Freedom is, by definition, the power or right to act, speak or think as one wants without hindrance or restraint. Slavery is, by definition, a relationship where one person has absolute power over another and controls his life, liberty and fortune. As a teenager I had been engulfed in a life of sin. I was captivated by its lure and enticed by its stronghold. I was a slave to sin, until freedom pursued me and I began to allow God to draw me to Him. As I entered adulthood, I aspired to be happy. I longed for all the normal …
And So We Wait
Waiting: stay where one is or delay action until a particular time or until something else happens; used to indicate that one is eagerly impatient to do something or for something to happen. A few weeks ago, I was up at 4am busily getting ready to travel to a conference. I had almost forgotten about the pregnancy test I had taken that early morning, but thankfully, I happened to glance at it before walking out the door. Expecting to see only one line, I did a triple take when I saw not one, but two obvious pink lines. I didn’t …
Lessons Learned: Abide in the Vine
A Repost from My Journey of Faith Magazine 2016 by Mollie Moncrief Moore that can be applied to your life for this year. Life Can Get Hard 2015 was bookend with bad news for our family. On January 3rd, just after the start of a fresh new year, my oldest son’s good friend died in a car accident. He was 18. In December we found out that my beloved Aunt has stage 4 cancer. She is 58. I have found myself asking “why?” I have prayed for these loved ones and cried with them. I began to be fearful of …
He Hears
It had been one of those weeks. Sometimes I had felt as if I could hardly breathe. I had been weepy and my emotions were raw. Usually, when I feel this way it is because I was tired from lack of sleep or exhausted from traveling or even tired from doing “good” things that I knew were worthwhile. Sometimes I felt something else was going on. It involved the spiritual realm; I knew God was up to something involving me in some way especially if I was being obedient to God’s leading. A spiritual battle was raging and I felt …
Prayer Changes Things…Beginning With Me
I can remember the day my sister called me with panic in her voice. As I sat in my office as a new temp hire at Stephens Inc., I remember her screaming to the top of her lungs that her then boyfriend had a gun to her baby’s head. As I visualized this scene, thoughts of this pattern of behavior that I had become accustomed to with her begin to play out in my mind. Such as the time she went to jail because she drove her car and ran over her then boyfriend, or the time her children were …
Prayers of Others for Help
It would be amazing to know the number of prayers made in my behalf, and even more surprising some who prayed them during my recent weeks of illness and other difficulties. According to Jesus’ Intercessory prayer in the seventeenth chapter of John’s gospel, Jesus prayed for me. He said, He wasn’t praying only for those who were God’s children, but He prayed for those who would become believers. That included me! Then in the book of James we have this promise: and the prayer of faith will save the one who is sick. Some may be thinking: “I prayed for my loved one and she died.” We are …
My “Anything” Story
Several years ago, I had just moved to Little Rock, Arkansas from Jonesboro, Arkansas where I spent my first year out of college teaching. Nothing in me felt settled there so I moved to Little Rock with full expectation to become settled, to become complete. I was moving into my second year of teaching in a wonderful school. My family was close by. Several of my friends were in Little Rock. Everything was going to be perfect (or so I thought). Instead, it was the opposite. There was a hole, a longing inside of me that I could not for …
Praying Before
After Jesus said this, he looked toward heaven and prayed….John 17: 1 John 17 captures the night before for Jesus. The next day would bring his arrest and subsequent crucifixion. Because He was fully divine and fully human, He knew what He was facing: harsh judgment, abuse, condemnation, and horrifically painful death. When you and I have a challenge coming, how do we prepare? Reward ourselves with a good meal or a pedicure? Maybe some shopping therapy? Indulge in a chick flick with a big bowl of popcorn? Jesus could have hung with his friends … perhaps gone fishing or reminisced around …
Praying Through The Pain
“In bitterness of soul Hannah wept much and prayed to the Lord.” I Samuel 1: 10 Hannah wanted desperately to be a mom. Year after year she prayed, waited, and prayed some more. Her grief was great, made even more painful by the constant, cruel provocation of her husband’s second wife. But she kept praying. She kept going back to God and asking. Her prayers testify to her continued hope. And most of all, her continued prayers demonstrate her faith in God. Hannah chose to pray through the pain. Waiting to become a mom was painful for Hannah. Each year, …
Prayer-Begin With Praise
“The LORD is my strength and my song; he has become my salvation. He is my God, and I will praise him, my father’s God, and I will exalt him.” Exodus 15: 2 The bulk of Exodus 15 is a song of praise to God by Moses and Miriam. Their delight in what God had done could not be contained. The joy in their hearts overflowed into praise on their lips. They were witnesses to an extraordinary act of God: the parting of the Red Sea and the deliverance of their people from Pharaoh’s Army. If you’ve grown up in church, the …
Open Eyes, Praying Heart
“My eyes stay open through the watches of the night, that I may meditate on your promises.” Psalm 119: 148 Insomnia. We’ve all struggled at one time or another with a sleepless night or two. Too much caffeine, too much noise from the neighbors, or a too-long to do list. The reasons are many. Sometimes there is no reason. We can make ourselves do many things: get up every morning, cook dinner, grade math, pay bills, do laundry. But we can’t make ourselves sleep—in fact, the very process of trying to force sleep can produce adrenaline that does just the opposite—and difficulty …
Praying My Blessings
“On my bed I remember you; I think of you through the watches of the night.” Psalm 63: 6 Sleep used to come easy. But getting older makes sleep more difficult—not only falling asleep, but sometimes staying asleep. Instead of pounding the pillow, flipping it to the cool side, or resorting to counting sheep, I’ve learned to count my blessings: specifically, to pray my blessings. If I’m going to be awake anyway, why not redeem the time by interceding for my precious ones? As I remember and acknowledge God’s faithfulness, I’m also reminded that He not only created my children: He knows them even …