God’s promised revival is coming. Are you ready? Revival is life changing, as all God’s promises are. We see it throughout scripture. When Joseph became governor of Egypt, huge responsibility came with the promotion. When the Israelites entered the Promised Land, they...
Have you ever wanted to cancel Christmas? All the hustle, bustle, pressure and expectations can be overwhelming. If life is overwhelming already, feeling we must make everything perfect can deflate and defeat us. The Stevens had a year like that. After months of...
Safe shelter. Plenty to eat. A choice of clothes. Shoes on my feet. A loving family. A comfortable bed. Friends to laugh with. Pillows for my head. They are simple things that I’m thankful for And each year I appreciate them more  Eyesight to see. Books I can...
Most of us have encountered sacred cows. They are the things, programs, even deeply seated beliefs so enshrined in our minds they are blindly embraced as truth or essential to our faith. We may not realize it, until someone questions or tries to change them. Then our...
Read time: 3 minutes 41 seconds I was always a good student.  But as a teenager I did not have much interest in or the money to go to college.  My parents encouraged me to go, so in obedience to them, I started the process. ...
Pinkie’s burned down. It was a dark place. So dark, in fact that children trembled at the thought of it. Wicked things happened at Pinkie’s that scarred the lives of everyone associated with it. Its presence had ravaged lives in the community for decades. When Pastors...
Debbie put her faith in Christ at age 11. In fact, her whole family met Jesus at just about the same time. As her parents began growing in their faith, they nurtured growth in their children as well. Family Bible reading, prayer and talking about God’s leading in...
Good news! The tragic Roe v. Wade decision that opened the doors for abortion in our nation has been overturned! But not everyone thinks so. Rage-filled groups hit the streets to harass and even terrorize churches and crisis pregnancy centers. Young women lament their...
Promises from God give us hope. They are exciting, something to look forward to and plan about. But when the fulfillment of a promise is delayed, it can be discouraging. In those times we must remember that God does not waste anything; His plan is at work even in the...
Foundations are important. A faulty one will make the whole building unstable.One Sunday on the way to church, our son, Andrew, who was 15 at the time, declared, "I'm going to make a tree house today." When we got home, he bounded into the back yard looking for a...
We didn't realize we had holes in our walls. But, one night as we were watching TV, I saw a mouse dash across our living room floor and disappear.Not thoroughly convinced at what I saw, I hoped it was just a shadow. But the next day I saw evidence in my pantry that it...
Our family experienced several significant losses recently, leaving my emotions raw and agitated. Little things caused oversized reactions from me.I did and said things that were out of character—things that didn't reflect who I am. I was not acting like me, a...
How do we truly seek the Lord? This question has been marinating in my thoughts for the past few weeks. The answer seems pretty straight forward, but there is more to it than meets the eye.As I was reading through 1 Samuel recently, the Lord showed me something I had...
Note: This is the second of a two-part article. For part one, click here.Preparing for change is an exercise in trusting God. After hearing God whisper to me about change, I determined to embrace it, and I started to prepare. I took on a posture of surrender. I began...