Joy is Possible
As we approach the New Year, I have been thinking about one of my favorite scriptures: For the joy of the Lord is your strength. (Nehemiah 8:10) The people of Judah had just finished rebuilding the wall around Jerusalem. It had been destroyed when God’s people, Israel, were taken into captivity by the Babylonians. The wall […]
Favoritism
Today I want to engage our Drawing Near to God community in a subject that is not often discussed; showing favoritism. All of us have experienced some form of partiality or favoritism. We might be partial to a certain food or have a favorite recipe. We might have favorite friends or are partial to a […]
The Lure of Temptation
Trials….tests… temptations. We all face these things; times when we feel that we are being tested by God and times when we are in a storm and we are certain that we will not be able to overcome the waves of stress. James, the half-brother of Jesus writes in his letter that trials and tests […]
Doubt is Not a Bad Thing
I have just returned from a cycling trip and I am still marveling at the beauty we can see when we travel by bicycle. I was able to climb elevation (with pedal assistance!) up to 4,000 feet along the Croatian Islands. As I looked down (made me dizzy!) I marveled at God’s creation. This week […]
Real Life Changes
This week Drawing Near to God Ministry is began our fall and spring classes on the book of James. I wrote this Bible study years ago and felt like it was important to teach it again this year. One commentary indicates that for James, a faith that does not produce real change is a faith […]
Never Give Up
Recently I said out loud to myself: ” I give up”. Those of you who know me, know that I am not a quitter. I will go down fighting, but never give up. As soon as I heard myself say those words, I recalled the Scripture: For the mouth speaks what the heart is full […]
A Grateful Heart
I am convinced that a grateful heart is the most sacred and precious gift God gives us. In the story of the 10 lepers only 1 came back to thank Jesus after they were healed. I’m wondering if they were so elated they forgot. But if you had leprosy and were healed wouldn’t you find […]
Do We Believe God?
Faith comes from hearing and hearing the Word of God. We all long to have more faith so that our lives will be peace filled. If we can take our burdens to God with certainty that He will carry them, we will live in the beauty of true surrender. The question is that we sometimes […]
Getting Rid of the Junk in Our Lives
I am renting a cottage on the harbor in Charleston SC and this morning I watched as a cargo ship left our port filled with goods and another one came to port ready to be unloaded. As I watched the two ships pass one another, it occurred to me that this is much like our […]
Joy in the Suffering
Who in their right mind would say that there is joy in the suffering? Only someone who is lying or in denial? The Apostle Paul, (whose life changing encounter with Jesus reads more like a horror show….. beaten, ship-wrecked, etc) wrote about joy in the suffering and he was not lying and was not in […]