The Gravity of Grace

by Gwen Smith | | 2 comments

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Gravity. It’s not just the title of amazing songs written by John Mayer and Sara Bareilles, though I completely love both of these songs. Gravity is a mysterious force that holds the universe together. One that sustains flight and orbit. A force that cannot be seen yet cannot be denied. A bit similar to grace!

Gravity echoes the majesty and mystery of our unsearchable Creator. It’s a celestially adhesive influencer. Powerful. Essential. Incredible.

Here on the pale blue dot gravity keeps humanity grounded and presses fleshy body parts to plunge and sag with age. In the distance she spins the world on its axis and dances between the barrier of earth and sky.

The Psalmist wrote of it beautifully. “He set

Don’t Let the World Hold You Down

by Barb Roose | | 9 comments

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One summer, my grandmother placed a book on top of my head and ordered me to start walking. I’d had a growth spurt that summer and my grandmother often remarked that she never wanted me to be tall like her. As an unusually tall Southern-born, African-American woman, my grandmother grew up at a time when shorter, smaller black women were deemed less threatening and more employable. Even though times had changed, my grandmother was still wary of the world that I would grow up in. She told me, “If you’re going to be tall, then you need to learn how to hold your head up high.”

I spent that summer walking back and forth in my grandmother’s living room

God’s Little Post-It Notes

by Sharon Jaynes | | 22 comments

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I believe one of the greatest inventions of the twentieth century was the Post-It Note. First there was yellow. Then came fuchsia, turquoise, buttercup, and magenta. From full-page mega notes to tiny little strips, sticky notes have kept me organized, tasks prioritized, and Scripture memorized. Mostly, they have served as visual reminders of information, events, and appointments not to forget.

But a visual reminder of things not to forget didn’t begin with Post-It Notes. They began with God, Himself. All through life God places holy Post-It Notes on our days to remind us of Him.

In the Bible, Paul wrote to the Romans, “Since the creation of the world, God’s invisible qualities—his eternal power and divine nature—have been clearly seen,

So You Have a Past

by Gwen Smith | | 9 comments

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The New Testament begins with the book of Matthew and showcases more drama than a Hallmark movie. The book starts off with a genealogy trail that leads from Abraham to the birth of Jesus. This list of names might make you yawn, but it’s actually really important – and even exciting. (Yes. You read that right!) It’s fascinating because it gives evidence to a family line that shows Jesus was a descendant of both Abraham and King David, thus fulfilling what the Old Testament predicted about the lineage of the Messiah.

Scandal steps onto the page in verse three of Matthew chapter one when a woman’s name shows up. (Traditionally, only the names of men appeared in these family

Give Up Your Rights

by Mary Southerland | | 3 comments

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When it comes to the resources that we need for life, this promise from the 23rd Psalm is staggeringly important to remember, because it holds the promise of contentment in our lives. The Lord is my Shepherd. I shall not want. Wow!

A famous actor was once the guest of honor at a social gathering where he was asked to recite favorite excerpts from various literary works. An old preacher who happened to be there asked the actor to recite the twenty-third Psalm. The actor agreed – on the condition that the preacher would also recite it.

The actor’s recitation was beautifully intoned with great dramatic emphasis for which he received lengthy applause. The preacher’s voice was rough and broken

Did You Cut My Hair?

by Arlene Pellicane | | 4 comments

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“Lucy, did you just cut my hair???”

I was sitting, minding my own business, typing away on my computer. My four-year-old daughter Lucy had come behind me with her stool. She was using me as her life-size doll, combing my hair, pinning and braiding it.

Suddenly, I heard a snip!

I whipped around to see my preschool beautician holding a pair of scissors and one inch of my hair. She was frozen in place, caught hair-handed! It was plain to see she knew she had done something terribly wrong because her face registered shock and awe.

I wanted to react and scream at her, but she already looked so troubled. I said, “You feel bad about cutting my hair and you want

The Reason for the Rocks

by Sharon Jaynes | | 3 comments

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Several years after the loss of our second child, I found an old Bible tucked in a cedar chest in my mom’s attic. As I flipped through the pages, I stumbled upon a crude chart of our family tree written in my mom’s flourishing hand.

Listed were the names, dates of birth, and dates of death for my maternal and paternal great-grandparents and grandparents. Next, came my parents, my brother, Stewart, then me, and then my sister, Gloria Gale. My mind stopped for a beat. My sister, Gloria Gale? Who’s that?! I never knew I had a sister named Gloria Gale.

I ran downstairs holding the opened Bible in my hand, walked over to my mom, pointed at the entry,

Tell God How You Feel

by Suzie Eller | | 9 comments

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Have you ever been in a season where you walk through one hard thing after another?

Me too.

Have you ever struggled to talk with God about how you feel in that season?

Same.

One of the reasons we may struggle with talking with our Heavenly Father is we’ve been told that strong faith leaves little room for doubts and questions. The problem with that reasoning is it discounts story after story of people in the Bible crying out to God, asking hard questions, and grappling with how to trust in hard seasons.

Consider John the Baptist, who was in prison and sent a message to Jesus to ask if He was really the Messiah (Matthews 11:2-4). Let’s look at Elijah the prophet,

The Art of Confrontation

by Mary Southerland | | 4 comments

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One of the basic needs of every healthy relationship is confrontation. To confront someone is to meet them head-on in the quest for compromise. Just as God separates us from our sin, He calls us to do the same in our relationships. We must disconnect who they are from what they do, loving the sinner but hating the sin, looking beyond their weaknesses, searching for their strengths.

Sometimes silence is agreement. Confrontation is a gift we bring to every healthy relationship and the unhealthy relationships with which we struggle. Unfortunately, confrontation is a spiritual surgery that tends to be painful. But without it, the cancer of contention and discord will remain free to grow and spread its deadly poison.

When

What Works Better than Worry

by Holley Gerth | | 7 comments

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The phone call comes. Hard news on the other end of the line. I listen and nod. By the time I hang up I feel a weight on my shoulders, like it all depends on me. I begin to worry. This is what I can do, isn’t it? I can carry this around like a dog with an old bone. I can gnaw and twist, bury it and dig it up again. Surely this will be helpful, certainly this will save the day.

But into that place of fear there comes a God-whisper in my heart, “Your worry cannot change the world, only I can.”

Luke 12:25 says, “Who of you by worrying can add a single hour to your