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unSeen
It is a truth universally acknowledged that humanity often finds lies easier to believe than truth. -Audrey Frank Arresting in their beauty, her brown eyes were gracefully framed by long eyelashes and a carefully drawn line of kohl along the upper lids. I momentarily forgot I was at a surgical clinic, my team’s purpose to repair facial deformities. I saw no deformity in this beautiful young woman. But she had not yet removed the cobalt… Read More
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unWorthy
It is a truth universally acknowledged that humanity often finds lies easier to believe than truth.-Audrey Frank Some lies seem to be written on hearts in permanent ink, graffitied in different languages across cultures and continents, yet all meaning the same. unWorthy. unLoveable. unSeen. unHeard. unKnown. unClean. unDefended. At The Truth Collective, we are seeking to uncover the lies and help people believe what is True. We are proud to unveil our latest project, the… Read More
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A Deep, Quiet Assurance: Knowing God’s Leading
You will keep in perfect peace those whose minds are steadfast, because they trust in you.Isaiah 26:3 Behind every life-changing, heart-gripping event, there is a story beneath the story. It is sometimes never told, at least to the crowds. Rachel Saint, missionary to the jungle peoples of Ecuador, told the story beneath the story of the martyrdom of her brother Nate Saint along with four other missionaries on January 8, 1956. In Ethel Wallace's gem-of-a-book The Dayuma Story,… Read More
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Seed Beginnings
Do not despise these small beginnings, for the Lord rejoices to see the work begin.Zechariah 4:10 I lay there in the dark, alert and ready to leap out of bed at any given second. The sound of the rat running back and forth on the bedpost inches from my head had me frozen in place, immobilized and afraid to breathe. What on earth is he carrying in his mouth with such dedication? I wondered to… Read More
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Honor Outcry: What Racial Outrage Reveals About the Human Heart
for Erick George Floyd, you were caught trying to buy a pack of cigarettes with a counterfeit $20 bill, according to the news reports. As you placed that bill on the counter in hopes of getting one more drag from a cigarette you had no idea you stood on the razor-fine edge of a precipice, your life an inflection point for an entire nation. You had no clue you would soon ignite an honor outcry.… Read More
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Anxious
Search me, God, and know my heart; test me and know my anxious thoughts.Psalm 139:23 We are anxious about everything, it would seem. Today on the Culture Translator, I was introduced to the latest anxiety trend among Generation Z: “eco-anxiety.” Stemming from the belief that there is currently a climate crisis, eco-anxiety is causing a majority of 18-25 year-olds to worry about what will happen in the future. Before you judge Generation Z, stop and… Read More
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The Branch and the Vine
Abide in Me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself unless it abides in the vine, so neither can you unless you abide in Me.John 15:4 I have spent the past 23 days by the side of my child who is suffering indescribable pain I cannot take away. I have wrestled with God and asked hard questions. It is difficult to express in words such intimate moments between the beloved… Read More
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Gratitude: Chosen, Not Rejected
I took you from the ends of the earth, from its farthest corners I called you. I said, 'You are my servant'; I have chosen you and have not rejected you. (Isaiah 41:9).Isaiah 41:9 …For I have chosen you and have not thrown you away.Isaiah 41:9b, NLT About midnight Paul and Silas were praying and singing hymns to God, and the other prisoners were listening to them.Acts 16:25 The verse they inscribed in my book… Read More
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Gratitude for What I Have Entrusted to Him
…I suffer as I do. But I am not ashamed, for I know the one in whom I have put my trust, and I am sure that he is able to guard until that day what I have entrusted to him (2 Timothy 1:12, NRSV). What if he doesn’t come back? I tried to swat the harassing thought away like a wasp, knowing it had the power to hurt me if I allowed it to… Read More
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Gratitude: The Power of Showing Up
It was under unique circumstances I learned one of my life's greatest lessons of gratitude. The voices of the congregation rose sweet and pure, purer than I’d ever heard in my life. Our tremulous faith, tender yet mighty, was transmitted in song like a desperate, beautiful sonnet brought to the Savior by love so fierce it seemed it might shatter the vessels which bore it. I held my baby close to my heart as my… Read More