Are You Rooted in Love?

by Gwen Smith | | 3 comments

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My mom tells a story that when I was a toddler, I used to push my older brother and sister off my dad’s lap so I could cuddle with him all by myself. I still do this with my kids and husband. It might look different today, but my goal is the same: I want more love… and I’m not above pushing someone else out of the way to move myself forward.

My love hunger stumps me. I’ve been a Christian since I sat on a little plastic Sunday-school chair and learned Bible stories from a flannel-graph board. If I’m so into Jesus—and I promise you, I am—then why am I still needy?

Why is my heart such a love

You Go Girl!

by Sharon Jaynes | | 4 comments

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Have you ever felt like you just wanted to quit this thing called the “great race” of life? That’s your spiritual legs ache and you would much rather sit on the side of the road and have a good pity party than take one more step. I certainly have. And then I think of my nephew Stu and his mom, Pat.

Stu ran cross-country when he was in high school, but the most exciting parts of the races was his mother cheering. At one particular race, my family and I stood on the sidelines, watching legs stretch, backs bend, and arms swing in an effort to warm up. Seventy anxious young men clustered around the starting line in ready

Give It to Him Again

by Linsey Driskill | | 14 comments

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Some of you might have heard the phrase, “Give it to Jesus,” if there is something you have been struggling with.

You’re venting or expressing your heart, and then you hear, “Give it to Jesus.” As though you haven’t done that because you’re still struggling.

Just the other day I heard those words as I was remembering some of the painful parts of what my dad went through during his ten-month fight in the hospital after getting covid.

My dad – one of my biggest inspirations and one of the strongest and most optimistic people I’ve ever known – at the age of 76, he was even running nine miles a week! I think of how he had the gift of

Let Your Prisoners Go!

by Mary Southerland | | 3 comments

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Sometimes the hardest thing to say is “I’m sorry” or to admit it when we have hurt someone! The only thing that can be harder is to forgive those who have hurt us!

We cannot really forgive until we have really been forgiven. Forgiveness was born on a cross where Jesus Christ loved us enough to die for our sin.

“But God shows his great love for us in this way: Christ died for us while we were still sinners” (Romans 5:8 NCV).

He didn’t wait until we shaped up or got cleaned up. He didn’t wait until we asked for forgiveness or even knew that we needed forgiveness. God is serious about forgiveness. Listen to what Jesus said in Matthew

Praying Friend Wanted

by Rachel Wojo | | 7 comments

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Bone-weary and mentally exhausted, the morning had arrived, and another day had begun. I’m guessing you’ve been there. When the phone rang, I did my best to listen to the voice on the other end of the line.

My heart skipped a beat at the news of my loved one. It was cancer. Before I could finish the call, the phone vibrated again. Upon ending the voice conversation, I read the text: “How can I pray for you?”

The friend who sent the text had no idea of the news I was receiving when she sent it. She only knew that the Holy Spirit was prompting her heart to text me, and she obeyed. I’m so grateful that she did.

The Master’s Touch

by Suzie Eller | | 13 comments

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I met an old friend from school days that I hadn’t seen for years. She invited me to join her and her husband for dinner. For the next hour, we sat around the table enjoying enchiladas and old memories.

At one point, she told her husband a story from our days in school. As she described the incident, it felt odd. The girl she described in the story was shy. She was hurting. She was angry. It felt like she was talking about someone else.

And she was.

God had healed my heart long ago. I was no longer that shy, angry, hurting girl. I was a confident, whole woman who knew the love of a Savior. When she finished her

Time for a U-turn

by Mary Southerland | | no comments

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Music has always been an important part of my life. I attended college on a music scholarship. The piano was my main instrument, but I also wanted to be a guitarist.

The musical challenge of playing the guitar was not my problem. It was my fingers.

A friend gave me guitar lessons, but after a few hours of practice, my fingertips were sore and raw to the point of bleeding. When I asked him what I was doing wrong, he just laughed and held out his hands, showing me the rough calluses on his own fingers. “When I began playing the guitar, my fingers were just as sore and raw as yours are now. Just keep playing, and your fingers

Not Now, Lord

by Gwen Smith | | 4 comments

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There is a feature on my cell phone that allows me to decline an incoming call. There are a thousand reasons why I might choose to hit the “decline” button when my phone rings. Sometimes I have a deadline to meet. Decline. Sometimes a call comes in when I’m mid-conversation with a friend or when I’m connecting with my family. Decline.

Similarly, there are times in my life when I try to ignore the promptings of the Holy Spirit as if I were declining a cell phone call. Times when I just don’t feel like doing what I know God wants me to do. Times when I don’t want to hear the still small voice that whispers to my

You Could Be Someone’s Miracle

by Sharon Jaynes | | 6 comments

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To Beth it was the confusion of an inept airline. To me, it was a divine appointment from God.

“I don’t have an assigned seat,” the disheveled young woman complained as she stumbled into the airplane.

“This one is empty,” I pointed out.

“Thanks,” she huffed as she plopped down.

The beautiful young lady was obviously exhausted. She was dressed in skin-tight jeans and a distracting low-cut T-shirt. Sunglasses hid something…I wasn’t sure what. She looked straight ahead, but I felt that her mind was traveling to a distant place.

After the plane left the ground, I pulled out a book I had written to prepare for an upcoming radio interview. Put the book down and talk to this girl, God seemed to

Trusting God’s Timing

by Kelly Balarie | | 13 comments

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Nearly all vacation long, I couldn’t stop worrying. I don’t know why I was worried; it was a small issue in the grand scheme of things, but, still, I kept thinking back to home…to the flowers I planted before I left. I knew the white variety that lined the front hedge of my house would be fine; the rain would hit them. But the purple ones, under my porch? Oh man, I hoped they would live. I really hoped they’d live. Those little purple flowers bring me such joy. Many a morning, I snuggled up with a hot coffee, my bible and a clear view to those cheer-me-up flowers.

But what would happen after a week with no water?