bible
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I have noticed that children and scientists have one thing in common. They both stare. The difference is that the child stares because he is astonished. The scientist often stares because he is trying to understand what he sees. The tragedy is when we understand so much that we forget to marvel. A child finds…
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When I was a little girl, I learned that silence could become a second skin. It wrapped itself around what had been done to me. It taught me to smile while my spirit folded itself into smaller and smaller corners. It whispered that survival was the same thing as peace. It wasn’t. Silence did not…
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Times of reflection are the best way to start a week. Ask yourself this question: “Do I believe that help is coming? A life without hope is a very bleak existence. Today’s world seems to offer hope as a gift of denial. Hope is not denial. Hope knows that help is always coming because when…
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Jesus keeps setting tables in the strangest places. I know because I’ve stumbled into a few of them. A child’s bedroom where something sacred was being violated. A house full of secrets. A girl learning too early that the world could be beautiful and monstrous at the same time. I thought I was abandoned there.…
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“I left the fairy tales lying on the floor of the nursery, and I have not found any books so sensible since.” – G.K. Chesterton The older I get, the more I suspect that fairy tales were never merely stories for children. They were maps. Maps for navigating a world filled with beauty and terror,…
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Teachers like Joyce Meyer and Beth Moore promote a form of absolution to sexually abusive parents. I would argue that absolution is not theirs to give. ab·so·lu·tion/ˌabsəˈlo͞oSHən/ Formal release from guilt, obligation, or punishment. Definition from oxford language It goes on to say, “an ecclesiastical declaration of forgiveness of sins. Used in a sentence, “the priest administered…
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Times of reflection are the best way to start a week. Ask yourself this question: “Do I believe my life is getting better? I used to live with the conviction that life included pain and suffering. I didn’t know how to get beyond that. Addiction stiffled me enough to get through but I had a…
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On the question of fear, ask yourself: I am seen by others? Does anyone care about my pain? I am known and seen by God. Isaiah 43 tells me, “Don’t be afraid. I saved you. I named you. You are mine. 2 When you have troubles, I am with you. When you cross rivers, you will…
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I see it everywhere—in my own life and out in the world….men in collapse. Not just tired, not just distracted, but completely surrendered. No fire. No vitality. It breaks my heart… I want to fix it but I’m not even sure how to diagnose it. I think about it a lot as I’m raising my…
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King David is my favorite author of the Old Testament. He was a man that was real, honest, and raw with God. He mused and fussed with God, praised Him, and thanked him — all three rather quickly sometimes. An awesome man of God and King David asked God to keep him “as the apple…