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It’s Not You, It’s Timing – How to Keep Hope When Nothing’s Working

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Is it just me? Sometimes disappointment, frustration, or fatigue keep banging on the door. You’ve got a project, dream, plan, but it’s stuck. You wonder: Is it me? My skills or vision? Do I lack proper education or experience? Is my heart really in it?

I read about some fisherman who may have thought the same. They worked all night with nothing to show.

Were they unskilled?
No. They were “Fisherman.”

Was the net broken?
Nope. Strong and ready.

Were they in the wrong place?
Absolutely not.

Continue reading “It’s Not You, It’s Timing – How to Keep Hope When Nothing’s Working”

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Humble Rebels: 5 Ways to Have a Mary & Joseph Spirit this Christmas

It’s Christmas time, and while skies darken, lights get brighter and more numerous. The year is closing fast.

This week my children’s school did a “Herdertjestocht,” (“Sheperd’s trail”) throughout the neighborhood, where live-action posts were setup and the kids performed different parts of the Christmas story in the night. Continue reading “Humble Rebels: 5 Ways to Have a Mary & Joseph Spirit this Christmas”

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Goodness Trumps Greatness Every Time + Two Other Life Hacks

God can use anything to get our attention, from a song on the radio, to a kids movie. As a recovering Pharisee (aka, avoid-anything-not-blatantly-God), this was hard for me to accept, but Disney’s Frozen blew my mind (5 Lessons from Frozen I didn’t see coming here).

I recently saw “Oz, the Great and Powerful ” (2013, with James Franco), and it was chock full of heart lessons. Here are three that touched me, and I hope you too. (Warning, Spoilers!):

Continue reading “Goodness Trumps Greatness Every Time + Two Other Life Hacks”

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3 Examples of God’s Gentleness to Help Break Our God Hate

Some people associate God with Might and limitless Power. I heard one Pastor say, ‘we don’t need a God of Love, we need a God to be feared.’ #Wt?

But God’s gentleness is easy to miss if you only experience angry voices hating with a bible in the hand. You can catch this in some politics, at some funerals, and even in some churches.

The world can easily question God’s Heart, and rightly so.

But glimpse these 3 examples of *His #Gentleness and repair the breach: Continue reading “3 Examples of God’s Gentleness to Help Break Our God Hate”

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Dance… Shake it Off!

This is a “5 Minute Friday” Prompt.. shout out to Kate at Heading Home for hosting! Objective: Free write for 5 minutes and stop. Simple.
Ready to rock? 3…2…1…..Go! Continue reading “Dance… Shake it Off!”

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The Ax at the Root… Why I Cut Down my Grapevine

Day 13 in the “Wild Kids, Wild God- 31 Days Looking into God’s Heart”.

Four years ago we moved into our current home and it was the first time we had a garden. Some may find it small, but it’s a treasure to us and I’ve learned a lot from the plants, especially my Grapevine.

The first year it produced a few (maybe two?) small grape clusters. The second year I tried to encourage more growth by actively pruning. There were more grapes, but also more disease, and the grapes never ripened. (Hmmm. Is God trying to tell me something?) The third year the vine produced nothing at all and I watched with frustration as it withered from rot.

Continue reading “The Ax at the Root… Why I Cut Down my Grapevine”

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Pharaoh’s Hardened Heart–Do I Love Because I Must, or I Want to?

Day 12 in the “Wild Kids, Wild God- 31 Days Looking into God’s Heart” Series.

Whether you’re religious, Christian, Jewish, atheist… you’ve probably heard of Moses, renegade prince turned humble shepherd. His story is written in the book of Exodus  (Bible and Torah), and portrayed in many movies. In addition to receiving the 10 commandments (don’t kill, don’t steal, don’t lie…)* he was chosen to lead the Jewish nation out of slavery and oppression in Egypt into freedom.

The Jews still celebrate the amazing events that took place those thousands of years ago today (Passover) .

The story is pretty straightforward, but one passage often troubled me:moses parting sea

God tells Moses that He will harden Pharaoh’s heart. This results in Pharaoh’s refusal to let the people go free, and brings unrighteousness and greater trouble, which I normally don’t associate with God.

Also the simple statement that God will intervene on a man’s heart–call me naive but I only know God as One Who knocks on the “door” (our hearts) though He made it and holds the key. (Revelation 3:20). Continue reading “Pharaoh’s Hardened Heart–Do I Love Because I Must, or I Want to?”