We all experience fears of various kinds of fears about the future, about relationships, about work and finances, about our health, or about the ones we love, perhaps even fears about falling away from Christ. Fears often emerge and linger because we don’t know how to fight them. We feel helpless and powerless before their…
Weeks of chemotherapy eroded the lining of her mouth, mangled her immune system, and culminated in an hours-long surgery to carve out a tumor the size of a grapefruit. Throughout, friends and loved ones lifted up a heartfelt but singular prayer: Heal her, Lord. She wrapped herself in their words as if girding herself in…
Come Thanksgiving Day each year, many of us give the nod to Pilgrims and Indians and talk of making ready for a harsh first winter in the New World. But for the Christian, the deepest roots of our thanksgiving go back to the Old World, way back before the Pilgrims, to a story as old…
We all know the deadly nature of sin, but we are often unaware of its subtle sidekick — the excuse. Excuses convert the seriousness of sin into a simple shoulder shrug. “It was just a mistake on a tired night.” No big deal. Not my fault. And just like that, we downgrade our greatest offenses…
The Massachusetts-based Satanic Temple, out of its dissatisfaction with Christian-owned bakeries that decline to make cakes celebrating same-sex “weddings,” is now asking its followers to force bakers to make a cake for Satan. The group says that it came up with the idea in light of the Masterpiece Cakeshop case soon to be considered by the U.S. Supreme…
Suffering has shown me that my strength is not in me. The raging seas have made me cling to the rock of my salvation. I can say in full conviction, “If the Lord had not been my help, my soul would soon have lived in the land of silence. When I thought ‘My foot slips’…
All year round the thorn of the gorse bush has been hardening and sharpening. Even in spring, the thorn does not soften or fall off. But at last, about halfway up, two brown furry balls emerge. They are small at first, but then they fully break out of last year’s thorn to flower into a…
When I learned my dear friend was killed in a car accident this summer, I was stunned. She was my second mom, and a faithful wife, mother, and friend. She was unforgettable. And her life was snapped so abruptly that I couldn’t process it. Immediately I turned to the Lord. In this sick confusion, this…
“Rachel, look! A DUCK!” I heard six-year-old Sawyer call out in a giddy voice. Strangers nearby likely assumed Sawyer had never seen a duck before, though it was actually one of many he had seen that day. As a nanny, I have watched countless adults smile knowingly at the two children I care for, as…
What does it mean that “God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble,” so much so that “we will not fear” (Psalm 46:1–2)? More poignantly, what do you believe it means? That’s where the rubber of your faith meets the road of your real life. Crises of faith occur where the rubber of…
