Prayers To Pray For Your Community

Do you sometimes leave church and think to yourself, “How am I going to make a difference for Christ? I can’t fly to another country and love on orphans.”

Have you attended a local town meeting and said to yourself, “What use am I? I’m just a woman who works at a bank.”

Have you sat through a PTA meeting at your kid’s school and thought, “I can’t sew. I’m not crafty.”

Do you watch the evening news and think, “So sad all this violence. So disappointing all this scandal and corruption.”

Maybe you’ve left the voting poll and thought, “What influence do I have? I’m just one vote.”

You are certainly not alone. 

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Prayers You Should Be Praying for Your Family in 2020

Praying is one of the most important things we can do for our family.

Let's be real. 

No family is perfect.

But, you know one thing I can 100% guarantee? Prayer WILL help.

Does that mean your situation will be magically fixed? 

No. 

What it means is that in the process of praying, you increase your faith and surrender the fight to Jesus.

Here are 5 Biblical truths about home and family you can pray for today:

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When the Bible is Hard to Understand- How to Power Through

The microwave has ruined us. 

Seriously.

I’m showing a little of my age right now, but stay with me.

When my mom was growing up, they didn’t have electricity. My grandmother, with seven children, washed the laundry over a wash basin. And, she cooked. From scratch.

By the time I was a kid, from scratch cooking wasn’t really a ‘thing.’ The microwave cooked waaaaaaaay faster and was waaaaaaay easier. 

That line of thinking, faster and easier, permeated the thought process of society. And it has done nothing but gotten worse.

If a website doesn’t load in less than two seconds, it’s considered slow.

Raise your hand if you’ve clicked on a link, and when it didn’t open instantly, you clicked away and were off to the next one.

Raising my hand.

We’re all guilty. 

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How To Make Time to Read the Bible- Especially When You're Busy

Can we be real for a moment?

Like, for real, real?

You know as well as I do we make time for the things we want to make time for. End of story.

When we’re not reading the Bible and spending time with God, it’s a symptom of a larger problem.

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How Can You Trust God If You Don’t Really Know Him?

A friend of mine and I went out to eat at a quirky, local, hole-in-the-wall restaurant. The tables bore the marks of years of use, and the booths were cramped and had holes in the vinyl. Basically, it's our favorite place to eat.

During dinner, my friend and I did what this friend and I always do, laugh way too loud and delve into all things Jesus. Not the surface-level, platitudes, but the deep. The messy. The ugly.

We talked about trusting God not just with the small things, but with the big things.

Our talk led me back to the night of the car wreck when I was standing on the side of the road, and Office Pirtle told me there were no survivors. 

That was the moment my husband, five and a half-year-old daughter and 19-day old son died.

It took me back to the instant where life as I knew it was never the same. 

It was the marker in my life of Before and After.

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Online Bible Study Tools That Will Help You Understand the Bible Like Never Before

Once upon a time, a long, long time ago, if you wanted to study the Bible, you had to have a library full of commentaries, Bible dictionaries, and a good old Nave’s Topical study Bible.

When I began a serious study of the Bible, I spent the hundreds of dollars to order the necessary resources. 

When the books arrived, I was excited to dive into them. While they are amazing, they’re bulky and require a concerted effort to use.

Since that time, a plethora of Bible resources are now available online and for free. 

Despite having shelves full of resources, I find myself using these resources the majority of the time. 

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Bible Context 101- Your Comprehensive Guide to Better Understanding Scripture

If you’ve been around our blog before, you probably already know I have a passion for reading the Bible. There’s nothing more transformative than being in God’s Word. 

That certainly wasn’t always the case. 

For the longest time, I would read and not understand a single thing I had just read. To say I was frustrated was an understatement. 

Maybe that’s where you are today. 

You want to read the Bible and grow in your faith, but you’re overwhelmed with life, and the last thing you want to do is add another thing to your to-do list. Especially something that leaves you feeling dumb.

The Bible is simple, but it isn’t easy. 

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The Power of Our Words- 3 Ways to Control Your Tongue

Words have power.

Here are 3 ways to control your tongue so that you use your words for good.Ever scroll through Facebook and just get tired? Tired of the negativity? Tired of the fighting?

Ever think, why in the world are they posting that?!

Yeah, me too.

So much so I took my question to the Lord. Not to search for the “why” people post what they post, but more so how to make sure I don’t.

My seeking led to Proverbs.

Do words in verses ever jump out at you? 

Like when you're reading a passage of Scripture or a book of the Bible, and a similar idea keeps coming up over and over and over again?

Throughout Proverbs, while there are NUMEROUS themes and ideas, God spoke to me about the tongue. (And maybe added a little reproof and correction in for good measure.)

The Bible gives us a wealth of wisdom regarding our tongue.

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He Who Is Without Sin Cast the First Stone

Christians and non-Christians alike frequently refer to this passage. Dare I say it is one of the most commonly misused and misapplied verses today?

Let's take a look at John 8:1-11

What is this passage really teaching us? What truth are we to learn?

"but Jesus went to the Mount of Olives.

At dawn he appeared again in the temple courts, where all the people gathered around him, and he sat down to teach them. The teachers of the law and the Pharisees brought in a woman caught in adultery. They made her stand before the group and said to Jesus, “Teacher, this woman was caught in the act of adultery. In the Law Moses commanded us to stone such women. Now what do you say?” They were using this question as a trap, in order to have a basis for accusing him.

But Jesus bent down and started to write on the ground with his finger.  When they kept on questioning him, he straightened up and said to them, “Let any one of you who is without sin be the first to throw a stone at her.” 8 Again he stooped down and wrote on the ground.

At this, those who heard began to go away one at a time, the older ones first, until only Jesus was left, with the woman still standing there. 10 Jesus straightened up and asked her, “Woman, where are they? Has no one condemned you?”

“No one, sir,” she said.

Then neither do I condemn you,” Jesus declared. “Go now and leave your life of sin.”

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11 Ways To Worship In Real Life

Worship.

We hear lots about it, but what does worship look like in real, everyday life?

I've been reading A.W. Tozer's Pursuit of God, and so far it's been incredible. In my research of Tozer, I've learned that he spent the majority of his day worshipping God. He spent copious amounts of time in solitude so that he could hear the voice of God. His life was one of worship.

It got me thinking... what does worship look like in real life?

Psalm 100

Shout with joy to the Lord, all the earth!
Worship the Lord with gladness.
Come before him, singing with joy.
Acknowledge that the Lord is God!
He made us, and we are his.
We are his people, the sheep of his pasture.
Enter his gates with thanksgiving;
go into his courts with praise.
Give thanks to him and praise his name.
For the Lord is good.
His unfailing love continues forever,
and his faithfulness continues to each generation.

Here are 11 Ways to Worship in Real Life

1. Worship is all about God

"The Lord is my strength and my shield; my heart trusts in him, and he helps me. My heart leaps for joy, and with my song I praise him." Psalm 28:7

Worship is so much more than singing songs on Sunday morning. It's a spirit of focusing on the goodness of God each and every day and responding to His call.

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Prayers You Should be Praying in 2020- Part 2: Growing in Christ

Now let’s suppose you’ve been walking with the Lord for quite a while, and it’s time to GROW in Christ. 

You’re ready to go to the next level, ready to go deeper, to enrich your relationship with the Lord.

GROWING in Christ means positioning yourself for God to use you. Making yourself available. Allowing yourself to be a vessel for kingdom work. And, again, the best way to do this is through prayer.

Here are 8 biblical principles a soldier of Christ prays for: 

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7 Prayers You Should Be Praying in 2020- Part 1: Knowing Christ

Let’s suppose you’re new to the Christian walk, and you’ve decided that 2018 is your year to KNOW Christ.

What’s that going to look like? Let me help.
 
KNOWING Christ means positioning yourself to hear Him and to see Him. The best way to do this is through prayer.   

So what will you pray for? Again, let me help. 

Giving your life to Christ indicates your desire to be made new. The condition of your heart likely needs refining, and your mind needs training. 

Here are 7 Biblical truths every Christian needs to be praying about: 

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A Brand New Bible Study Method + a Free Printable

Have you attempted Bible study before, and thought, “where in the world do I start??”

Do you find your mind wandering as you read through the verses? 

Do you secretly wonder if you're reading your Bible to check it off your list?

Does the thought of reading the Bible without a book to guide you make you a little nervous?

You’re not alone!

What if I introduced you to a method of study that helped you stay focused, fit in your schedule, and showed you how to dig into the Scriptures?

Would you give it a shot?

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10 Bible Journaling Myths- and How to Overcome Them

Sometimes we will tell ourselves anything to keep us from starting something new or out of our wheelhouse. 

If you have been wanting to start Bible journaling, but have been nervous about it, here are 10 things you might be telling yourself…but they are totally not true!

1. I have to be artistic  

You don’t have to be a great painter, draw well, or even write pretty to Bible journal. If those things make you uncomfortable, you can use stamps, stickers, die cuts and anything else you can find at your local craft store that you think would look good! I have a blog post about Bible journaling supplies you can use when you don’t feel artistic. 

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How to Choose a Bible Journaling Bible: A Comprehensive Guide

Today I wanted to address something that I didn’t really have to think about when I started Bible journaling — how to choose which journaling Bible is right for you. 

When I started Bible journaling, pretty much the only option that you had was an ESV journaling Bible from Crossway. To make your decision you just needed to decide if you wanted single or double column and which cover you liked best. Since then, they’ve come out with lots of different translations and styles and they just keep coming!

The Crossway ESV journaling Bible is my favorite, but I wanted to give you guys some examples of the many journaling Bibles that there are to choose from now. 

Keep in mind that this list isn’t exhaustive, but it does include many of the most popular styles and translations. I want to try and make this post informative and helpful without being overwhelming.

I’m going to break this post into two sections. Bible Translations and Bible Styles.

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The Secret to Drawing Outlined Letters For Bible Journaling

Have you ever seen words that look like they are outlined or 3 dimensional? And then you try to draw them yourself, and you just can’t get them to look right? 

Today I want to share with you a secret to getting your outlined letters to look great!!

I have included a video so you can watch me draw them, so as usual I just want to tell you that I drew them fast and sped the video up to save time. As always, I recommend you do what I do, but slower!

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Should You Forgive When What They've Done Is Really Bad?

Forgive?!? But what he/she did was REALLY bad…

Is forgiveness hard for you?

If you answered no, high five to you.

If you answered yes, I'm right there with you.

I would love to sit here and tell you that it's easy to forgive those that have hurt you... but let's keep it real... it's HARD! As in the brutal variety of hard. Especially when the person doesn't "deserve" forgiveness.

Over the past couple of weeks, the Lord has done some strong convicting on my lack of forgiveness. And then, low and behold, in the midst of my reading of Mark, the Lord once again brought forgiveness to the forefront of my unforgiving heart.

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How to Draw 15 (Effortless) Flowers for Bible Journaling

Hi guys! 

For today’s blog post I made a video for you showing you how to draw some simple flowers to add to your bible journaling pages. 

You can take all of these flowers that I have drawn separately in the video and put them together to make little bouquets, wreaths, and bundles to make your bible pages super pretty!

These are just a few different kinds of flowers you can draw. There are so many different ways you could draw flowers that I could never begin to show you all of them, but I think that these will help you get started.

Just like my banner video, I thought it would be easier if you watched me draw them instead of trying to read a written description (although I did add short descriptions below), especially because there are so many!

Please keep in mind that I drew these pretty quickly AND I sped the video up about 2x, so do what I do in the video…except way slower! :)

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15 Bible Journaling Supplies When You Can't Draw

Lately I have been sharing a lot of “how-to” posts that have all included tutorials on doodling or drawing different things like banners and lettering.

I’ve focused on these things because they’re what I do and what I know best, but I know that isn’t everyone's style. So, today I wanted to share something a little different.

Knowing that not everyone is a doodler and not everyone feels comfortable with drawing, I wanted to share a blog post with supplies that you can use when you’re NOT someone who enjoys doodling or drawing but still wants to do Bible journaling.

With these supplies, you can almost think in terms of scrapbooking or card making. Stickers, stamps, tip-ins*--you name it; it will totally work.

In my last post about supplies, I pointed out pencils, pens and erasers that I recommend, which would apply here too! So make sure you go check those out!!

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