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How To Navigate The Reality Of Life

What is wrong with us?

For some reason we choose to journey through life on our own, without the Lord, and bounce from one sin or train wreck to another looking for that escape from the turbulence of life. Maybe this turbulence involves a relationship, a divorce, an affair, loss of a child, pride, lust, nonforgiveness or even religion; maybe its alcoholism, a drug addiction, depression, an eating disorder, or a chronic illness where a cure seems hopeless. Whatever is at the center of your turbulence, be assured you are not alone. We must come to an understanding that no matter how desperate our circumstances are we can find our answers and our hope in Jesus. Jesus healed the paralytic despite his obvious doubt and despite the fact that he didn’t even know who Jesus was. I don’t know what you are going through or why. I don’t know the plans God has for you, but reach out to Him.

Jesus brings to us a peace that we all search for and yearn for. He brings a hope that we all long for and the wonder of His message that He speaks to us through His word is that He understands the realities of life, how it feels. The good and the bad.

A Letter From A Big Sister: 24 Truths About Men

Hey Tim here — wanted to kick off this awesome guest post with a bit of commentary. Although, Melanie wrote this powerful letter to her sister I think it’s a great testament of what women are looking for in an authentic man. To all the women out there, despite what people tell you, there are good men out there and perhaps this checklist will help you find yours. Ok, enough from me, here is that letter!

To my beautiful little sister,

I love you so much. When I think of you, I picture your pretty smile and glimmering eyes. I love to hear your laughter, and although I know you understand loss, I cannot bear to think of you experiencing anything but the joy of God in your life. So this is why I am writing to you now. You see, your big sister has learned a lot through life experience about the opposite sex. I’ve dated them, worked with them, fellow-shipped with them, I married one, and now am raising 3!

What I am about to share with you, I pray you will cherish, for I know what it’s like to feel so hurt and confused, to scour the internet for helpful advice. And it is all based on this one profound premise:

Why “Real Men” Are Romantics At Heart

The big assumption on this topic is that romance is something exclusive to women, which doesn’t make much sense to me. When I think of a grand romantic gesture like a candle-light dinner at a nice restaurant or a surprise getaway, there’s usually a guy involved. Right? Ok think of it this way…in order for a woman to get whisked away for a weekend, someone has to be doing the whisking. Right?

Chick flicks, candle-light dinners and long walks on the beach may not be the first things that come to mind for a guy on the topic of romance, but many woman might be surprised how romantic a good man can be. Of course we like to hold our breath and puff out our chests to look strong, but despite our tough guy exteriors, women might be surprised to know that most men desire romance with the right woman — just not always the kind of romance women might have in mind.

Men like adventure and want to go out and do things together. Spending quality time and playing (get your mind out of the gutter) with their woman makes a guy feel close and loving and intimate; it offers an escape from the ordinary, a time to focus on each other — all things that women want from romance too. Right?

Face Lift: New Design For 2016!

This year the Heartstone Journey website comes into it’s 5th year. I don’t tackle a redesign every year, but I do try my best to switch things up for my readers by keeping the site fresh and relevant. Because of these thoughtful redesigns, I’ve continued to receive great feedback and the Heartstone community has grown because of it.

There was intentional design time in the new crisp images on the home page and major adjustments to lots of lines of CSS/PHP code, but getting more comfortable with the WordPress space, these redesigns are taking me less time.

Since 8Bit decided to close up shop back in 2013 and kick the Standard Theme over to Woo Themes, I began looking for a new theme platform. Spent many hours researching and finally landed on the Genesis Theme platform from Studio Press and it was definitely the right decision. If you want to create a beautiful website without all the crazy effort, I highly recommend starting with one of the themes from Studio Press gallery — it’s the framework that powers this website and the only one I recommend. I started out with the Remobile Pro theme and decided to move to the Altitude Pro theme.

Why It’s Important For Guys To Act Like Men

With all the headlines about young men being confused about their sexual identity or masculinity, I think it’s time for men of God to rise up and model out authentic manhood. If you haven’t figured it out, there is an exploding subculture that is built on a foundation of accepting people who feel they cannot fit into the mainstream. Today’s culture, instead of being shaped by Jesus Christ, is being shaped by; hashtags, celebrity personalities, music, politics, do whatever you want, fill in the blank ________ that’s proving attractive to young adults.

Seems like every person has specific experiences and reasons for how their sexuality has developed. I still affirm to Scripture’s blueprint, which maintains that sexual identity except that of a heterosexual male or female is outside of God’s original intention and plan for human sexuality. The attack on manhood is on a steep trajectory and the message is clear that masculinity is a cultural cancer, unless you’re a woman pretending to be a man.

Ok, so in a world so confused with identity where do we start?

How To Navigate The Reality Of Life

A Letter From A Big Sister: 24 Truths About Men

Why “Real Men” Are Romantics At Heart

Face Lift: New Design For 2016!

Why It’s Important For Guys To Act Like Men

Favorite Quotes

Cool Scripture

Never Out Of The Fight!

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