grace

Swelling Worship

Oh, magnify the Lord with me, and let us exalt his name together! (Psalm 34:3) Worship can flow from a deep well. When it does, it cannot...

Thoughts on Gospel Grace

For God saved us and called us to live a holy life. He did this, not because we deserved it, but because that was his plan from before...

Gospel Gifts of Grace

Take a quick look at your hands. Are they open? Or closed? Why do I ask? Because only open hands can receive. A repentant, believing...

The So-Much-More of the Gospel

For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life. For God did...

The Grains of an Ingrained Nature

I was scrambling to make my exit to church, arms loaded, when my Bible hit the stairs with a thud. “Sorry, YiaYia,” I uttered aloud. This...

Remembering Pentecost

When the day of Pentecost came, they were all together in one place. Suddenly a sound like the blowing of a violent wind came from heaven...

What worship and thanksgiving have to do with motherhood—encouragement for the single mom

I have recently been digging through decades of family memorabilia and came across several of my old journals. And since I wasn’t in any...

Remembering His Gracious Appearings

While they were still talking about this, Jesus himself stood among them and said to them, "Peace be with you." They were startled and...

Reasoning and Remembering Isaiah’s Words

Please tell me you’re like this too, in that you have a list of people in the Bible you hope to chat with in our forever home with the...

Remembering Our Father’s Response

I will instruct you and teach you in the way you should go; I will counsel you and watch over you. Do not be like the horse or the mule,...

Moving From Craving to Satisfied

The rabble with them began to crave other food, and again the Israelites started wailing and said, “If only we had meat to eat!” Moses...

The Great Flood Remembered

I find that practicing what I’m calling a spiritual discipline of remembrance-through-scripture actively lives out Paul’s admonition to...

Events from the Beginning Worth Remembering

Beginnings are important to remember. So today, let’s remember—from the beginning. In the beginning was God and His Christ and the Spirit...

Where the Lord Provides

We are walking our way through God’s Grand Story, recalling those things He has prepared. And we’re still in Genesis. But such blessings...

A God-Prepared Covering

In these opening advent days, we observed our cultural holiday preparations. Now we’ll turn to the biblical narrative to consider what...

Gathered in Grace

There are numerous occasions documented, in both the Old and New Testaments alike, when God gathered people together out of the goodness...

Underestimating God

Realization pierced the thick fog—permitting light to stream and flood. This realization came about by asking myself one simple question,...

A Staff in God’s Hands

Moses said to the LORD, “O Lord, I have never been eloquent, neither in the past nor since you have spoken to your servant. I am slow of...

When another decade has come . . . and gone

You’ve probably seen them. Those side-by-side photos paired on social media to signify the open and close of the decade known as the...

A shattering undone

They shattered to bits. And my heart sank. After the shock wore off, I stooped down to pick up the pieces scattered far and wide. I tried...