life. faithful.

 I'm sure you see it--God reassuring us that He always keeps His promises. In this case, in the murder of Charlie Kirk, we see God working as He did in the life of Joseph: " As for you, what you intended against me for evil, God intended for good, in order to accomplish a day like this—to preserve the lives of many people. " (Genesis 50:20)  The physical outcome for Charlie was different from what Joseph experienced, but the promise holds true. What man meant for evil, God is using for good. Through that horrific death, God is drawing people across the world to Himself. I've heard estimates that 100 million people watched the memorial service. And while I don't agree with everything that was said, I am incredibly thankful that so many people heard the gospel preached without shame. We're being told that we're at a turning point (and that's another place I can see the hand of God in this story, in the simple choice of a name for an organization that h...

It's so easy to turn a blind eye to the evil happening in our world. So many of us have been desensitized to it--the news is filled with shocking stories to the point that we turn it off, ignore the terrible things happening. We maybe shake our heads and say a silent prayer, but then we walk away and forget. We forget the ones whose lives have been so callously taken. We forget those who have had their entire futures changed.  We are told that those who perpetrate evil acts are actually just victims of their circumstances. But then, something happens that makes people wake up and take notice.  First, it was a heartless, evil, senseless murder of a young woman on public transportation...and though the murder itself was heinous, what was even worse was seeing the apathy of the people around her. It was heartbreaking to see people sit in silence while a young woman lost her life. Then, it was the cowardly assassination of a young father whose "crime" was speaking up and spea...

My husband and I were talking to our kids the other day about how important it is for them to learn to stand for their beliefs and live the life God has called them to now, while it is easy. We were talking about how one day in the future, they will most likely be forced to either cave to the world or stand for God, and in that moment the decision will mean a whole lot more than just social standing. Right now, Christians in the United States have been given a reprieve. The election of Trump was honestly not something I expected. I've written for quite a few years now about the decline of our nation, and I know I'm not the first--or only--one to point out the downward spiral of morality that we've been seeing for decades. As a nation founded by men who claimed the protection of God, I truly believe we chose to be held to the standards of the covenants we entered. God keeps His side of His promises--the good and the bad. That means that broken covenants have consequences. Wh...

 We are not a nation built by bureaucrats. We are not a nation built by politicians. We are not a nation built by the godless. We are not a nation built by the government. We are not a nation built by the uncaring. We are not a nation built by the weak. We are not a nation built by the selfish. We are not a nation built by takers. We are a nation built by those who chose to set out on voyages that carried them across an unknown ocean, to settle a land they had never seen. We are a nation built by those who left everything they had ever known with the hopes of creating a better life. We are a nation built by those who signed the Declaration of Independence with the words, "with a firm reliance on the protection of divine Providence, we mutually pledge to each other our Lives, our Fortunes and our sacred Honor." We are a nation built by those who loaded up their families to take on the dangerous journey "out west" because they were looking for opportunity. We are a n...

 Dear God, I know You were there at the founding of our nation. The founding fathers weren't perfect by any means, but they did their best to consult You at every step. They wanted to please You, to create a nation that would serve as Your light to the world. For generations, that was the case. Our nation sat as a beacon on the hill, a light in the dark, salt to preserve and help heal a broken world. We have been seen by the rest of the world as a Christian nation, and for the majority of the life of our nation, that's what we've tried to be. As a nation, we claimed Your promises for ourselves--we claimed the covenant. Like the founding fathers, we weren't perfect. We made wrong choices. We promoted attitudes and actions that went against Your plan, even when we knew better. We started moving further from Your plan, pushing You aside. We demanded that people should abandon their faith when they entered the public square--insisting that freedom of religion meant freedom ...

 Pastor Allen Jackson recently said, "I think when you accept your Christian identity card for the Kingdom, you forfeit your neutrality with evil." In my writing here, I haven't been very vocal when it comes to politics. A quick count based on the "politics" tag shows 37 of 409 posts, so 9% through the years. Of those, I've been pretty diplomatic in my writing--encouraging you to do the research and exercise your right and responsibility to vote, no matter who you vote for. I've basically remained neutral...but I don't think that is something we can do any longer. If you listen to the loudest voices in our society right now, we as Christians should keep our beliefs out of our politics. We are told to keep quiet, and if we do on occasion try to speak up for biblical truths we are told that our words are hateful and bigoted. As a result, most of us have listened. We've pretty much agreed to sit down and shut up. It's past time for us to stand u...

 I've been listening to Allen Jackson again, and he said something that stuck in my mind: "One of the reasons we find ourselves in this mess we're in is we've stopped imagining the promises of God were necessary and we started accepting the promises of a government." In another sermon, he pointed out that the only way for darkness to increase is for the light to diminish. We are living in an incredibly dark time right now, and it just continues to get darker. And as much as we would like to blame all those who are against God, this mess isn't their fault. It is ours--the people who claim to be followers of Christ, who have decided that it's okay for us to hide our light under a bushel. I'm not ignoring all the political upheaval happening right now. In fact, I'm probably paying more attention to it than I really should be--the chaos and lies have me distracted more than I would like to admit. I fully believe that we are in for more than most of us ...

There's a verse in 1 Peter that I hadn't really noticed before. It's funny how that keeps happening to me...books and chapters I've read many times, on pages with underlining or notes, but all of a sudden I read a verse that I've somehow missed. This time it was while we were studying at church Sunday morning: "For the time for judgment has come, and it is beginning with the household of God. If it is starting with us, what will happen to those who have rejected God’s good news?" (1 Peter 4:17) I've been listening to Pastor Allen Jackson a lot lately. I highly recommend that you do the same, but I'll warn you first--he's probably going to step on your toes. One thing he has been pointing out a lot lately? We as professed Christians can't blame the decay in our nation on "them". Our nation is in free-fall because we--those who claim to be followers of Jesus--have failed. We have let a nation founded on biblical truth and biblical...

 For a long time, I was of the persuasion--as were so many others who consider themselves politically conservative--that the differences between the political right and the political left were ultimately minor. After all, we all want what's best for the country and best for each other, right? Sure, there were differences in how we wanted to go about reaching the end goal: those on the left were for higher taxes and welfare programs while those on the right were for lowering taxes and teaching people to support themselves, but the end goal of both was for the individual to become successful. Both sides wanted to see a furtherance of the beliefs of our founding fathers: We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness. In recent years, though, I've come to realize that the right and the left don't have the same end go...

Lies surround us. That in itself isn't a surprising thing--Satan has used lies since the Garden. Not so long ago, I wrote, " Lies don't have to be silenced. The truth is much stronger than the lies, and even if truth is whispered while lies are shouted from the rooftops the truth will always win out in the end." I'm not surprised by the lies that are being spewed out by so-called journalists who seem to have just become talking heads who read what is handed to them instead of researching and studying and delving into matters deemed newsworthy. I'm not surprised that lies are being fed to our children through the media they consume--movies, books, television shows, and social platforms that feed them a constant diet of "self-affirmation" and "live your truth." What I am surprised by is how many of us are just standing idly by, letting the lies take over. I've been guilty of it myself, way too many times than I want to admit. I've...

  Way back in 2012, this blog started with the "One Word" challenge . That started something I stuck with through 2020--choosing a word to be my focus for the new year. I was better at it some years than others, and in the craziness of the past few years it was something that faded into the background. This year, though, I felt the desire to find my one word again. Choosing a word has been easier some years than others. There were years when I struggled for weeks and others where a word just kind of fell into my lap. This year, it wasn't the word that first popped into my head, but a verse: "It is better to take refuge in ADONAI than to trust in man. It is better to take refuge in ADONAI than to trust in princes." (Psalm 118:8&9) 2024 is an election year here in the US. The ugly commercials and commentary are already out there--it seems like it has been unending since the 2020 election, to be honest. Now is the time of extravagant promises that we all know w...

 If you've been living under a rock lately (or have gotten wise and are avoiding the news), it's possible that you haven't heard the song that's stirring up a lot of people: Oliver Anthony's "Rich Men North of Richmond." *slight language warning for the song It has quickly resonated with people all over the world and across the political spectrum, racking up 17 million view and counting. It has drawn the attention of media outlets, some decrying it as a "QAnon" or "right-wing" anthem that people only like because it " punches down " and others promoting it as " a passionate cry from average people against exploitative elites ." On youtube, the video has comments from the Czech Republic, Germany, Southern Africa, Poland, the UK, Korea... I'm sure there are more, but I just scrolled through the very latest comments. In the US , there are comments that span the nation--north to south, east to west. Our nation (and o...

  This was posted by the President of the United States of America:   "America is a nation of pride." How utterly horrifying and how terribly sad at the same time... the President of the United States standing up and declaring our nation's full support of something so blatantly against God's plan. Scripture is far from supportive of pride as a character trait: " When pride comes, then comes disgrace,      but with humility comes wisdom." (Proverbs 11:2) " In his pride the wicked man does not seek Him;      in all his thoughts there is no room for God." (Psalm 10:4)   " The Lord detests all the proud of heart.      Be sure of this: They will not go unpunished. Pride goes before destruction,      a haughty spirit before a fall." (Proverbs 16:5 & 18) " The eyes of the arrogant will be humbled      and human pride brought low; the Lord alone will be exalted in that day."...