Life doesn’t always work out the way you expect it to, does it? You can be walking along singing “Zip-A-Dee-Doo-Dah,” and then – Bam! Out of nowhere, you find yourself in the middle of a trial, a test, or a storm. And when that happens, it’s easy to think, Why am I going through this, God? Why aren’t You working?
Read MoreGiven the corrosive effects of bitterness on our bodies and emotions, not to mention the spiritual hazards of unforgiveness, why are we so reluctant to forgive those who wrong us? I think one reason people are reluctant to forgive other people is that they have a faulty understanding of what forgiveness is not.
Read MoreMy friend Deb’s Facebook post describes the true emotion of Christmas time and the New Year. Here’s her post: Shopping around Target, grabbing whatever I needed from the shelves, I stopped and stood still, right in the aisle and began to weep. This has NEVER happened to me. I stopped with complete humility and gratefulness to be able to do exactly that- shop and get what I wanted freely; and to have three incredibly healthy amazing children, a husband that works so hard ...
Read MoreAs we are all engaged now in the pressures and busyness of Christmas,I thought it would be a good idea to think back on what happened on that first, “Silent Night”. Along with every other aspect of Christmas, we have romanticized the story of Christ’s birth. We envision a scene in which he is draped in fine satin while a smiling Joseph and Mary look on.
Read MoreWhen I was growing up, most churches had some sort of a Christmas pageant every year. The average-sized church could pull together enough grammar school-aged kids to be the cast and fill all the roles: shepherds, wise men, angels, the innkeeper, and the various animals that we assume were in the stable that eventful night. The plum roles, of course, were Mary and Joseph, given to a couple of the ...
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