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Longing, Rebellion, and Joy

Lent day 5 is today, for the introduction click here, Day 1 here, Day 2 here, Day 3 here, Day 4 here, and the bonus one here. There is a longing known to all humans. We try all sorts of things to fill it: Sex, relationships, drugs, music, good deeds, work, art, success, kids, marriage,…
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A Little Lent Secret

If you are like me and you hear Lent lasts 40 days and then you start counting on the calendar…wait there are 46 days between Ash Wednesday (the beginning of Lent) and Easter Sunday… WHAT GIVES? Because seriously I like chocolate or whatever it is I decided to fast from during Lent and uh, it…
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Hypocrisy, Self-Examination, and Lent

The thing about asking God to search you is that inevitably something will be found.   We spend time in God’s Word, we ask Him to show us our sin, and we repent. We tell God thank You for showing us that nasty stuff and washing us clean. Then we get off our knees and like a dog…
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Search Me: Living an Examined Life

Lent day 3…Here are links to day 1, day 2, and the introduction. The heart is deceitful above all things,     and desperately sick;     who can understand it? Jeremiah 17:9 ESV Isn’t it interesting that we don’t really know our own hearts? How many times have I wondered why I felt a certain way or why…
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God’s Righteousness, My Wrong-ness: Trading Guilt for Grace

Welcome to Lent Devotional day 2. You can check out my very brief description of Lent here and the day 1 devotional here. Who will not fear, O Lord,     and glorify your name? For you alone are holy.     All nations will come     and worship you, for your righteous acts have been revealed. Revelation 14:6 ESV God…
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Know God Know Myself – Day one of Lent Devotions

Welcome to Day one of my 40 days of Lent devotions. If you are interested in what Lent is all about check it out here. Have you ever stood next to a seven-foot tall basketball player? Or just a very tall person? If you are that very tall person, have you ever stood next to…
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Lent for Protestants who Don’t “Do Lent”

Growing up I didn’t understand Lent… A friend or two would mention giving up something for Lent. Then there was eating fish on Friday and I was completely lost. How does “giving something up for Lent” and eating fish on Friday get you closer to God? But God is the God of seasons and festivals.…
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How to Endure Under the Pressure of the Mundane

For far too long I have allowed my inner editor to silence my writing. “I have nothing to say,” I would tell myself. Besides if you can’t keep your house clean, what right do you have to write words? My inner diatribe would chide. So I’ve been silenced under the pressure of the mundane… …under the…
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How to Praise God When Storms Rage

How to Praise God When Storms Rage

“I will praise You in this storm…” I’ve made that choice many times. I have stood at the edge of the storm and decided that “I will praise God even here.” But the will and the follow-through do not always go hand-in-hand. Paul said it best, “For I do not understand my own actions. For I…
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Joy, Trust, and Labor

Trust, Joy, and Labor

If joy is found in trust… Trusting God has a good plan. Trusting His justice. Trusting God cares. …then do we just wallow in the status quo? Do we simply say “this is how God made me and so I trust His plan, His justice, and that He cares. So I don’t have to do…
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Finding Joy when it isn't fair

Finding Joy When it is Unfair

looking to Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is seated at the right hand of the throne of God. Hebrews 12:2 ESV Last night my favorite basketball team, the Kansas Jayhawks, beat their in-state rivals, the Kansas…
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Finding Joy in Grief

Finding Joy in Grief

And do not be grieved, for the joy of the Lord is your strength. Nehemiah 8:10b ESV Grief can rub a soul so raw that the soothing balm joy feels like it acid. And it can taint a mind so that it only sees pain, heartache, curses. But joy of the Lord is strength. Not the only…
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Will the Dawn Bring Light?

Will the Dawn Bring Light? By Angela Mackey What violence done? What beauty trampled? …in the darkness …repeated in the dark Hope had bloomed But darkness brought violence Night snuffed the light Would day return? What would be left shame? destruction? Would the light make them see? Could they see …the violence? …the brokenness? …the…
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Is It Just Noise?

Is it Just Noise? by Angela Mackey Go home!             Jezebel!                         Heretic!                                     False Teacher! Liberal!             Conservative!                         Progressive!                                     Fundamentalist!   Words echo through glowing screens. Communication that bites and stings and clings. When I express my thoughts will flesh and blood echo the world of glowing screens? Will I be greeted…
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EnJOYing Election Season: Cultivating Joy in the Chaos

EnJOYing Election Season: Cultivating Joy in the Chaos

“Evangelicals for Harris” are all CHINOS — Christians In Name Only. God is not fooled. Neither should we be fooled. My Social Media feeds are full of vitriol…from both sides of the political divide. “How can any Christian vote for a convicted criminal, rapist, insurrectionist, etc.” And it grieves me. The Bible says that all…
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Art and Beauty: How to Embrace Beauty to Change Culture

“I found I could say things with color and shapes that I couldn’t say any other way… things I had no words for.” ― Georgia O’Keeffe Sometimes we forget that God created beauty. At least we evangelicals who value utilitarianism above beauty and art do. We forget that God is the original artist. He paints on canvases…
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A Reason to Go to Church: God’s Presence and Joy

“Silence is the perfectest herald of joy. I were but little happy if I could say how much.”  Claudio, Much Ado About Nothing, Shakespeare God does something special when His people come together as a congregation. When we sing, take communion, baptize people, listen to the preaching of God’s Word, His presence comes to us in a special…
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Joy and Presence

Just a note…I have missed sharing this space with you all. So through prayer and planning, my goal is to post here twice a month. I hope you are blessed. Where Joy is Found You [the LORD] reveal the path of life to me;in your presence is abundant joy;at your right hand are eternal pleasures. Psalm…
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Obedience, Running, and Calling

“So don’t throw away your confidence, which has great reward. For you need endurance, so that after you have done God’s will, you may receive what was promised…But we are not those who draw back and are destroyed, but those who have faith and are saved.”     Hebrews 10:35-36 and 39 CSB I’ve been silent for…
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A Season of Silence: Experiencing God’s Peace

“Silence is the perfectest herald of joy: I were but little happy, if I could say how much.” -William Shakespeare Much Ado About Nothing Words have been hard for me lately. Silence is easier. I wasn’t so full of joy I could not share like Claudio in the above quote. The big emotions – all of…
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What to Think: How to Boss Around Your Mind

“Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is commendable, if there is any excellence, if there is anything worthy of praise, think about these things.” Philippians 4:8 ESV God cares about what we think. In fact, He gives us a list of the types…
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Mind Your Mind: Joining the Battle for Joy

This past weekend I had the privilege of leading two break-out sessions at Arkansas Baptist Women’s Inspire Conference. What a blessing it was to see about 900 women from all over Arkansas gather together to receive encouragement, correction, refreshment, and learn to fall more in love with Jesus. The session I led was called Changing…
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