When Worry Weakens Your Soul

by Sharon Jaynes | | 11 comments

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My husband, Steve, and I sat anxiously in our seats. I wondered if I was going to be able to endure the ride, especially knowing my propensity for motion sickness. But we began nonetheless.

The guide strapped all passengers into the tiny boats and gave last minute instructions. Of course there were life preservers, but what good would they do in the fierce rapids that threatened to suck its prey below the surface?

The crew boarded and began the journey down the mysterious Amazon. The calm meandering waters quickly gave way to fierce torrents, rushing rapids, and rocky crags protruding from the foaming waters. Alternating between plunging into the water and flying into the air, the boat made its way

At the Corner of Stalling and Sin

by Mary Southerland | | 11 comments

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Procrastination is one of the greatest sources of stress in life. I once heard a preacher tell the old story of three demons who were arguing over the best way to destroy the Christian movement. The first demon had it all figured out. “Let’s tell all the Christians that there is no heaven. If we take away the reward incentive, their movement will collapse,” he said. The second demon responded with, “No, I have a better idea. Let’s tell all the Christians that there really is no hell. If we take away their fear of punishment, their movement will collapse.” The third demon offered, “Both of those are great ideas, but there is a better way. Let’s tell

Protect Your Sabbath Rest

by Lisa Morrone | | 6 comments

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In today’s rush-rush world, do you ever wonder if the Lord’s ideas about the Sabbath are still viable?

For half of my adult life I lived as if this 4th commandment was as antiquated as the parchment on which it was written. Pressured by the demands of the upcoming week, I would use part of “my” Sabbath day to get a head start by food shopping, throwing in a load of clothes, finishing a house project, or working in the yard.

One day the Holy Spirit confronted me. He revealed to me that my misuse of the Sabbath was actually a sign of mistrust on my part. If I was honest, I had to agree with Him. My actions proved

The Power of the Tongue

by Mary Southerland | | 5 comments

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Our son and daughter-in-law and their four children recently moved to Kansas City and are living with us until they find a house. The conversation around the dinner table each night is always quite animated as Lelia and Jaydan, the nine-year-old twins, give a play-by-play account of their day at school.

During the middle of dinner last night, a rare moment of silence occurred. It did not last long. Lelia looked at me and said, “Mimi, do you know what the strongest muscle in the human body is?” I stopped to think about the question before offering several answers that Lelia quickly dismissed as wrong. “I give up!” I said. With her blue eyes twinkling and a big grin

When Family Gets Messy

by Sharon Jaynes | | 3 comments

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If ever there is a place to learn about forgiveness…to practice forgiveness…to struggle with forgiveness…it is in the family. Makes me tired just thinking about it. And interestingly, it is in the context of family where the word forgiveness first shows up in the Bible.

Let’s dig into Scripture today. Come on. You can do it.

In the book of Genesis, we meet a young man named Joseph—the eleventh of twelve brothers, and favorite son of Jacob. He is most famously known for his elaborate coat of many colors. Young Joseph had several prophetic dreams involving his brothers and father one day bowing down to him. Rather than keep that bit of information to himself, he shared it with his

The Secret to Having a Deeply Rooted Faith

by Gwen Smith | | 1 comment

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A nasty storm had blown through. Lots of thunder and lightening. Buckets of wetness. The Twitter feed from our local fire department alerted us to the dangers of high winds and encouraged the community to hunker down at home until the storm passed.

The next morning the grass was vibrant green from the watering, but the yard was a disaster. Leaves and sticks were a blanket. I grabbed coffee and caught up on a few tweets that the fire department had sent out following the storm.

One of the tweeted photo-updates gave me chills. In the middle of a neighborhood just a few miles away, a tree had been uprooted by the strong winds and it annihilated a car. Crushed

Help! I’m Stuck

by Mary Southerland | | 5 comments

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I was enjoying a few moments of silence when I heard our two-year-old granddaughter bouncing down the hallway. Nori is a beautiful little girl with bright blue eyes and dimples that could charm the warts right off a frog. She jabbers constantly in a language that seems to be easily understood by other two-year-olds. Adults? Not so much. But I am learning.

I could tell by the tone of her voice that whatever Nori was talking about was a problem, and she did not like it one bit! She rounded the corner pushing her baby doll stroller and intensely fussing, “Tuck! Beebee tuck!” It took me a minute to assess the crisis. “Mimi! Beebee tuck!” she kept insisting. And

When Your Mind Convicts You

by Kelly Balarie | | 11 comments

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I pulled my steaming hot coffee close and stared into the eyes of my five-year old son. “Do you feel like you’ve been doing a bad job, Son?”

For months, he’d been saying, “I am sorry. I am sorry I spilled milk. I am sorry I didn’t put my book bag in the closet.” Everything was I am sorry. It was his desperation cry: “I’m sorry, I’m sorry, I’m sorry … ”

Somewhere along the line, I knew I had gone wrong. Teaching grace to a toddler is like walking a tightrope above Mt. Kilimanjaro. Fall left, and the kid will be eating dinner foot-to-mouth like a native animal. Fall right, and he’ll live his life tiptoeing on legalism’s

Questions

by Melissa Spoelstra | | 6 comments

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I’ve never been accused of being a woman of few words, especially if you ask my teenagers lately. I often find myself exasperated while preaching diatribes in an effort to help my kids stop fighting, be kind, and take personal responsibility. Sometimes I talk until I’m blue in the face with very little behavior change accompanying it.

While Jesus was quite vocal when teaching God’s Word at different times, He often asked questions and listened as much as He talked. Something stood out to me about Jesus’s words in John 8 regarding the woman caught in adultery. He didn’t use many. He wrote in the sand (boy I would like to know what He wrote!), and then He

Give Fear the Boot

by Sharon Jaynes | | 2 comments

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I just love 1 John 4:18 in the Amplified version! “Love turns fear out of doors and expels every trace of terror.” Perfect love, God’s love, gives fear the boot.

Fear stands at the doorway of our destinies and dares us to step inside. It bullies us into believing that if we step across the threshold we will fail, or worse yet, God will fail us. Fear holds a “Danger! Keep Out!” sign over our pre-ordained adventures and pokes drain holes in our Spirit-filled confidence.

What if . . .

Oswald Chambers once said, “The remarkable thing about fearing God is that when you fear God you fear nothing else, whereas if you do not fear God you fear everything else.”

The fear of