Becoming a mom has helped me understand things about God better than anything else. The relationship between a child and parent parallels the relationship between us and God in all sorts of ways. For example: Just like a baby or toddler doesn’t have the capability to grasp concepts the way adults do, I don’t have the capacity to grasp so much of God and His creation. Because I love my kids, sometimes I let them struggle through things that are hard for them. I see the bigger context of what’s going on than my kids are able to see, just

When things work out just perfectly, how do you view the circumstance? Is it coincidence? Fate? Destiny? I see it as evidence of God weaving everything together in His master plan. That’s what he did for David. Here was a guy coming up in the world. He’d defeated Goliath. He had a place in the king’s court, fortune, a wife, a trusted friend. He was respected. But then King Saul got worried about him. He decided David was a threat, and in an instant David lost it all: his position, prosperity, partner, peer, pride, and more. He ran for the

I originally posted this on Emily Blogs the Bible , back on Tuesday, January 8, 2019. While I didn’t successfully memorize the verse as I had hoped, I do believe I internalized it in a way that God has used. Revisiting it now is a good reminder to continue to focus on Jesus as the source of wisdom! We’ve been reading through Proverbs with our life group and are working on memorizing a verse of our choosing from the book. I’m not very good at memorization, but I agree it’s good to do! I’ve chosen Proverbs 4:13. I picked this

What inspires you to take action? When you’ve heard the story of David and Goliath countless times, it’s easy to overlook how David and the Israelites were feeling. Truth be told, I’d probably be an Israelite in that story. It’s hard to take a bold first step forward–especially when no one else has dared to take it. But David stepped forward. He faced Goliath and won. Did you see what happened next? I don’t think I’d ever stopped to notice before: “Then the men of Israel and Judah surged forward with a shout and pursued the Philistines to the entrance

Where do you place your hope? Back in my first post about Revelation , I shared that it’s a book of hope . In Chip Ingram’s last sermon in his series , he finishes up the book and explains how important it is that we place our hope in Jesus. I think we all tend to place our hope in things that could be gone in a second: health, relationships, career, achievements, etc. When our view is limited to the world around us, it’s easy to feel hopeless. Instead, we should place our hope in what Revelation shows us: Jesus

This is going to be a longer post as we go through the middle of Revelation , but I liked the big-picture view that Chip Ingram presented as he went through it. I understood it so much more clearly, and I liked the way he kept the central message of hope in focus. As Chip summarized, “This shows us we can endure anything when we look at today’s struggles in the light of tomorrow’s certainty.”  I know my day-to-day struggles are nothing close to what the early church suffered, but that doesn’t mean my life is easy . By understanding

When I think of the word “overcomer,” I often think of Mandisa’s inspiring song that came out a few years ago. I think of overcoming giant hurdles like injustice or insurmountable sickness. I think that’s why I’ve never really thought of myself as an overcomer. But I liked the perspective Chip Ingram shared on this word in his Revelation series. He said there’s stuff that will come into your life to try to separate you from God. But at the end of each letter in Revelation 2-3 , there’s a promise to those that overcome. In this context, an overcomer

Revelation : the last book of the Bible. Reading it always made me scratch my head. So I was really excited when my mom suggested we listen to Chip Ingram’s Revelation series together . I think one section of it that many people are familiar with are the letters to the seven churches, probably because it shares actionable guidance that makes sense without understanding the greater context of the book. But the thing is, this section does sit in the context of the book. I think God would have separated the letters out if He intended the messages to the

Revelation has always confused me. I think that’s why I appreciated Chip Ingram’s sermon series about it so much. He explained it in a way that finally made sense! In my first post about it , I shared context for when it was written, an outline of the book, and the central message: hope!  In this post, I’ll get into the first chapter. The theme is trust in God: our future is secure! Don’t be deceived—The future is certain! Revelation 1:1-3 The revelation from Jesus Christ, which God gave him to show his servants what must soon take place. He

  I’ve always felt a little intimidated by the book of Revelation. People would say things about how it says the end times would include ABC and you can tell the end is getting closer because of XYZ. But whenever I tried to read it I ended up feeling more lost and confused. Yet all that recently changed. I learned that it’s really a book of hope. Hope that, despite everything appearing to keep getting worse and worse, and life being hard for us and our families, we can rest assured that God has a plan for it all. Rewinding