ENCOURAGE - EQUIP - EMPOWER
IT STARTS HERE.
When my dear friend recently invited me to spend an hour with her at a prayer labyrinth, I was both intrigued and concerned that I would not be able to quiet myself long enough to make it through…I had no idea what to expect but agreed to commit an hour of my time for this experience. For me, it turned out to be deeply emotional and meaningful.
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One of Willowdale’s faithful women passed away recently. Her name was Becky Williams. She had been a member of Willowdale Chapel for about 60 years, and she was my friend for 17 of those years. In case you missed knowing her, let me share a little about her life and her impact on me.
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This week, while teaching about dystopian literature, my students and I watched a movie about a dystopian society. The goal was for students to identify characteristics of a dystopia and list examples of a graphic organizer that they had been provided. As we began watching the movie…
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I spent a lot of my growing up years feeling guilty, like I was letting God down. I’d go my own way, turning my heart toward things of the world. Inevitably, I’d feel convicted, confess my sins, ask Jesus to come back into my heart and rededicate my life to him. This would last for a while, then before long, I would stray again.
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Eutychus probably sounds like it needs to be followed by “bless you.” “Euty…who?” You might be asking. Or you might remember him being mentioned in Bonnie Kotler’s blog a few weeks ago. I’m going to unpack the story a little bit more as Eutychus just happens to be one of the main characters in a favorite Bible story of mine.
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Ladies, we are all longing for deep friendship — an inner circle of friends who we drop in on, cry ugly tears with at any hour, and who will be by our side through the rough seasons. But how do we get friendships like that? We work on it. And it will probably be awkward!
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When my oldest child was one year old, he was playing with a toy phone and I realized that he will not have the character-building experience that I did as a child of learning how to answer a shared family landline phone, take a message, and practice his manners with whoever calls. But neither will he endure days of itching and oatmeal baths due to chicken pox since he’s gotten the vaccine. In sum, he is growing up in a different generation from his parents. Obvious, I know, but I often think about what other changes his generation faces.
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“And you shall go out and grow fat like stall-fed calves.” Malachi 4:2 (NKJV).
This verse was of great comfort to me during the pandemic, as I slowly accumulated the quarantine fifteen! I mean what else were we supposed to do all day at home? Isn’t this verse clear permission from the Bible itself? Of course not, but how do we know that? How can you tell what a verse was intended to communicate?
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Where was your favorite hiding spot as a kid?
My family had a sectional in our living room, and in between the bend in the sectional and the half-wall that separated the living room from the kitchen was the perfect little nook for a five-year-old who needed to hide.
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Several years ago, the church I was attending had a huge push for financial giving as there were multiple projects that needed to be funded. Although I was working at the time, I was struggling to make ends meet, but after hearing stories of how God had provided for many who chose to give abundantly, I decided to do the same.
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Sometimes I feel like something is wrong with me. I might be struggling in a parenting battle with one of my kids. I can’t seem to have a creative breakthrough on a task. A friendship is not going quite how it should. All of us have situations like this throughout the day. It could even be a deeper issue…
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It was my friend’s birthday. I called her and invited her out to a surprise lunch date. I had planned to take her to an upscale restaurant as a treat. This place had a high-falutin reputation and was thought to be very special. So I picked her up, we went and it was very nice. On the way home, although she was grateful, she said something that made me realize that I had missed the mark.
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When I am at the ocean, I feel the tension leaving my body. As the waves crash in and out, I feel myself breathing easily. The continual, inexorable waves crashing in and out, make me feel God‘s presence and His grace. As the waves come in and out, all of the trauma and disturbances of the day just disappear …
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