we look for the next thing. It’s never enough, it never fulfills us. That’s because the things of this world can never fill the God sized whole in our hearts. You think of the Egyptian kings. When they died they…
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Sensitivity is a gift
This day and age it’s easy to harden your heart and block out people and pain. It’s the easiest thing in the world to hold onto your brokenness and bitterness. It’s hard to forgive, to open up and say what is going on. Being sensitive and being open does not make you weak. Sensitivity is needed today. People need people who are willing to be there for them, to cry with them and listen to them. Jesus didn’t hang out with the people who had their lives *together*. He hung out with people who were visibly and socially messy. He hung out with tax collectors, prostitutes, homeless people, lepers, women…
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God’s goodness
It’s hard sometimes to see the good. There’s brokenness and evil everywhere. But the good news is we have a loving and kind God who does not forget you. He doesn’t leave you behind. The wonder and glory of God’s goodness lets us see who he is. He’s not a bad guy who strikes down all the evil doers. God is so graceful. He offers more grace than we do. He gives us an abundance of chances. That can be hard to believe for us humans because we easily stereotype people. He’s a murderer. She’s an adulterer. But guess what Jesus says if you hate someone in your heart that…
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Provision
It’s hard to see when fog is blocking your view. It’s hard to see when your future is uncertain. But guess what? God doesn’t say you have to know what is ahead to live a full and beautiful life. God is kind. If God can provide for all the animals of the sea and the birds in the sky, why wouldn’t he provide for you? Animals don’t have the same type of souls as us. We are unique to all other creatures. God has blessed us with speech and beauty and choice. So why wouldn’t he take care of you if you has treasured you more than the birds of…
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Seeking joy
It’s beginning to become winter time in the northern hemisphere, and with that the sun sets sooner and the days feels colder. With Christmas and Thanksgiving we have something to look forward too. But with the lack of sun, we naturally can start to feel sad. Vitamin D helps but what about the sadness that reaches deep into our souls? What do you do when your heart is broken or your spirit shaking? Placing your happiness in circumstances will always lead to disappointment. That’s why we place our hope in Jesus. Jesus is the ultimate healer of sadness and broken hearts. Jesus knows that life isn’t always about rainbows and…
