The Hope of Healing

Because, like you, every day I feel like I have more than I can handle, I rely on God to renew my mind. His truth is my battle plan. I continue to create new trenches of truth to replace my old ruts so they will give me thought pathways leading to life and peace. Where do you need Jesus today, right now? Where are your thoughts falling short of His life-giving truth? Are you stuck in a negative, hurtful, and poisonous rut? What will you do? You will use the four tools God…

The madness about grief is you think you’ll feel better in a few days. Certainly in a few weeks. The average bereavement leave in corporate America is four days for a spouse or child and three days for a parent. Three days. That’s complete insanity. It communicates an illusion that’s totally detached from reality. At three days you haven’t even begun to breathe. At four days you are still in total concussive shock. So I suggest three months of margin…

As my husband and I (邓书琪) prepared for a cross-country move, I wanted to ensure that we kept in touch with our grown sons. I found a unique gift, friendship lamps connected by wireless internet, which can be turned on remotely. When I gave the lamps to my sons, I explained that their lamps will turn on when I touch my lamp—to provide a shining reminder of my love and ongoing prayers. No matter how great the distance between us, a tap on their lamps would trigger…

Cloth can dust off a piece of gold, but the metal must be refined to remove embedded impurities. That is, it must be melted by fire so that any tarnish or pollution can rise and be skimmed from the surface. The Christian life is frequently compared to this process. When we face struggles, God is refining us like precious metal, digging deep into our lives to eliminate all the dirt and pollution. He does this not to hurt us, but to help us grow into beautiful reflections of…

In Mere Christianity, C. S. Lewis recommended asking ourselves some questions to find out if we’re proud: “How much do I dislike it when other people snub me, or refuse to take any notice of me, . . . or patronize me, or show off?” Lewis saw pride as a vice of the “utmost evil” and the chief cause of misery in homes and nations. He called it a “spiritual cancer” that eats up the very possibility of love, contentment, and even common.…

You aren’t the mistakes you’ve made. You aren’t the labels that have been put on you. And you aren’t the lies the Enemy has tried to sell you. You are who God says you are. You are a child of God. You are the apple of God’s eye. You are sought after. You are more than a conqueror. You are a new creation in Christ. You are the righteousness of Christ. All our identity issues are fundamental misunderstandings of who God is. Guilt issues are a…

We do need more of God, much more. Little sips between long droughts will not sustain us. We need more of God in our bodies, our souls, our relationships, our work, everywhere in our lives. But when you live in a culture of the incessant upgrade of everything, the sensational, it gives the impression that if you’re going to have a deeper, richer, amazing experience of God, it’s going to have to come in some sensational way. I have some wonderful news for you:.…

Many followers of Jesus Christ look for the assurance of salvation in the wrong places. We tend to seek assurance of salvation in the things God is doing in our lives, in our spiritual growth, in the good works and obedience to God’s Word that is evident in our Christian walk. While these things can be evidence of salvation, they are not what we should base the assurance of our salvation on. Rather, we should find the assurance of our salvation in the objective truth…

We just experienced the year's first plowable snowstorm. Not horrendous but enough to get the snowblower out. I proceeded down the driveway with the chute pointing toward the street. With very few cars around I assumed I was safe not to concern myself with a little extra snow on the already packed road surface. I needed to clear the car in my driveway before moving the chute to the left, pointing it into my front yard. A van drove by just as I sprayed the roadway,…