Tagged: encouragement

And God is able to make all grace overflow to you so that because you have enough of everything in every way at all times, you will overflow in every good work. 2 Corinthians 9:8, NET If life is going okay for you right now, you might skim this verse in less than four seconds (I tested it.) If life is crushing, you might not be able to get through it at all (admittedly, I tested that one, too.) 2 Corinthians 9:8 is a whopping promise.  All grace. Enough of everything. In every way. At all times. In every good work. God’s promises can make us skip and sing with joy when all is well. But when we’re immobilized and overwhelmed by life’s most crushing… Read More

It is good to give thanks to the Lord, to sing praises to your name, O Most High; to declare your steadfast love in the morning, and your faithfulness by night. Psalm 92:1-2 Who knew upside-down cake could be made just about anywhere in the world? The old Wycliffe cookbook on my shelf is ragged and worn. The cover long gone, its pages are stained with olive oil, gritty bits of sugar, and smears of chocolate pudding from the homemade edible finger-paint days. Created for people living in places where convenience cooking is non existent, this little wonder made our lives warm and delicious with the barest ingredients. Upside-down cake was a favorite and could be made in the largest pans to feed the biggest… Read More

How beautiful on the mountains are the feet of those who bring good news, who proclaim peace, who bring good tidings, who proclaim salvation, who say to Zion, “Your God reigns!” Isaiah 52:7 I thought my heart would burst with joy as I glimpsed our parents coming around the bend of the dusty African road. They are here!!!!  With them, they brought good news, comfort, and refreshment to our souls. Not to mention chocolate. We lived among a tribe in the bush of East Africa. We slept in a mud house, collected water from our tin roof, and read by lantern light at night. Beans and rice were regular fare. We hadn’t seen our family since we waved goodbye at the airport over a year… Read More

 Is being unknown such a bad thing? The thought of being known can be terrifying if we don't like what we know about ourselves. The possibility of rejection looms large and threatening, and sometimes, like during a global pandemic when we are forced to distance ourselves anyway, we wonder if being unknown might be a good thing. It's nice not wearing makeup, working from home in pajamas, just coming as we are to life, nobody watching and judging what they perceive to know about us. But it's not actually being truly known that poses the problem. It's the pain of rejection that may follow being known. So we work hard to protect and groom what is known about us. My Muslim friends are very good at this. So… Read More

Somehow just doesn't sit right with me. Today we find ourselves on the tippy-top of the mountain, hump-day, round-the-corner day, Wednesday. (By the time you read this, we will likely be heading down the hill to Thursday.) I do not usually post on Wednesdays, but in times like these, I think we could all do with a little mid-week encouragement. I have been stuck on an old phrase lately, and you might get stuck on it too. We will make it through this season, not somehow, but triumphantly. It is said that the wonderful expression "not somehow, but triumphantly" gained popularity among Christian missionaries in the prisoner-of-war camps of Japan during World War II. Day after day, they rose, fixed their eyes on Jesus, and gathered… Read More

God is our refuge and strength, an ever-present help in trouble. Therefore we will not fear, though the earth give way and the mountains fall into the heart of the sea, though its waters roar and foam and the mountains quake with their surging. There is a river whose streams make glad the city of God, the holy place where the Most High dwells. God is within her, she will not fall; God will help her at break of day. Nations are in uproar, kingdoms fall; he lifts his voice, the earth melts. The Lord Almighty is with us; the God of Jacob is our fortress. Come and see what the Lord has done, the desolations he has brought on the earth. He makes wars… Read More

And the angel of the Lord came again a second time and touched him and said, “Arise and eat, for the journey is too great for you.” And he arose and ate and drank, and went in the strength of that food forty days and forty nights to Horeb, the mount of God.1 Kings 19:7 When they had gone, an angel of the Lord appeared to Joseph in a dream. “Get up,” he said, “take the child and his mother and escape to Egypt. Stay there until I tell you, for Herod is going to search for the child to kill him.Matthew 2:13 Sometimes the journey is just too great for us. We would never be able to make it without supernatural intervention.  Both the… Read More

I am the Lord your God, who brought you up out of Egypt. Open wide your mouth and I will fill it.Psalm 81:10 The desert sand mounded along the shoulder of the road, if it could even be called a road. Two tracks, created by others who had gone before us, wove across the dehydrated landscape. The way was barely visible as I craned my neck to peer over the steering wheel of our 4 x 4. Provisions rattled in the back as my colleagues and I held on to anything we could grab, trying to stay seated with every lurch and sway. Everyone was alert; no one dozed, ever. Bandits were known to stop travelers brave enough to make the journey. We had packed… Read More

@audreycfrank Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and do not rely on your own understanding. Acknowledge Him in all your ways, and he will make your paths straight. Proverbs 3:5-6 He told her he was not attracted to her anymore, did not love her, and had wasted the past five years of his life married to her. He wanted a divorce. She recoiled in shock, the unexpected declaration taking her completely off-guard. But they both serve in the church! He is a good father to their two children. She has done Bible studies on how to be a godly wife. How could this happen when she had done everything right? She could not believe the doctor’s diagnosis. Surely he was mistaken. This must… Read More