The Real Me is Here

by Mary Southerland | | 3 comments

Friend to Friend

Our seven-year-old grandson was very sick and in the hospital for seven days. Justus had both a bacterial infection as well as a serious viral infection. His fever spiked to 106 every night for five days and for three of those nights he was listed code red as his heart rate increased and his oxygen levels decreased.

The doctors from Infectious Disease scrambled to figure out which bacteria were causing Justus’ illness. Finally, after four days of all questions and no answers, they switched antibiotics and Justus finally began to improve. We all cheered when his fever only reached 102! And I took my first breath since the moment he got sick.

Our daughter and son-in-law stayed with Justus day

It’s Time to Put Your Foot Down

by Sharon Jaynes | | 4 comments

Friend to Friend

Did you know that just because God gives you a promise that does not mean it is automatically yours? Nope, you have to believe it and take hold of it to make it yours!

Paul wrote: “I press on to take hold of that for which Christ Jesus took hold of me” (Philippians 3:12). In order to experience a thriving faith—the abundant life to the full—we must take hold of that for which Christ Jesus has taken hold of for us and placed in us.

I love how the Amplified Bible translates today’s truth. “I press on to lay hold of (grasp) and make my own, that for which Christ Jesus (the Messiah) has laid hold of me and made

Shattered Matters

by Gwen Smith | | 4 comments

Friend to Friend

I’ve been through hard times. I’ve asked the question why on many occasions. I’ve begrudgingly said goodbye to family and friends in order to say hello to strangers and scary new places. I know the matter of being shattered.

There was a season when Brad and I lived in four different homes, in four different states, within four years. It was a very difficult time of my life. From Ohio to Pennsylvania to New York to North Carolina, we made our way across the East Coast with three little ducklings in tow. Back then, the uncertainty of tomorrow caused me a great deal of stress. A certain muscle in my back is twitching just thinking about it.

The chaos began

Understanding God’s Grace by Natalia Crawford

by Friday Friend | | 17 comments

Friend to Friend

I was born to be a rule-follower. It’s in my nature. I never acted out in public as a child. It has always bothered me when people talk while the teacher (or preacher) is talking. I have memories of telling my classmates to stop running in the halls in elementary school because they weren’t supposed to. Yes, that’s me. The rule following, teacher’s pet-kind-of-gal. Right now you are probably thinking I’m trying to make myself sound like a saint. But the truth is that being this way made it very challenging for me to understand God’s grace for a very long time. As Children of God, we are called to live in freedom, and I was allowing rule

When Mercy Meets Messy

by Gwen Smith | | 2 comments

Friend to Friend

A four-year-old girl was overheard reciting the Lord’s Prayer, “and forgive us our trash baskets, as we forgive those who pass trash against us.” When I first heard that story, I smiled. Then I thought of a conversation I had had recently with a girlfriend.

She is a Christian friend. But though she has “emptied her trash basket” of sin before the Lord in sincere repentance, she has not emptied it of self-condemnation. Not completely. She holds the trash basket lid on tightly.

She is haunted by shame. Haunted by mistakes that are no longer remembered by a holy God. Haunted by sins that have been cast as far as the east is from the west.

For as high as the

How to Shrink Your Problems

by Sharon Jaynes | | 3 comments

Friend to Friend

I want to see God today. Don’t you? What I’ve discovered is that there is nothing that will shut my eyes to seeing God’s presence and working in my life than ingratitude.

Ingratitude leaves us groping about in the dark for what will never satisfy the longings of the soul. The cure comes in capsules of praise, thanksgiving, and a grateful heart. Gratitude is the antibiotic of the soul to cure a variety of the world’s ills and restore a sense of intimacy with God.

Take a look at today’s truth. Notice the Bible doesn’t command us to feel thankful in all circumstances. Instead it commands us to “give thanks in all circumstances.” When I begin to praise God in

Breathe

by Sharon Jaynes | | no comments

Friend to Friend

It was one of my favorite trees. And it was dying.

We live on a lake, and my dying tree was truly a “tree planted by streams of water.” So how could it be dying? How could branches right in the smack dab middle of the bushy green be turning into kindling? It didn’t make sense.

I called an arborist to come out and take a look. He saw the problem right away.

“Ma’am, see how that tree looks like a telephone pole stuck in the ground? That’s not the way a tree should be planted. You should be able to see some of the roots spreading out from the trunk. Those roots are covered up with dirt, grass, and these

De-Stressing the Holidays

by Mary Southerland | | no comments

Friend to Friend

While I am not a big fan of television, I do enjoy watching a few select home improvement shows. Chip and Joanna Gaines are my two new best friends, and the Property Brothers simply rock! A new fixer-upper show caught my eye, so I checked it out. An interior decorator and homeowner were discussing a list of changes that needed to be made in order to update the home.

“First, we have to do something about those windows,” the decorator announced. I was surprised she listed this task first – until I saw the house. The existing glass was thick and chunky and an ugly shade of something in the neighborhood of mustard. The windows let in no light

When Grace Is Complicated

by Gwen Smith | | 6 comments

Friend to Friend

As of last summer, I became a watering girl. My sunny days often begin with the garden hose in hand. And I love it. The birds sing melodies in all their chirpy cuteness and the plants respond with claps of gratitude. (I seriously think they clap … in their own way. Moving on…)

Early one morning I unwound the hose and watered our small cucumber garden. Then I headed toward a few thirsty plant friends in the back of the lawn along the fence. As I began to water, the flow trickled to a stop.

I looked up and spied the water-stopping nemesis. A kink in the hose.

So frustrating.

There was plenty of water. It just couldn’t flow because the hose

Outcomes and Offerings

by Susie Larson | | 36 comments

Friend to Friend  

Isn’t it something how we may think we understand a certain truth or concept and then God drives it deeper into our souls? He is profoundly wise in the way that He teaches us the secrets of the Kingdom. He unveils truth to the degree that we’re ready to receive it, believe it, and walk in it.

I’ve recently begun to understand—on a deeper level—that though God cares about my choices, He does not owe me the outcome that I expect to result from my choices. Plain and simple, He is my master. He decides how my life will go. My efforts (in every area of life) are an offering to the Lord. They’re not a factor in