8 Ways Making God Your Refuge Makes You Happy
Blessed is the One Who Makes God Their Refuge What? I picture myself with death nipping at my heals, my knees torn and bleeding from stumbling, clothes ripped and ragged from racing through briars. I see myself squeaking through the opening into God's refuge,...
Your City of Refuge for Your Traitorous Heart
An Enemy You know that battle you're in? The one where you need a rebel heart? Sometimes it gets ugly and you take a cheap shot and find that you're bleeding through your tears. You search for the enemy and his location. Only you don't see an enemy, you...
When You Need Escape from Your Life
Unmet Expectations Escape. Retreat. Refuge. We all long for some type of relief at some point in our lives. For some it's tragedy, health scares, or just the mundane everyday-ness of life. And sometimes, in one day, we can be at the top of the world and...
Having a Steadfast Heart in the Midst of Catastrophes
The Catastrophe A bowl full of jello. Shaking. Quivering. Even after the bowl's been bumped, the quivering continues. It starts on the outside and works its way to the inside. This is what I feel like when I hear bad news. "He will have no fear of bad...
Why the Battle Needs Your Rebel Heart
The Battle The battle rages within our hearts. We scrabble and crumble depending on the circumstance. If we're feeling strong we get our scrappy little fists in the fight and knock the enemy out of the ring. We crumble when we receive an unexpected hit. It...
Where is Your Refuge?
Our world is in distress. It's like I can hear it gasping for breath and flatlining as disaster after disaster overtakes. Yet within the disaster is a unifying, rallying cry of the human spirit. Collectively, we turn to the One who holds our hearts in his hand....
The Best Kept Secret of the Marriage Puzzle
Friends, A disclaimer: I do not presume to claim that I have marriage figured out. But I do claim that with God at the center, he is able to guide us through. I know that marriage is a beautiful hard. It's beautiful because it's a picture of God and his church....
The Heart Cries for Help in Devestating Times
I'm in the heartland, where the latest risk to my life was almost catching on fire while lighting a paper lantern. My evening enemies are no-see-um bugs and mosquitoes. My daytime struggles involve teaching the components of a literary essay. My troubles seem so puny....
Pour Out Your Heart
God is so good. He meets me where I am and he's my safe place to pour out my heart when I'm feeling rejected. I know this sounds silly, but sometimes I wake up and feel like all my friends don't like me anymore. By the end of the day I have myself convinced that I am...
How Remembering Helps You Gain Victory
I seem to forget the things I need to remember. It's like I put them in a "safe" place in my mind, only I lose them, forgetting where I put them. I can't tell you how many times I've turned my house upside down looking for something I put in a "safe" place. So...
A Beautiful Hard and a Heart Shattered
The best stories make you cry, laugh till you cry, scare you, anger you, and then make you glad again. These are the stories I return to over and over again. I crack the cover, knowing the ending, but wanting to savor the middle. My life is a story. Your...
The Mystery of Afflictions
Have you ever read a mystery and thought you had things figured out until you read the end of the story and discovered you were totally and completely wrong? I have. Which is why read the end of the story first, the suspense just about kills me! There are times...