“God, how are you going to do this?” I felt like I have faced the impossible this year and seen God move in miraculous ways. Yet even now, there are situations big and small that seem impossible. I can’t control them. I can’t fix them. A while ago, I was reading through Luke and noticed the two passages below right next to each other in the account of the events before Jesus’ birth (I am highlighting the parts that...
November 4, 2021
depression•discipleship•prayer•Uncategorized•waiting•weakness
Pocket Prayers Printable
I don’t know about you, but there have been times in my spiritual life with God when I long for the rich prayers passed down in our Christian tradition. I enjoy praying prayers from The Book of Common Prayer with my community and family. Then there are other times when I pray more desperate, fleeting prayers. I long to hear God’s voice break through my disappointment, my confusion, my doubts, my questions, my darkness. I’ve collected six of those...
I don’t know the season you’re facing today. When it’s not one thing, it’s another, right? Waiting. Despairing. Doubting. All the various kinds of suffering possible, and there are many. The gospel writers don’t skip around this reality: “For as we share abundantly in Christ’s sufferings, so through Christ we share abundantly in comfort too” (2 Cor. 1:5 ESV). We may not be able to sort out all the intricacies of God’s plans in our suffering, but we do know...
September 21, 2017
featured•readerfavorite•waiting
Willing to wait + Proverbs 20:24 Bible Verse Coloring Page
“A man’s steps are from the Lord;how then can man understand his way?” Proverbs 20:24 I used to use this verse sometimes in college to reply when people asked me, “What are you going to do when you graduate?” I wonder why we assume we should should know what we’re doing after college and beyond? We assume we should know the ministry God has for us. We should know how we should school our children. I’m not against planning or...
“Therefore, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us also lay aside every weight, and sin which clings so closely, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, looking to Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is seated at the right hand of the throne of God.” (Hebrews 12:1-2 ESV) My dad...
January 16, 2017
featured•hope•trials•waiting
Not by might + Zechariah 4:6 Bible Verse Coloring Page
“Then he said to me, “This is the word of the LORD to Zerubbabel: Not by might, nor by power, but by my Spirit, says the LORD of hosts. 7 Who are you, O great mountain? Before Zerubbabel you shall become a plain. And he shall bring forward the top stone amid shouts of ‘Grace, grace to it!'” 8 Then the word of the LORD came to me, saying, 9 “The hands of Zerubbabel have laid the foundation of...
As I wade through various circumstances in my life, this verse comes to mind, so I’m sharing this artwork with you today! It takes courage to wait on the LORD to move in us, to move in others, and to move in our world. “I thank my God in all my remembrance of you, always in every prayer of mine for you all making my prayer with joy, because of your partnership in the gospel from the first day until now. And...
I don’t know about you, but I’m in a desperate sort of place. Fading are my illusions of progress and maturity. God help me practice patience today, I prayed this morning. God, forgive my lack of patience today, I prayed tonight. My little people, my current calling, this winter gloom, my heavy heart, all leave me . . . low. Functioning, but low. Maybe God is stripping away the self-righteousness that keeps me from clinging to His righteousness alone. ...
“After this Jesus went about in Galilee. He would not go about in Judea, because the Jews were seeking to kill him. Now the Jews’ Feast of Booths was at hand. So his brothers said to him, “Leave here and go to Judea, that your disciples also may see the works you are doing. For no one works in secret if he seeks to be known openly. If you do these things, show yourself to the world.” For not even his brothers believed in him. Jesus said to them, “My time has not...
