If you live in West Texas, you’ve been invaded by moths at least once in your life. Thankfully, I’m not one who is freaked out by their fluttering, dusty selves– but they can be irritating. One morning, as I sat down in my favorite chair for some quiet time with God, I was distracted by a moth banging around in ...

I hope the title of this blog got your attention… Who doesn’t love vacations? Who wouldn’t want to take advantage of an instant vacation? If this was a real thing, I’d be saying, “Sign me up!” Well, it is a real thing. Let me explain: You know the story in Nehemiah where God said to his people, “Do not sorrow, ...

Grace is divine, unmerited favor available to the sinner for salvation and the redeemed for victorious living. Ephesians 2:8-9 says,“For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God, not of works, lest anyone should boast.” This is what unmerited means– you didn’t earn it. It was a gift. “For ...

As I was praying this morning, I was thanking the Lord for my salvation, for forgiving my sins, and redeeming me. And then I paused and considered the word redeemed. I know what it means, but I wondered if an unbeliever would know if they heard the word. Sometimes we forget the world doesn’t understand our lingo. The church is guilty ...

People have asked me, “Daphne, why do you talk so much about righteousness?” My first response is because my life was forever changed at the revelation of the great exchange God made on our behalf– our sins for Christ’s righteousness. And secondly, the Bible says, “For in [the gospel of Christ] the righteousness of God is revealed from faith to faith: ...

The Bible has a lot to say about the keys of the Kingdom and our place as kings and priests under Jesus, who is the “King of kings” (Revelation 1:5-6, 1 Timothy 6:15)– or we could say He is the King of “us” (those with delegated authority). And if we pause and think about this, that we’ve been made kings under the King, ...

I was recently standing in the yard visiting with a good friend after a walk through the neighborhood when my daughter and one of her friends drove up. They joined us and as we laughed and talked about our need to exercise (which my daughter knows is not on my high priority list), and I had a moment of silliness. ...

Years ago, the Holy Spirit said something funny to me: “Three hugs a day keeps strife away.” It was in January, around my wedding anniversary. My husband and I always celebrate of course, but it’s also the season of “new resolutions” in life. We had just come off a rough year and I was praying for change. When the Holy Spirit ...

 Have you ever been looking for something diligently, only to discover it was right before your eyes all the time? Maybe it was your car keys, your reading glasses, or your child at the mall. Well, I want you to know your right-standing with God is lot like that… The Bible says, “[God] has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the ...

Unless you’ve avoided the Olympic games and television and news feeds in general, you’re probably aware of the embellished robbery story with Ryan Lochte and three other American swimmers. As I watched his interview with Matt Lauer on the Today Show, I was moved with compassion. It’s OK Ryan. I mean, it’s not really okay and he knows that. But ...

I enjoy playing games, and I certainly prefer to win over losing, but it’s important in life for us to always see ourselves as winners. The Bible says we have been given every spiritual gift in the heavenly places (Ephesians 1:3). But we didn’t receive this promise because of our good looks… no, we’ve been showered with gifts from heaven because we ...

Perfection. That thing we are all silently striving for. Have you ever thought why? What is it about perfection that drives us as humans? We want to be the perfect parent, perfect spouse, perfect at our craft, with the perfect body, perfect teeth, perfect home, etc, etc, etc. It’s exhausting to think about, yet perfection remains this thing we all ...

When I give you the answer to this question, don’t stop reading. HOW DO I FORGIVE MYSELF, you ask? The answer is: simply by faith. I know that’s not what you’re looking for. You want the 1,2,3 steps of punishment and/or discipline. Well, I’m here to tell you the Bible doesn’t lay it out that way. Religion, the devil, and your ...

When I think back to my teenage years, I cringe a little at how silly my teenage problems felt at the time. I was 16 my sophomore year of high school and hadn’t yet had my first real boyfriend but I had a lot of “guy” friends in my group. And most of my “girl” friends were girlfriends to someone. ...

In the famous children’s novel, Alice in Wonderland, the Queen of Hearts is an interesting character. Overseeing the kingdom with the King of Hearts, she changes from pleasant to enraged every other minute. At the slightest offense, she shouts, “Off with their heads!” It seems ordering executions is one of her hobbies. However, as the story goes, very few were ...

A faith to live by. A purpose to live for. A self to live with. It took me awhile to understand each of these, but I now know without any hesitation that these three are a must (not an option). “But without faith, it is impossible to please God, for he who comes to God must believe that He is, ...

Healing comes in all shapes and sizes. I’m always in awe of the care God puts into the tiniest details. People can receive healing of heart for their brokenness, healing of body for sickness and disease, and healing of mind for trouble and despair. But one thing we need to be clear on: God didn’t “heal” our spirits. Our spirit ...

Our fear (respect & love) of God must far outweigh our fear of man. At the airport, we realized three other mission teams from across the United States were also on our flight to Honduras. I looked at a member of another team and said, “Jesus sure loves Honduras.” Every summer I travel with a missions group to minister in ...