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In: Bible and Theology, Faith, God's promises, Prayer and Devotions, Suffering

  Gentle Reader, please share this with a friend that this could speak to. This is for the brother or sister whose gotten bad news about their career, health, or a family matter. You feel stuck at a dead end, watching dreams crumble in the midst of the daily grind. Maybe pain and fear binds you, keeps you stuck in less than all you could be. Maybe you’ve pushed ahead in your goals as far as physical limits will allow. Maybe it’s not simply the voice of our own emotions screaming “you’ll never win.” Maybe a human authority is telling you that the odds areRead More →

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In: Bible and Theology, Faith, God's promises

Eleven years ago, my friend Brandi Swindell lost her election for City Council in Boise. She faced a tough election and was hit with both barrels and attacked by vile people. She got volunteers who worked hard for her with great determination. She lost by a lot more than I would have imagined. It was depressing. Her enemies celebrated and mocked. But God… God had just begun to work in her life. She founded Stanton Health Care in Boise and that ministry touches the lives and hearts of women and their children throughout the Treasure Valley. Stanton Boise moved its office next door to Boise’sRead More →

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In: Bible and Theology, Faith, Prayer and Devotions, Suffering

As some of you may know, my husband and I suffer from infertility, both male and female factors. Sometimes, I don’t know what is more painful, when your dreams of biological children start to die inside you or when others give up on you ever conceiving. I turned thirty-four earlier this month and my husband will be thirty-five next month. We’ve been married (and also together) for thirteen years as of July. My ghost babies are growing up so fast. Twelve, nine, who knows? If you’re not infertile, you may not get it, what it’s like to grieve for children who were not only neverRead More →

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In: Bible and Theology, Faith, Lament, Prayer and Devotions, Suffering

“I have said these things to you, that in me you may have peace. In the world you will have tribulation. But take heart; I have overcome the world.” (John 16:33) Troubled? Christ tells us we can turn to his speech in John 14-16 any time and receive comfort and peace from knowing the Father himself loves us and that someday he will bring us out of our present sorrow and deliver us to joy. He promises us hardship and trouble and travail in this life and that the unbelieving world will hate us if we are truly walking with Him, and has indeed oftenRead More →

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In: Bible and Theology, Faith, God's promises, Prayer and Devotions, Suffering

“ Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen.” (Hebrews 11:1) At the end of chapter ten, the author of Hebrews tells us we are saved by faith that is strong enough to endure through hard struggles and suffering that cause us to be destroyed if we shrink back, sorrow unto death, and lose faith in God. In chapter eleven, the author now continues on to define what faith is. Assurance, rendered as a vague “substance” traditionally, means: a pledge, guarantee, or security that inspires confidence and frees us from uncertainty. Pledge, guarantee, or security in turn isRead More →