Before you get started, find a comfortable spot where you can sit quietly with your Savior. Spend a few minutes in silence. Ask God to meet you there in the quietness of this moment and to speak His heart to you as you sit with Him. Have a journal and pen/pencil ready to jot down any thoughts that come to you during this experience. Take a moment now to read through the following Scripture passage slowly. You may want to read it out loud. As Jesus continued on toward Jerusalem, he reached the border of Galilee and Samaria. As he entered a village there, ten lepers stood at a distance, crying out, "Jesus, Master, have mercy on us!" He looked at them and said, "Go show yourselves to the priests." And as they went, they were healed of their leprosy. One of them, when he saw that he was healed...

I was feeling pretty blue. As I maneuvered my car on the winding road with the wind blowing leaves all around, the tears trickled out.  I knew the country I had grown up in and loved was in a very bad place. I said out loud, "God, will you fight for us? That's the question. Because maybe you're sick of us, and it's time we get what we deserve. I wouldn't blame you at all. Wickedness keeps increasing, and we the church have let it. We have not been the shining lights you called us to be." Immediately the song came through the radio, "You're the God who fights for me, Lord of every victory, Hallelujah, Hallelujah. You have torn apart the sea, You have led me through the deep, Hallelujah, Hallelujah…" (Egypt, Bethel Music & Corey Asbury) My sadness turned to peace and joy a...

"Look up at the heavens and count the stars, If indeed you can count them. Then he said to him, so shall your offspring be…" This verse can be found in Genesis 15 v 5 and is this amazing moment in time when Abram is in the midst of a penultimate moment with The Lord. In the previous chapter Abram had just been in the throws of battles with a whole bunch of kings, and has an encounter with Melchizedek, The King of Righteousness. As a side note, it's actually the first time in scripture we see a moment of gift giving, shown in the tithe he gives this king. If you look at the language in Genesis 14 I have it on good authority that the language in itself is military and the battles were real. Abram and Sarai, his wife had been on this crazy journey of tests and choices and ultimately lear...

Embrace uncertainty. Some of the most beautiful chapters in our lives won't have a title until much later. —Bob Goff I was at Mayo recently and the Neurologist told me that I'm in the early stages of Primary Progressive Aphasia. It's progressive and at some point, along the line, I will not be able to speak. I've struggling to find words since early April 2019. I needed a PET Scan when I was at Mayo, but I couldn't find the words. So, Rey stepped in and said the words for me. My speech pathologist said that I need a journal when I make phone calls. I write out the things I need to say, and voila, it works. I wish I had it at Mayo that day. I am powerless against this disease. I can take supplements, but I am still helpless against this disease. It's hard to be powerless.&nbs...

My oldest brother walked up the sidewalk to his car and drove away, leaving my friend and I home alone. Being middle-schoolers, we were excited to have the place to ourselves. But a little later we heard a thump. "What was that?" We looked wide-eyed at each other. The rest of the night, we went back and forth on whether our imaginations had grown the size of the old farmhouse itself, or whether we had every right to have palpitating hearts and frozen limbs. As the night wore on, we became convinced we were not alone. At the pinnacle of our terror, we decided we needed to take some sort of action and face the latest noise head-on. As we cautiously moved towards the noise, my brother jumped out from the shadows, terrifying us. He had indeed not left for a night on the town! After relief...