Now one big thought that used to plague me was “Yeah but bad things really do happen. How do I keep from being afraid when there are really bad things that happen?” So I planned for “bad things”. However, my planning went from “reasonable” to “unreasonable”. It is wise to prepare, it is wise to…
There have been many times in my life where, if I had known how hard they would be, I would have been terrified. I would have quit. I would have hidden. For example, my husband suddenly was diagnosed with a brain tumor (which is why the Lord cancelled the deployment). If I had know that…
2 Cor 1:5 For just as the sufferings of Christ flow over into our lives, so also through Christ our comfort overflows. NIV I was recently talking to a cousin of mine regarding faith, fear, and God’s immeasurable grace. She mentioned something that her father told her that was so utterly profound, that it…
We talked last about the difference between His chastening and His wrath. We understood that He will discipline us, and it might be painful, but it is because He loves us, not because He hates us or treats us like enemies. Therefore we can find peace in chastening, learn to trust Him and to obey…
There are many of us who are afraid of the Lord’s wrath to the point where they feel condemnation at everything. There are many of us who are not the least bit conscious of His discipline, who believe that the Lord does not ever punish or discipline, that He accepts everything we do without judgment.…
I recently went through a very difficult summer and fall. One of my grandmothers and one of my grandfathers passed away. We lost out on two separate promotions that should have been automatic. In fact, we got a letter saying “Yes, you should be promoted, but there are no positions available” for one of them. …
Have you ever read in the Bible about Paul talking about being joyful in everything, or how Stephen, the Martyr was filled with joy even as he was being stoned to death? Have you ever thought it was positively out of your reach to be “joyful in affliction”, or been confused by what Paul…
We know that anxiety isn't good for our faith. We aren't moving mountains…we are barely able to function. We aren't facing hardship with faith and peace, we are hiding in our houses and touching lightposts. These are not the fruits of faith. The first way anxiety weakens our faith is through the fact that we…
You have to keep pushing yourself. You have to make it farther. Every time you try, even if you don’t do as well as you would like, you are making progress to the day that you will be free. It will seem very slow at first—two steps forward, one step back. It will seem like…
Philippians 3:12.Not that I have already obtained all this, or have already been made perfect, but I press on to take hold of that for which Christ Jesus took hold of me. 13.Brothers, I do not consider myself yet to have taken hold of it. But one thing I do: Forgetting what is behind and…
