We once had to remove some trees on our property. One in particular was on our back porch, and although it was beautiful in its own right, it dropped no less than a million acorns, leaves, and bird-droppings year-round. It made it difficult for us to enjoy that space so my husband decided to remove the circle of bricks and ...

Let’s talk about fruit. Can you imagine, if you were a fruit tree, what it must feel like to have your branches trimmed back or cut off altogether? Doesn’t sound like fun. But wait… the Bible says God’s children are designed to bear fruit, which means we can relate. But this also means when our branches aren’t producing as they should, the ...

Today, I was thinking about sufferings. For a long time, I resisted teachings that insinuated God causes our sufferings in this life. I only knew Him as a deliverer — at salvation, through a miraculous healing, and in my soul. I didn’t know Him as one that causes pain. And I still don’t. However, we can’t just skip over scriptures ...

In my last post, I said we would talk about boot camp because I made the comment that it would be nice if every believer had to go through some kind of special training before sending them out into the world. Most of our Christian walk is about conforming to the image of Christ while operating in a world that ...

The Bible says the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control (Galatians 5:22-23). We could say these are character traits of our God. In other words, you can be assured that as a good Father, God’s thoughts and actions toward you will always line up to these characteristics. So, in taking this ...

I want to encourage you today to believe the best of every person. You will have opportunity to see the faults in others and therefore, it’s inevitable that you will be disappointed in the actions (or inaction) of people. This is especially true when it’s family or someone you’ve developed a close relationship with, but… Never set your eyes on ...

Do you remember the story of the man with the withered hand? The Bible says Jesus went into the synagogue and noticed the man. He had a weakness–his hand was deformed. We’re not told if it was like that from birth or possibly from an accident. But Jesus said to him, “[Stretch] Hold out your hand” (Mark 3:5). And when the man ...

Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 Jesus made it very clear: the SEED is the Word of God and the GROUND is man’s heart. In the parable of the sower, Jesus went on to explain there are four types of heart (or soil) that the Word will land upon, and three of the four produce little or no ...

Part 1 | Part 2 2 Corinthians 5:17 says, “Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation…” So how did we become new? Continuing from my last post, I want to explain what it means to be “In-Christed”–which is a biblical idea referring to the fact that we have been engrafted into Christ. Paul said in Romans 11:17-18, “Some ...

Yesterday, while in my front yard, I noticed one of my new flowering plants was opening several of its buds and beginning to bloom more fully than the others. I was delighted because, although I was raised around those who are very good with plants, gardening is not my expertise. I had planted four of these particular flowers in a ...

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 ...

You’ve probably heard the saying, “Practice makes perfect.” But this isn’t entirely true… only perfect practice makes perfect. So a good question is: what are you practicing? Because you might not want to be perfect at everything. For example, the Apostle John said, “Everyone who commits sin practices lawlessness; and sin is lawlessness (1 John 3:4). The Bible teaches us that sin no longer has power over ...