Tag: encouragement
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Faithful With Much or With Little
“‘Well done, good and faithful servant. You have been faithful over a little; I will set you over much. Enter into the joy of your master‘” (Matthew 25:23. It’s easy to compare the gifts you’ve been given to what others have. To think helping is inferior to leading; listening less valuable than speaking.To think your…
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Wherever You Are, Whatever You Do…
“Whatever you do, in word or deed, do everything in the name of the Lord Jesus…” (Colossians 3:17). Wherever you are… Whatever your gifts… God is inviting you into His story. Your work matters. Your voice matters. Your obedience matters. Not because of how big it looks to others—but because of Who it is for.…
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Grace Upon Grace
“For from his fullness we have all received, grace upon grace” (John 1:16). I failed this week. I failed in my job. I failed in my relationships. I failed in my faith. Anyone else? Does anyone else need the reminder today that failure may be part of our story, but it is not our identity?…
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Carried by God
“I will be the same until your old age, and I will bear you up when you turn gray. I have made you, and I will carry you; I will bear and rescue you” (Isaiah 46:4; CSB). When the path feels heavy and your steps grow weary, remember this: The God who created the universe…
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The Reason We Run
“Let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, looking to Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith” (Hebrews 12:1-2). This week my gifts felt more like burdens I needed to squeeze into a hectic life and less like opportunities to walk next to God. It made my feet feel heavy and…
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Liabilities? … Or Gifts in Disguise?
“God purposely chose what the world considers nonsense in order to shame the wise, and he chose what the world considers weak in order to shame the powerful” (1 Corinthians 1:27, Good News Translation). Too sensitive. Too quiet. Too caught up in your imagination. The world loves to take who we are and say it…
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In Your House and Beyond Your Gates
“You shall write them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates” (Deuteronomy 6:9). Sometimes we wonder … my life is a normal life, simple and unremarkable, so where can I serve God? In our homes. To friends and guests when we meet them where they are and provide a safe haven to…
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Guide My Mind; Guide My Hands
“You shall bind them [God’s words] as a sign on your hand, and they shall be as frontlets between your eyes” (Deuteronomy 6:8). Our hands symbolize our actions, all we do. Our forehead or “between [our] eyes” represents our minds, all we think. And God’s Word is to be our guide for both. So when…
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Every Mundane Act, Every Messy Moment
“And these words that I command you today shall be on your heart. You shall teach them diligently to your children, and shall talk of them when you sit in your house, and when you walk by the way, and when you lie down, and when you rise” (Deuteronomy 6:6-7). There was nothing remarkable about walking down…
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It’s Time to Take Our Gifts Off the Shelf.
“From him the whole body, fitted and knit together by every supporting ligament, promotes the growth of the body for building itself up in love by the proper working of each individual part” (Ephesians 4:16). Years ago my husband gave me a gift— a set of two tea mugs, complete with little tea baskets for steeping the…