rebelling against low expectations
I was a little girl who read missionary books like they were Nancy Drew mystery novels. I spent Saturdays reading through the biography of my choice. I could be Amy Carmichael, smuggling girls from evil temples, or Elizabeth Elliott bravely facing tribe men who murdered my husband. I read Kisses from Katie, and dreamt of saving orphaned Ugandan children. I wanted to be a missionary. I babysat, I...
Words. We know them. We use them every day. The average man uses them about 7,000 times a day, to be exact. In my life – short as it is – I have seen (and experienced) what words can do. Indeed, king Solomon knew what he was talking about when he wrote: “The tongue of the wise useth knowledge aright: but the mouth of fools poureth out foolishness.” (Proverbs 15:2) Words are powerful tools. We use...
God’s idea of awareness (and self-awareness), is different from the world’s version. Very different. One is focused on God, and the other is on us (I’m sure you can guess which is which). Our culture promotes what they call self-discovery. Finding ourselves. Really, it all stems from the age-old human questions of who we are and why we exist. There’s nothing wrong with that. God wants us to have...
Why are you here? By that I mean, what’s your purpose in life – for what reason are you alive? To grow up? To obey the rules? To go to college? To work for a few years and then retire? To have fun until you’re too weak to go on? To die? Or as a Christian, to say the sinners’ prayer and then try your best to follow God’s rules? Is that why you’re here? Why are you here? Growing up, first in a...
Have you ever wondered why God made you the way that He did? I know I have. When I start thinking about all of my flaws and imperfections, it’s hard to imagine how He could possibly use me – or even love me, for that matter. I always think about how shy and awkward I am. I mean, what was He thinking? How on earth am I supposed to witness to people when I can barely hold a simple...
Imagine your nation has not had a king for hundreds of years. No king, no kingdom. But ancient prophecies from the past stir hope for the future: a king is coming, and he is bringing a kingdom with him. This is where the Jews find themselves when Jesus, the promised King, arrives. Throughout his three and a half year ministry, Jesus proclaims the kingdom of heaven “is at hand.” When...
Faith without works is worthless. This is the kind of faith many find themselves trapped in. It’s a trap that seems safe and comfortable on the outside, but ends up robbing us of real joy in Christ. In fact, about a year ago, I had my own experience that taught me what faith really is. I had been taking driver’s training classes and found that I was one of the very few Christians there...
I was anxious as I walked into the senior pastor’s office. As my dad and I sat down on a couch and Pastor Bart sat down in a separate chair, every second seemed to tick by like an eternity. Let me give you some background. In kindergarten, I had been bullied verbally– whether it was for being nerdy or for being seemingly socially awkward. See, I was introverted at heart because I had...
“You can have it all, Lord Every part of my world, Take this life and breath on this heart that is now Yours…” The beginning words to the song “Have it All” immediately had me thinking. Do we really know what it means to say “You can have it all?” I was laying down on my bed one day, reading my Bible in Matt 5:11, which says “Blessed are you when men...
I was eleven when I went to my first public speaking conference. Needless to say, I was not terribly happy, especially because Mom said it would be “good for me”. The second day of the conference, we were practicing limited preparation, and my topic was “What is Grace?”. After my minute of prep, I proceeded to stand there wistfully for two minutes without saying a word. It has been almost...
rebelling against low expectations
