Focus Verse: “Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.” (Matthew 11:28, ESV) Have you ever heard someone describe their weariness or fatigue as “worn to the bone”? Maybe you’ve been there yourself. You are weary, running on empty, worn out, and…
A valuable lesson I have learned—and continue to learn—is to trust God. When my life goes in an unplanned direction, my first instinct is to fix it by myself. How can I make things better? What did I do to get into this situation? How do I change it? While…
“Looking carefully lest anyone fall short of the grace of God; lest any root of bitterness springing up cause trouble, and by this many become defiled.” (Hebrews 12:15, NKJV) At the time of this writing, I am experiencing a weed problem in my yard. I have tried pulling them out…
She was a desperate woman—a widow and a mother—hopelessly in debt. (Read her story in 2 Kings 4:1-7.) The Enemy had subtracted almost everything of value from her life. He had “minused” away her husband, her resources, and her ability to sustain herself until all that she, and her two sons,…
The Blue Ridge Mountains of Virginia welcomed me to a ladies’ retreat where I had been the main speaker the year before. The pastor’s wife was a dear friend, and the ladies of her church were quite precious to me as well. Only this year, I was not their special…
“To give light to them that sit in darkness and in the shadow of death, to guide our feet into the way of peace” (Luke 1:79). We were laughing as we left church that Sunday afternoon—playing with our toddler cousin, vying for the attention of the small child, making lunch…
Sometimes we wonder: God promised He would never leave me, so why am I so lonely? I read stories in the Bible of God doing miracles and speaking to His people. Why doesn’t He do the same for me? When I pray, I feel like my words bounce off the…
Have you ever had one of those days when you’re feeling all the emotions? One evening, as I was walking my dog, I felt my emotions rising to the surface. They had been simmering within me for a while. Disappointment. Discouragement. Worry. Anger. I doubted my purpose. I wondered if…
Genesis does not appear first in the Bible by chance. Everything else in the Bible flows out of the book of Genesis. God always has order to everything He does. God does not, nor has He ever, worked by chance. He is always intentional. As we study Genesis, we quickly…