Love and encouragement from an imperfect mom and her fun teen daughters. We welcome you to live life with us.
blogs that talk about the Bible and our Christian faith
Last week I talked about how “idealizing” people or God is actually rejecting (or hating) them, not loving them. “Idealizing” people opposes God’s heart, because God sees the entire person and does not claim a person is all good or all bad. Initially the idealist only sees the person’s good qualities and denies anything bad … Read more “False idealism” hurts people and displeases God
To idealize another person, even God, is to actually hate the real person, while making unreasonable demands and never accepting the person or forgiving him or her. People idealize a person or God by believing the “idealized person” (or God) owes them and thus the idealizers create an image of a person (or God) who … Read more Idealizing not Loving People: from “loving” to hating a person—even God
Bringing the Lord into our fears There are two ways of dealing with future problems that can harm us. First, some people fear possible future problems and speak “What if,” such as “What if I fail?” The second set of people say we should never think about the future and possible problems, because we have … Read more Fearing Future Problems
What to do when we do our best but others still outperform us Envy and self recrimination (berating ourselves) can strike our hearts when we work harder than others but they still do way better than we are doing. We might imagine it is not fair they achieve so much (or receive so much). Or … Read more Trying Harder but doing Less than Others
This week I’m adding part two to last week’s blog on recognizing legalism(Recognizing Legalism and its Hidden Dangers), so I can discuss the joy we find when we replace this dreadful drain with the abundant life God wants for us. Satan wants to steal our joy (John 10:10, “The thief comes only to steal and … Read more Replacing Legalism with Joy
We must recognize legalism and protect ourselves and others from its milder forms (forcing people to do what they do not need to do) and its dangerous forms (covering the sins of abusers, claiming they are doing God’s work). In its milder form, legalists mistake God for an angry boss and demand too much of … Read more Recognizing Legalism and its Hidden Dangers
In the last two weeks, I’ve written about misconceptions and lies that hold us back from abiding or resting in the Lord. This week I am finally ready to write about the joy this abiding brings. Abiding or resting in the Lord sounded boring to me as an active child. I hated naps and loved … Read more Abiding in the Lord, part 3 Enjoying the Peace
Last week I wrote about conflicts and challenges that oppose our ability to abide (rest) in the Lord, and I promised to add a part two. If you missed that post (Why Abiding in the Lord is Hard), be sure to read it. I wanted to write exclusively about the joy we find when we … Read more Abiding in the Lord, part 2 Resisting the Blocks to Our Rest
Dealing with a Leaking Spirit Jesus urged us to abide in him as branches in the vine (John15:4.) We might read this wonderful news and assume we’ll always trust God and feel close to him. But we get distracted, whether it’s like Martha in the kitchen making too-elaborate meals (Luke 10:38-42.) or due to stress … Read more Why Abiding in the Lord is Hard
People may complain life seems like an endless battle, yet this is not a complaint but the truth. Naïve people may also believe they don’t need to fight in this life. They will suffer for this false belief. We have a real enemy, the devil who hates us. If we pretend the battle does not … Read more Yes, You Can Win the Spiritual Battle if You Admit it is Real!