The life of a new Christian is both exciting and daunting. As a former atheist, my early experiences as a Christian were filled with opportunities and challenges. What do I do now? I wondered. Should I attend church? Where should I go? Who should I tell? What if I have doubts? How often should I pray and read the Bible?
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Elijah was burned out, completely exhausted, and Queen Jezebel had just threatened his life. Elijah told God, “The people of Israel have forsaken your covenant, thrown down your altars, and killed your prophets with the sword, and I, even I only, am left, and they seek my life, to take it away” (1 Kings 19:10). He was scared, stopped trusting in God and felt alone. It was time to quit.
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I’ll never forget how God drew me to HimSELF. You see, I grew up as a people pleaser. The church I attended as a teen was works based, which fit my task-oriented, self-sufficient personality well. I’d heard the Gospel—that Jesus had paid for my failures with His life (John 3:16 and Ephesians 2:8)—but it hadn’t resonated with me. My life in high school revolved around sports, and I planned to attend a Division ...
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Have you ever sighed while setting your alarm clock on a Saturday night for church the next morning? After a week of waking up early for school, homework and extracurricular activities, sleeping in on Sunday can sound refreshing. There’s always the option to watch the sermon later online, right? So, why not hit the snooze button?
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We’ve all seen the cartoons and comics where a character’s thoughts are revealed inside of cloud-shaped thought bubbles. Imagining our own thoughts as thought bubbles can be a great way to examine what is happening inside our minds at any given moment and can give us power over our negative thoughts.
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Every member of our family finds security and comfort in the familiar ebb and flow of daily life. The predictable patterns of our activities work in sync with our body’s internal rhythms to provide the framework of mental wellbeing. However, when new situations interrupt the rhythms of our life, our biological rhythms get out of sync, or additional stresses pop up, we can find our mental health wavering. We wonder, ...
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Here are faith activities to teach kids about freedom through our relationship with Jesus. In the “land of the free,” we often confuse the true nature of freedom. For many of us, freedom has become synonymous with personal independence — the ability to make our own decisions and choose our own path in life, to do whatever we want, whenever we want. It’s what I call “outside freedom.” But this ...
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The evening before Thanksgiving, my wife, Kellie, and I heard our water sensor trigger an alarm in the basement. I assumed the furnace humidifier had overflowed. As our children headed to bed, I went downstairs to check.
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Have you ever wondered, “Do fathers matter? What differences do I make in my home as a dad?” Let’s begin with the simple answer — the importance of a father is tremendous! You make countless differences in your home and family. However, how much impact you decide to make as a dad is entirely up to you!
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Have you ever noticed how often Jesus’ ministry was centered around meals? Among others, there was the wedding at Cana, a dinner with the reviled Zaccheus, and the beautiful symbolism of the Last Supper. Jesus was even criticized for eating with “tax collectors and sinners” (Matt. 9:11).
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