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My Burden-Bearer
One morning at work my stomach was in knots and I was having a hard time concentrating. My mind was on my husband and I was praying that he would find strength for the day in the Lord. The more I thought of him the more my stomach churned and I felt I should ask my co-worker to pray with me for him. “Be bold!,” were the words that I heard and so I did. I shared our situation with her and asked if she would pray with me and she did. As the prayers began the churning ceased and was replaced with calmness as the peace of God began…
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Are You Convinced
“Talk with Me about your fears, expressing your thoughts and feelings freely. Relax in My Presence and entrust all your concerns to Me. Then ask Me to bless you with My Joy, which no one can take from you.” Those were the words from a Jesus Always devotional that I read this week. After reading it the question, “Are you convinced?” came to mind. Convinced means to be completely certain about something; to be firm about one’s belief. So I asked the question again, “Am I convinced that I can go to God with anything? That I can talk with Him about my fears and express my thoughts and feelings…
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Into The Deep
What kind of images come to your mind with the words into the deep? Is it something that you are excited to do or are you more apprehensive and reluctant to participate? There is a bible verse that I’ve heard many times but never really understood until I ventured deeper. It’s found in Psalm 42:7: “Deep calls to deep in the roar of your waterfalls; all your waves and breakers have swept over me.” My question was, “What does deep calls to deep mean?” Psalm 42 was written by King David during the time when he had been driven from his throne by his rebellious son Absalom. David had fled for…
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Let Down the Nets
As my bible study of Luke 5 continued many little details were highlighted that I hadn’t noticed or didn’t pay attention to before. “On one occasion, while the crowd was pressing in on him to hear the word of God, he was standing by the lake of Gennesaret, and he saw two boats by the lake, but the fishermen had gone out of them and were washing their nets. Getting into one of the boats, which was Simon’s, he asked him to put out a little from the land. And he sat down and taught the people from the boat. And when he had finished speaking, he said to Simon, “Put out into the deep and let…
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Safety In the Shallows
I enjoy seeing the ocean, hearing the waves, walking on the beach and taking in the beautiful horizons, but getting into the water is another story. Stepping into the ocean triggers a fear of the unknown for me. There are thousands of things swimming in the waters let alone the power and force of the waves. Even watching movies about storms at sea causes me to tense up and feel anxious. When I was planning our recent fishing trip to Cabo, I chose to book a small fishing boat rather than a large one because I was concerned about being to far out to sea and it was less expensive.…
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Who Would You Rather Answer To?
Earlier this week my husband shared a very powerful moment that he had experienced. For quite some time he has known that he needed to change certain areas of his life, give them up and obey God’s leading. He has been blessed with a strong will and at times we joke about the stubborn Swed in him. One day while watching a message by Billy Graham’s grandson he was very convicted and knew it was time to change. In the message the comment was made that if God asks us to change and if we choose to listen to the world which says it’s okay to remain, at some point…
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What Do You Seek?
I love those moments when I come across a nugget in the bible that catches my attention. Today I found one in John 1:35-38; The next day John was there again with two of his disciples. When he saw Jesus passing by, he said, “Look, the Lamb of God!” When the two disciples heard him say this, they followed Jesus. Turning around, Jesus saw them following and asked, “What do you want?” They said, “Rabbi” (which means “Teacher”), “where are you staying?” This began as a simple reading of how the first two disciples met Jesus. But as my study continued it became so much more. The first question that Jesus asked them was, “What…
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A Fresh Start
The devotional that I read on New Year’s day provided three bible verses that were incorporated in the message. As I read them I thought about how fitting and refreshing they were to read and believe. The first was Isaiah 43: 18-19 which reads; “Forget the former things; do not dwell on the past.See, I am doing a new thing! Now it springs up; do you not perceive it?I am making a way in the wilderness and streams in the wasteland.” This passage was so encouraging to me and an answer to many prayers. To know that God is making a way in a wilderness experience we have been going through and the…
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2020 Lord, I Want To See
Years ago a friend asked me what my life verse was. As a new believer I hadn’t really thought about it but I could see the value in having a verse that would really speak to you in a personal way. In thinking about the new year I thought it would be nice to have a theme for the year. A theme would summarize my goals and help me stay focused in my daily pursuit of those goals. Building on the 20/20 vision idea I began looking up verses that spoke about Godly vision and found the story of two blind men found in Matthew 20: 30-35: Two blind men…
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I Make All Things New
Today I am reminded of a scene in the movie, “The Passion of the Christ.” The scene takes place when Mary sees her son Jesus fall under the weight of his cross and remembers running to him when he fell as a young boy. Despite the crowd and his captors, she races to Jesus and raises his bloodied face from the ground while she offers the greatest of comfort she can give; her presence and the words, “I am here.” Jesus sees her and responds, “See, Mother, I make all things new.” Our lives were forever changed on that day. We were given the opportunity to become new creations with…