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Almost All Women Stand By Their Men; Very Few Men Stand By Their Women

Almost All Women Stand By Their Men; Very Few Men Stand By Their Women

I just came in from walking the dog on a beautiful New England Sunday afternoon to write this weeks article, when I started to rummage through one of my journals to figure out what to write about. Among the almost illegible handwritten notes and papers stuffed between the pages a pamphlet fell out titled, “Living By Vows”

After taking a few moments to read through it I was really touched by the love and commitment the author demonstrated to his ailing wife. I share this because I spent the morning with my fiance enjoying a nice breakfast at a local coffee shop in downtown Concord, NH and I find this pamphlet timely as we begin to write our vows.

In a society where many marriages have been reduced to a contract with an exit clause or a “whats in it for me” proposition, I hope sharing the powerful message reorients us to whats really important and the power of our spoken words “I do!” After Columbia International University’s President Robertson McQuilkin’s wife was diagnosed with Alzheimer’s disease, these were his ruminations back in 1990 on what he had learned from his years of ministering to her, and being ministered to in return.

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March 15, 2016 Filed Under: Journal Tagged With: courage, featured, life, love, marriage, relationship

The Four Stones

The Four Stones

This is one of a handful of poems that you will find in Heartstone. Hope you enjoy.

The Four Stones

Here on my knees I cry out to You, my Lord.
Tear-stained, wounded by the choices I have made
Seeking the world’s view of success, coveting the award.
Got what I wanted; the dream shatters; it begins to fade.

Self-righteousness and pride, thinking I had all the answers.
Never giving in. Always my way; never able to compromise.
Convinced I could work things out…coming to my end, I admit I was wrong!
Needing a completing love, desiring to be whole, Lord, help me to rise!

Don’t love the world’s ways. Don’t love the world’s goods. Love of the world squeezes out love for the Father. —1 John 2:15 (MSG)

This bitter darkness surrounds me, feeling so alone.
Reaching out for Him, faced with this choice now,
Again I cry out to Him, asking Him, How?

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March 8, 2016 Filed Under: Journal Tagged With: courage, featured, hope, poetry

Why Does Egypt Always Look So Good In The Rear View Mirror?

Why Does Egypt Always Look So Good In The Rear View Mirror?

It was during this place of desolation, my journey to His Mountain that the Lord spoke to my heart with a resounding clarity; “Truth, love, obedience, and do My will!” This refreshing revelation would become the very foundation stones for the path that He was preparing before me, the path that I had to walk.

We felt like we’d been sent to death row that it was all over for us. As it turned out, it was the best thing that could have happened. Instead of trusting in our own strength or wits to get out of it, we were forced to trust God totally—not a bad idea since he’s the God who raises the dead! And he did it, rescued us from certain doom. And he’ll do it again, rescuing us as many times as we need rescuing. —2 Corinthians 1:9, 10 (MSG)

As I began to slowly release my grip of the fear rooted in my brokenness, the soft gentle wind of His Spirit began to prepare me for my exodus out of the Egypt I had created in my life. This journey would be brushed with plagues, an angry Pharaoh, many times of doubting God and overwhelming obstacles to overcome. Remember, it didn’t take much time for God to get the Israelites out of Egypt, but it took years to get Egypt out of the Israelites. I was no different.

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March 1, 2016 Filed Under: Journal Tagged With: faith, featured, God, life

How To Break Free Of Who You’re Not!

How To Break Free Of Who You’re Not!

In Isaiah 43, God shares that He is doing a new thing and it is springing forth. The big question He challenges us with is, will we see it? …will you even be aware of it?

Its a prelude to something incredible, it’s a reality that God is doing something awesome. I’ve seen the context of this verse in scripture used for various circumstances, but today lets wrap it around life after signing up for this Jesus thing.

In every day life, there are things waiting for us to see. Ever wonder why there are some people out there that seem to always seem capture moments of opportunity and have extraordinary lives? And you don’t because you’ve convinced yourself that the universe is out of whack? Or that somehow God is playing a trick on you by doing everything you want to someone else that you know?

The rub here is that God is offering opportunity to us and offering us an extraordinary life, but many of us don’t have the eyes to see it! Because…we are so focused on living the lives of others.

God is saying to us…”I am doing a new thing…will you even be aware of it?”

When we sign up for this Jesus thing, it’s written that we are a new creation…we are new in Christ! If we’ve connected to God through Jesus, everything inside us is new…even if we don’t feel it right away. We are all made for a purpose and that extraordinary thing that God calls us to is to become what we already are — what He created us to be!

Have you ever tried to be someone you’re not?

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February 23, 2016 Filed Under: Faith Tagged With: featured, God, self

How God Uses The Wilderness To Shape Us

How God Uses The Wilderness To Shape Us

Life hurts in many different ways; through disappointments, disease, loss of loved ones, betrayal, or financial disasters like losing a job. We live in a fallen and broken world, a world that aches and every one of us at some time or another will feel the hurts of life. Have you ever had a best friend betray you? Or how about the time you pulled an all-nighter studying for an important exam and still failed it? Do you know someone who has walked through the anguish of a miscarriage or an abortion? Have you ever worked diligently and faithfully at your place of work expecting a promotion and lost out to a coworker? This list is endless…

Life is not an injury-free sport.

The pain and the anguish of this journey called “life” somehow seeps deep down into the recesses of our hearts and beats us down day after day. Some of us can let the tears flow and find relief while others buy into the lie that we don’t feel those things.

The author of Lamentations finds himself immersed in the tragedy and pains of life. To better understand the real circumstances of that time we have to know what it was like during the final days of Jerusalem before King Nebuchadnezzar breached its walls. The days before the destruction of Jerusalem marked the fulfillment of Jeremiah’s words about the coming famine, pestilence, and sword. They were dark days full of terrors and horrors.

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February 16, 2016 Filed Under: Journal Tagged With: featured, God, life, seasons

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Favorite Quotes

Courage, perseverance, cunning—that’s how you kill lions. Live that and you will have a story worth telling. -John Eldredge

Cool Scripture

If you have raced with men on foot and they have worn you out, how can you compete with horses? If you stumble in safe country, how will you manage in the thickets by the Jordan? -Jeremiah 12:5 (NIV)

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