By: Kandy Persall You are not alone. The anxiety, discouragement, and hopelessness you feel aren’t because of your doing. The evil one has unleashed an all-out war against anyone with peace, contentment, and hope. Consistently evil has been called good, and good is called evil (Isaiah 5:20). You pushed through in the beginning months of your discomfort and disorientation, but as the months dragged …
There is more to Christ than I wanted. In the early days of our relationship, I basked in the gentle qualities like His love, peace, and comfort (1 John 4:18; Ephesians 2:14; 2 Corinthians 1:3). He and I would go on dates where He proved to be my Joy, Hope, and Help. My quiet times with Him were like picnics …
Words tumble from my heart like dozens of Lego pieces. Some are red with anger, some orange with distrust and all too many are black with despair. As I ponder over the past year, emotions spill out with a loud cacophony, jumbled and disjointed, none of which seem to fit together. The pieces are me, and I am the pieces. …
“God, I feel hopeless. How do I even begin to pray?” Then, as softly and gently as a whisper, I heard His voice, “May the God of hope, fill you.” Shocked, I asked, “Can I expect an infusion of hope? Is this a promise to which I can cling?” With an eager search, I found this fragment nestled within Paul’s …
In the dream, I was a little girl again scrubbing a stain on the linoleum. On hands and knees, I scoured the inky blot as an unseen figure stood over me. Forced at the task until the sickening discoloration disappeared, I kept my head down as my tears mingled with the blackness of the blot. Each time I awoke, I …
Father, Thank You that You are the Unmovable Rock of my salvation (Psalm 18:2) and are far greater than my anxious and quavering heart (1 John 3:20). You tell me over and again in Your Word, “Do not fear,” but I forget easily and allow my heart to be heavy and weighted down with worry (Luke 21:34). Yuck. My …
“Take for yourself spices, stacte and onycha and galbanum, spices with pure frankincense; there shall be an equal part of each. And with it you shall make incense, a perfume…salted, pure and holy” (Exodus 30:34-35 NASB). I stopped and read again the names of these spices that I had never smelled. Stacte. Onycha. Galbanum. Frankincense. Each an essential element …
In the inky darkness of 2:00 a.m., we awoke to the groaning of our twenty-five floor apartment building. An earthquake rocked us out of our beds on the seventh-floor. Feeling that our apartment was nearing ground level with every tremor, we jumped out of bed, grabbed our children, and escaped into the night. For weeks after this 7.6 …
My dear child, Things before you are not as they seem. From outward appearance, the situation appears as overwhelming and ghastly. You see it as a great, immovable fortresses which are against My Kingdom purpose. Come here, my love. Let me remove the blinders that are blocking your sight (2 Corinthians 3:16). I’ve allowed these situations to awaken you from …
