Be Inspired
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So You Think You Married the Wrong Person . . . Now What?
Marriage is supposed to be forever. It’s also supposed to be a highlight in our lives. Just look at the energy, excitement, and angst that goes into planning a wedding. Too bad we don’t put the same effort into planning the actual marriage. Our lives might be different if we really thought about why we were getting married, who we were marrying, and how we could learn to be a good spouse. While that kind of serious reflection might break a few engagements, it might also save a lot of heartache. But most of us, even if we’re questioning our choice of life partner, decide to march through our doubts……
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A Beautiful Prayer for God’s Mercy
Mercy and Grace—huge concepts for Christians and a foundational part of who God is. “The Lord is full of compassion and mercy” (James 5:11). Before we focus on mercy, let’s take a second to talk about the difference between them. It’s important to realize mercy and grace aren’t interchangeable because they’re not the same. Think of mercy as not being punished when we do deserve it—God delivering us from judgment. Think of grace as being rewarded when we don’t deserve it—God blessing the unworthy. I can be the best person, the most devoted Christ follower, and a consistent church attender. But without Jesus I’m always going to be unworthy. We can thank sin for that . . Click Here…
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A Prayer to Encourage and Strengthen Nurses
I’m not a nurse. I can’t even claim to play one on TV. But I’ve spent a significant part of the last 15 years hanging out with nurses. They’re some of my favorite people, and they’ve stepped in more times than I can count to save my son—figuratively and literally. Kyle was diagnosed with leukemia at age 10, relapsed at 19, and is still dealing with the collateral damage of years of aggressive treatment at 25. Without our nurses, we would be lost. They’re a crucial part of our medical team. They get us information when we’re confused, hold our hands when we cry, give us hope when we’re hopeless,…
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7 Prayers that Changed My Heart for My Husband
I’ve known my husband thirty-three years. We dated on and off four of those years, starting my sophomore year of high school and going into college. We were engaged less than a year. We’ve been married for over twenty-eight. Add in three kids, a zoo of pets, a few major moves, and a son who’s battled cancer twice, we’ve been navigating life together for what feels like a very long time. And most of it’s been rough. During those early sporadic dating years, we always at least remained close friends. When we got back together the final time, my husband told me he’d compared everyone he’d ever dated to me,…
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10 Prayers for Patience
Patience is hard. In our fast-food, drive-thru, one-day-Amazon-delivery world, it’s a lost art. A muscle we don’t like to exercise often. Yet as Christians, we’re called upon to use that muscle. God desires for us to wait steadfastly upon Him and be longsuffering with each other. “Therefore, as God’s chosen people, holy and dearly loved, clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience” (Colossians 3:12). Patience hurts. A few years ago, I broke my ankle. After weeks of healing from surgery, it finally got cleared to bear weight. That first second my foot hit the floor, fire burned up my calf and my ankle wobbled. It took weeks of physical therapy…
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Why You’ll Never Be Content Without God
Over the last 13 years, I’ve walked my son through cancer twice. More than a quarter of his 24 years have been spent on one goal—knocking leukemia on its butt. And that’s not counting the years of cleaning up the fallout of all that chemo and radiation. Kyle’s first treatment plan lasted over three and a half years. After I recovered from the shock, I zipped from anxious, to uncertain, to alarmed, to discouraged about 20 times a day. Watching him struggle brought on a sadness so deep my chest constantly ached. But every time I thought I’d tumble over the edge, a sense of calm caught me and held…
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15 Surprising Ways to Find Relief from Anxiety
Rush hour slows all four northbound lanes of highway traffic to twenty miles an hour…fifteen… ten…and holds at a five-mile-an-hour crawl. I’m boxed in by cars, SUVs, and a few semis. No off ramp in site. No way to cross to the shoulder. Not two minutes later, even the crawl ceases. The engine idles roughly in my fourteen-year-old ride that’s clearly feeling the aches and pains of its two-hundred-thousand plus miles. In the last year, this van has stalled at a major intersection, blew out two tires in one day, and purged its radiator in the middle of a highway construction zone. And I just know I’m going to get…
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How to Wait on God Without Losing Faith
Please, God, open up a decent spot. Tapping the steering wheel, I circled the local Walmart for the twelfth time, the need to hurry cramping my stomach. Couldn’t leave Kyle alone too long. What if something happened to him while I was gone? I muttered the prayer a few more times, took a few more laps, but the only spot God opened in the rain-drenched, puddled parking lot was so far past left field that if the asphalt had been built for baseball the remote corner would never see a player. Wishing I’d made a better choice in footwear, I glanced at my sandaled feet and parked. The wind blew…
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20 Goals Every Christian Should Set
Whether we’re talking about our personal lives, spiritual lives, relationships, our character, or our future, we need to ask ourselves what kind of people we want to be. Having goals can center us, keep our eyes on Christ, and encourage us to grow. Without goals, we have no reason to press on, and we can flounder, feel lost, or lose track of our purpose. I’m doing something a little different over on Crosswalk.com today–a slideshow. Come check out 20 Goals Every Christian Should Set. What are your spiritual goals? How will you reach them? (added note 1/8/2017) **I’ve gotten quite a few comments about not being able to read all…
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5 Ways to Know You’re a Good Spouse
We get married for all kinds of reasons. Love. Security. Children. Fear. Loneliness. We might take that walk down the aisle as early as high school graduation or as late as in the fall or winter seasons of our lives. Maybe we chose our high school sweetheart, our best friend, a coworker, someone we met in Sunday School, or even a person from our past who becomes our future. Some us had great examples of solid marriages to look to in our own parents and mentors. Others of us saw what we didn’t want to become and vowed to do marriage differently. But no matter why, when, or with whom…