Faith

faith

/fāTH/

Belief in a personal and faithful God who loves us unconditionally; a source of hope and confidence when you feel there is none; the assurance that there is someone greater than you who not only cares but wants to be part of your life

A-Reminder-to-the-Faith-Family-Online

Would Jesus Unfriend You?

I don’t know if you realize it, but the WWW in front of every web address stands for World Wide Web. Of course you do, but have you ever thought about the fact that it really is a web? Like the one woven by some unseen creature deviously setting a snare to catch an unsuspecting prey? I recently watched as a small lizard did his best to free himself from the threads created by a minuscule spider that was holding him hostage. Even though this creature was 1,000% larger than his captor, it seemed to be an impossible task (I did free him; I couldn’t continue to watch the struggle). This is particularly true in the world of social media. Not sure about you, […]

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Discussing All Things on Relationships and Faith (Video)

We believe relationships and our faith are some of the riches parts of our lives. We wanted to make it easy for you to get to some of our favorite articles on relationships and faith. 7 Things to Look for in a Man 5 Important Things to Discuss as a New Couple How My Husband and I Survived My Affair How to Know if Your Boyfriend is a Charity Case 5 Things I’ve Learned in a Decade of Wifing From Pregnant Widow to Single Mom, Building Faith: Growing in Your Relationship with God, Battling the Mind Monster: A Letter to My Mom This is Your Brain on FOMO Family Devotions Can Hurt For The Fatherless On Sex and Faith and Marriage, Comforting Thoughts

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Finding a Muse in the Mess: When Grief Becomes Art

Being a parent is demanding and intense, but so is being an artist. It can feel like a constant tug of war. When I had my first child I struggled with how time and space were no longer my own, and I was unable to create when inspiration struck. I wrestled with guilt and giving myself permission to make art when there was always something more “responsible” to do. Yet, I couldn’t deny the God-given passion in me to create. Often tempted to despair that I may never make art again, a voice broke through my frustration proclaiming: “I haven’t called you away from being a parent or being an artist. It isn’t an either or, it’s an ‘and.’ You get to

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On-Losing-My-First-Best-friend

On Losing My First Best Friend

Today I am savoring my Cuban pastries a little bit longer and listening to Bob Dylan and George Harrison in the car. I’m taking more of my time in garden centers and missing Jupiter, my hometown, a little bit more. I would give just about anything to listen to a story I’ve heard countless times; to hear what store he snuck the dog into this time; to have The Concert for Bangladesh up to full volume on the living room TV; to pick up the phone on a lonely lunch break and hear a “love ya, kid … call your mom, she misses you. We both do,” or to have to pull the phone away from my ear to protect it from the blaring laugh coming

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bored-stop-playing-it-safe

Bored? Stop Playing It Safe!

Bored? Yeah I get it! Am I the only one who has ever been bored with life? Sometimes I wonder, is there a chance that boredom stems from misplaced fear? I’m not exactly an adrenaline junkie, but lately I have the hankering to get brave. Yes, me … the perpetual nail-biter, weather radio analyst, locksmith with a Ph.D. in Google. Yes, this lady wants to get her brave on. Now, I don’t even know what “brave” looks like because I have been held in the arms of blessed safety since infancy. There were the baby gates, kid leashes, pillows on the edge of the fireplace, electrical covers on all outlets, locks on cabinets, bicycle helmets and knee pads, curfews, “don’t climb any higher

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One Woman's Journey Why Rebekah Lyons Wrote You Are Free

One Woman’s Journey, Why Rebekah Lyons Wrote “You Are Free”

Women who desire to live their lives demonstrating unshakable faith are frequently found throwing around the anti-anxiety verses: “Be anxious for nothing… I can do all things through Christ… I will never leave you or forsake you…” (Philippians 4:6; Philippians 4:13; Hebrews 13:5). These appear as a quick fix for the swirling emotions that often decry the freedom we are told we find when we enter a relationship with Christ. As wonderful as those verses are, they aren’t a miraculous cure to our many anxious thoughts, or the paralyzing feelings that surround us. This often leads to defeat and discouragement. Surely we must not have enough faith or are in some way an inferior Christian. Even if we conquer one layer of anxiety, embracing

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The Lost Art of Patience in a Busy Culture

The Lost Art of Patience in a Busy Culture

Of all the qualities the Lord shows us, His human children, the one that is most lost in our society today is the art of practicing patience. Toward each other. Toward God. Even toward ourselves. We are so consumed with the hustle-and-bustle nature of our modern society that patience seems to have been virtually eliminated from our repertoire of characteristics. My friends, this could possibly be one of the most devastating losses we have faced on a personal and societal level. I recently saw a post from a dear friend of mine who lives in the South where I grew up. She mentioned how infuriating it was how “slow” everything moved in the South, that she wished people would just hurry up! While

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From Pregnant Widow to Single Mom

From Pregnant Widow to Single Mom

This is part two of Ashby’s story. Read Part 1 here! Shortly after Spencer’s death, I drove out to Immokalee to the place where we used to live. Standing on the grassy bank of Lake Trafford where our Airstream once gleamed in the sunlight, I stared at the water with my hands on my swollen, pregnant belly genuinely not knowing what to do next. This empty space made my loss even more real. Every fiber of my being ached to go back and climb into our cozy home with my husband again, but this empty space was a very visual reminder that he was no longer here and there was not a home to come back to. In the Heartbreak and Confusion, What’s

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On Faith, Social Media, and Politics

When Social Media, Politics and Faith Intersect

Since the founding of this beloved country several centuries ago, civil unrest and revolution have shaped the landscape of human rights among the people who walk its grounds. Sometimes, changes have been made for equality that bring about peace and solidarity to our nation. Others, in the form of idealized and extreme beliefs, have brought nothing but turmoil and violence to our nation’s people. I challenge you to think about where the emergence of social media exists on this spectrum. How does this play into the spread of love vs. hate? How does this open platform for each and every one of us to speak whatever is on our hearts and minds at any given time effect the narrative of a nation

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Parenting Truth: It May Get Worse Before It Gets Better

Parenting Truth: It May Get Worse Before It Gets Better

I think like a human. Like an earth-bound, time-constrained, self-absorbed human. And I parented like that most of the time, too. Humanity bears the imago dei, which means we reflect the loveliness of our Creator, so this was not always a problem, this human thinking. But I always knew there was more to life than my human brain could grasp, and I didn’t want to miss it. One day a long time ago, Bill stepped out of his little sunroom-turned-office and told me, “The Lord spoke to me today about Matt.” Bill is never flippant about this kind of thing, so I was immediately all ears, and, besides, in that season of parenting, I needed transcendence. Badly. “He told me He would

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One Big Promise That Can Replace Doubt

One Big Promise That Can Replace Doubt

My friend Kate moved from upstate New York to Key Largo to finish a college internship at the 5 star private club I worked at. We met when she began to date one of my best friends and my husband’s colleague. She is by far one of the most positive and happy people I have the pleasure of knowing. Her infectious smile and girlish laughter are so unique, you could not easily forget them. But Kate, like most women at the young age of 22, suffered from something we all do from time to time: doubt. You see, at the end of her internship, Kate stood at a precipice. She could either go home to everything she was familiar with, all the memories, places, friends, and

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The Beauty in the Broken

The Beauty in the Broken

My grandson and I were seated at a well-worn picnic table, having lunch with a hundred people from all over the country who had come to his Haiti home for a week of ministry. Josiah had just turned eight months old and I was holding him so his mama could eat without his cuteness squirming in her lap and grabbing at her plate. I placed him beside me on the bench, wrapped my arm around his chest to keep him safe, and watched as he became engrossed with knotholes in the wood between his chubby little legs and bare toes. He traced the first one he found over and over and I felt I literally could see his little brain wheels turning

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Hope—When the New Year Starts Hard

Hope—When the New Year Starts Hard

On the very first day of the new year, there are aches pressing on my want-to-start-the-year-afresh heart. Holiday wounds to my spirit haven’t yet dissipated. Gut-wrenching news coverage continues relentlessly. A friend’s tears leak through the phone after she learned her daughter’s lifelong best friend lost her husband unexpectedly while he was on a business trip the week before Christmas. Things around the house start breaking. Again. Haunting my holiday-tapped budget and any energy I might have mustered up to tackle the new year with fresh resolve. Another year starting hard. How many others, I wonder. How many women—strong women—are out there who feel a new year doesn’t mean a new year, just a continuation of last year with its wearying ups

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When-It's-Gray-and-Cold-Embrace-the-Light

When It’s Gray and Cold: Embrace the Light

Oily raindrops collided with my windshield as I sat in traffic under a dark sky. It made no sense to me at all. 5:30pm and pitch black. I had never admitted it, but I hated this time of year. Cold. Dark. And rainy. All I wanted to do was sit in the house and dream of better days. Summer days. But the endless amount of brake light brought me back to reality. Irritated, I cursed the season. What kind of wonderful season was this? It was everything I despised. Drowning in tradition. Full of far-fetched expectations. Gray. I wanted one thing and one thing only. Sunlight. “Maybe you should get one of those light therapy lamps,” my boss suggested as I confessed

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5 Simple Prayers for Your Husband

5 Simple Prayers for Your Husband

After the movie War Room came out in December 2015, many Christian women raced home from the theater and set up prayer rooms in their homes. These are little spaces—wherever you can seek one out—where you can pray, alone and in peace, and paper the walls with Bible verses and prayers. I did the same, but it wasn’t after I saw the movie. It was about eight months later, one morning last summer when I was reading my Bible and a particular verse struck me so deeply that I went scrounging in the office for a 3×5 card and wrote it down. I was about to tuck it in my Bible when I suddenly heard God whisper, “It’s time. Go create your

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How My Sister’s Cancer Brought Greater Hope

How My Sister’s Cancer Brought Greater Hope

My memories from childhood run together like a ripple in that old creek behind our home … it is impossible to distinguish the ripple from the current, but it is all being pulled in the same direction. Such is life; if you blink you might miss it, so they say. They said I didn’t learn to ride a bike until I was ten years old. It is difficult to steer through the hallways and waiting rooms of a hospital, crowded by children wearing masks, scarfs, and pain. These are not the things I remember. I do remember a sister who was born dying. Cancer. I remember parents who although were they hurting, did not question God or resent His plan for their

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