|
Words of Wisdom
The Right Kind of Confidence
By Jennifer Ash
"What's the worst thing that can happen to a quarterback? He loses his confidence."
--Terry Bradshaw
In an article entitled "The Power of Belief" from The Week, Ted De Hass writes, "At a self-help seminar in Rohrbach, Austria, participants were urged to walk over hot, fiery coals. The purpose of the exercise was to "mobilize their energy reserves." The course motto was, "If you can walk over hot coals, you can do anything." The participants faced a 32 foot-long bed of embers. Seven people who took the barefoot walk discovered something terrible. Fiery coals can burn bare skin. Hit with agonizing pain, they ended the walk with a trip to the hospital, where they were treated for severe burns to their feet."
In an age of self empowerment, quick fixes, and ever changing technology, there are a lot of things out there we tend to put our confidence and trust in; and though they may have the best intention, they can still be misleading.
[Continue Article]
Lessons from being Lost
By JB Miller
A year ago today, I got lost in the woods at night, for four hours. The details of how it happened are interesting, but what I remember most is what the experience did to my faith. While I was probably not in any real danger, I was shaken by the experience, and look at it as a mental brush with my own mortality – the closest I've ever been to not knowing whether I would live or die.
I've always been afraid of the dark. As a child, I would come up with any excuse not to sleep alone, and even as an adult, there are times when I have to sleep facing the door if there are no lights on. So for me to end up in the woods in the middle of the night, without so much as a light-up watch, was an irony that was not lost on me.
My experience was nowhere near as dangerous as someone facing a serious illness, or even a bad car wreck, but I still found myself thinking of the "what-ifs." What if I die here? What will that mean about my life, my purpose? I knew even as I had these thoughts that they were a little silly, that I would probably be found very soon, but fear can do strange things to a person.
[Continue Article]
Waiting with Patience
By Bernice H. Jacobs
In our fast society, one needs to wait with patience. For examples, driving in traffic – bumper to bumper, walking the dog, standing in line or waiting for a pray to be answered. Naturally and spiritually, one can exhibit patience in waiting.
It can get difficult, in our wait, when we see others have what we have been waiting for, especially if they are not professing godliness. Paul reminds us of the patience he exhibited in 2 Timothy 3:10-11,
“You, however, know all about my teaching, my way of life, my purpose, faith, patience, love, endurance, persecutions, sufferings—what kinds of things happened to me in Antioch, Iconium and Lystra, the persecutions I endured. Yet the Lord rescued me from all of them.” (NIV)
David states in Psalm 62:5, “My soul wait thou only upon God for my expectation is from Him.” (KJV)
Psalm 145:15,16, tells us that in due season God will answer.
Isaiah 40:31 states, “But they that wait upon the LORD shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings as eagles; they shall run, and not be weary; and they shall walk, and not faint.” (KJV)
To a heavenly Father that loves us dearly, may we trust His word and love to wait patiently for Him as he guides us in our daily walk.
Being Asked to Leave
By Ruth Eshbaugh
My youngest son opened the front door this week to face a constable delivering an eviction notice. We were being asked to leave the house we had know as home for over a year in the most unpleasant way I can imagine. It isn’t a sight I have seen often in the suburb where I live, making the picture all the more humiliating; belongings scattered in piles all over the front lawn. I am very unhappy about the situation I am facing because I have paid my rent faithfully and taken care of the house as if it where my own. The landlord lost the house in the mortgage crisis. I am not looking for anyone to blame, I have two conflicting stories. I just know I am being asked to leave.
That is the bad news. The good news is God prepared me before hand and I had it in my mind to move and purchase a new home as a means of controlling costs a week before this all began. It is cheaper for me to own. As a single mother with college students still living at home, I needed to do something. I want to help pay for school not someone else’s mortgage plus investment earnings. So what happened is this, buying a home just got sped up. I didn’t want to move in the middle of the semester. I am a student too, enrolled in a painting class. My extra time is at a minimum and purchasing a home in three weeks is a feat I would have never attempted except that it was forced on me. Hmmm, a new home or my clothes and belongings piled out on the curb by the street? See how well the Lord watches over His own, especially in the midst of a trial.
[Continue Article]
Let Your Light Shine
By Sarah Brady
“You are the light of the world. A city set on a hill cannot be hidden. Nor do people light a lamp and put it under a basket, but on a stand, and it gives light to all in the house. In the same way, let your light shine before others, so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father who is in heaven.”
--Matthew 5:14-16 (ESV)
Very few people today would argue that the world is without trouble. Whenever we turn on the news on television or click on an online news service, we are confronted with disturbing headlines. In the face of dangers and disasters, it can sometimes be tempting to become discouraged, to give in to worry about ourselves and our loved ones, to go hide ourselves away in some safe place, even to throw our hands up and say, “It’s hopeless! I’m just one person; I can’t do enough to make a difference in the world!” That’s just what Satan would have us do, but that’s not the Lord’s plan.
[Continue Article]
|
Resource for Christian Women to grow spiritually in God.