Encouragement As You Wait
I completely love the GPS apps on my phone. My mind serves me in a lot of ways, but wayfinding is not one of my strengths. Insert: All the driving apps. I’ll admit, but I won’t apologize: I’m spoiled by …
Four Etiquette Guidelines for Asking Spiritual Questions
Having good manners at home is a way to show respect. I always had my children wait to serve themselves and eat after everyone, including the cook, were seated at the table. I wanted my children to respect the time …
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The Gift of Common Grace
It is easy to point fingers at the loudest voices in the divisive conversations fragmenting our world. I can clearly see how their understanding of God’s love story does not translate into their daily human stories, but one night at …
True Community Transformation Requires Reconciliation
A few years ago, there was a church in Texas that was expanding their vision of God’s Kingdom by becoming an intentional multiethnic community. They had done the hard work of getting to know their neighbors, growing in love, and …
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What It Means to Practice Resurrection
Canadian author Charles de Lint describes our plight: “We end up stumbling our way through the forest, never seeing all the unexpected and wonderful possibilities and potentials because we’re looking for the idea of a tree, instead of appreciating the …
Practicing Embodied Faith
The negative and life-diminishing ways we manage our brokenness and uncomfortable emotions are physical—things we do with our bodies in hopes of making our minds and hearts feel better. We can tell that these coping practices are unhealthy because they …
Don’t “Wait” to Wait on God
We stew in a sour soup of emotions for far too long before coming to God. For some, it is the crazy notion of getting ourselves in a better condition to approach him. (As if our current situation and subsequent …
Where Shame Starts
Our first and most important battleground against shame? Childhood. Shame is transmitted primarily through shame-based family systems. If our child hearts receive the parental love we’re created for, we flourish—and begin to be drawn to an even Greater Love that …
How to Be an Encourager in Today’s Cancel Culture
I must start with a confession: Encouraging others is very difficult for me. I’m not 100 percent sure why, but when someone I know accomplishes something great—especially in my own areas of perceived expertise—my natural instinct is not to immediately …
7 Steps in Group Listening Prayer
Step One—Prayer of Silence Listening Prayer uses silence as a way of consciously making space for God. Silence is less about not talking and more about having a posture of open, attentive listening for God. Group Listening Prayer typically begins …