The Lifeline You Need to Grow and Thrive
You are not the source. You can’t be; you’re a creature, a created being. You cannot generate life from within…
Christianity
Practical Ways to Pursue Intimacy with God
God wants to be wanted. Isn’t that like you? Don’t you want to be wanted? What if your desire for…
The One Most Important Goal to Pursue This Year
Goals, resolutions, commitments, decisions, turning over a new leaf, a blank page – you may have a love-hate relationship with…
How to Celebrate Christmas When Life is Hard – Anyway
You have problems, and it might seem impossible to truly celebrate Christmas when things are this hard. But I’m quite…
How to Plan Your Way Through the Holiday Blues
I love the Christmas season, but it hasn’t always been that way. Some Christmases have been really really hard. I…
Why You’re Frustrated with One Encounter with Jesus
Most of us want the pill, not the journey. We want the magic formula to comfort and success, three easy…
How to Experience Getting Your Validation From God
From very soon after you were born you have been looking for validation. Do you see me? Am I OK?…
How to Experience God in Your Tomorrow: a Theology of Hope
Consider what you’re anxious about. Your logical left brain may say, “I’m not anxious! I just want to be prudent.”…
How to Experience God’s Presence in Your Past Trauma
We’ve all experienced “stuff.” No one comes through life unscathed. What’s in your bucket of stuff is different from what’s…
What Your Need for Intimacy Tells You About God’s Plan
Personal relationships. Intimacy. Sex and sexuality. What first comes to mind when you hear those phrases? It might be privacy…
Your Life Through the Lens of the Need for Intimacy
God created you with the need, desire, and capacity for intimacy. What have you done with that need for intimacy?…
Why God Created You for Intimacy
There’s something in the human heart that craves connection. We sense, perhaps unconsciously, that we are created for intimacy. That…
From Genesis to Revelation: The Greatest Love Story Ever
Don’t you love a great love story? There’s always a hero, a heroine, and a villain. The questions keep us…
How the Old “You” Will Have to Die for Your Marriage to Survive
OH! That’s not what the preacher said when he or she pronounced you man and wife. Dying is not what…
3 Paradoxes We Experience in the Kingdom of God
Things are not always as they appear, especially in the kingdom of God. The carpenter’s son is truthfully the Son…
What if You Could Look Forward to Reading the Bible?
I sometimes ask people, “What things are you supposed to do as a Christian?” And “read the Bible” is always…
The Most Overlooked Obstacle to Maturity and Wholeness
We are an impatient people. Our contemporary culture has fueled our natural human tendency to go for instant gratification. We…
How to Make Jesus Irresistible to Others
As a follower of Jesus you care about the people around you. So how do you respond to your coworker…
Where to Invest in Your Marriage for Long-Term Success
Nothing of real value just happens. You don’t drift toward a finely tuned athletic body, a million-dollar retirement fund, or…
What Jesus Cares About More Than You Doing the Right Thing
What Jesus cares about most is not people doing the right thing. Does that surprise you? Certainly every human being…
Why Religious Activity Misses the Goal of the Christian Life
Why do you go to church, read your Bible, or pray? Why try hard not to sin? To feel better?…
The Primary Purpose for which God Created Marriage
This is not what you signed up for. The things you expected marriage to be turned out to be wrong,…
Why Church and Devotions Aren’t Working for You
Is what you’re doing as a Christian bringing the results you need, want, or expect? And while we’re talking about…
Are These 8 Myths About Marriage Harming Your Relationship?
You imagine “I do” should lead to “happily ever after.” That may happen in fairy tales, romance novels, and cheesy…
10 Scriptures for Overcoming Fear and Anxiety
You know the Bible says “Don’t be afraid.” But sometimes anxious thoughts and feelings seem to overtake your heart and…
God Has an Answer for Your Fear and Anxiety
You’ve prayed. Maybe you’ve fasted, and cried, and asked others to pray for you. But the swirling thoughts and anxious…
How to Build a Life of Resilience Against Stress
Resilience allows a tree to bend in the wind instead of breaking. It’s what an athlete cultivates in order to…
How to Celebrate Easter in a Time of Turmoil
This weekend is what many Christians consider the holiest time of the year. We remember and celebrate the event on…
Experiencing the Resurrection Power of Jesus in Your Marriage
When Jesus came and lived, died, and lived again He did so to bring restoration and life to not only…
Are You Using Your Influence to Help Others?
You have influence. You may not consider yourself an “influencer.” You may not have millions of “followers.” But there are…
What Trusting God IS and What it ISN’T
Your head probably says that trusting God is a good idea. But trust is not only a decision, though it…
How Can You Trust God When His People Let You Down
On a good day the best part of your intellect may agree that God can be trusted. But consider your…
When Pain Makes it Feel Impossible to Connect with the Family of God
After being deeply hurt in church or experiencing spiritual abuse you want to hide. Your body and soul may recoil…
Good and Not so Good Reasons to Leave Your Church
Over the last few weeks I’ve heard from many of you who have experienced church hurt. Such wounds usually come…
Three Things You Need to Recover from Church Hurt
“Raise your hand if you have not been hurt in church.” Just this week I heard a friend of mine…
What to Do If “God” has Become a Bad Word for You
When you think of “God,” what is your internal experience? Are you afraid, wishing you could hide behind some fig…
To Those Who Have Been Hurt in Church
Church hurt is real. There’s no use pretending it’s an anomaly or that true followers of Jesus should simply forgive,…
Confronting the REAL Reason You Go to Church or Not
Feelings around church can be complicated. And the Covid-19 pandemic has made it even more complicated. You might be one…
Jesus, Please Help Me Understand What’s Going On Here
When things are difficult one of the most helpful questions I’ve learned to ask is, “Jesus, what’s going on here?”…
Feeling on the Outside as a Single Christian
Walk into your average church and you might get the impression this is not a place you belong. Intellectually you…
What’s Your One Thing for 2022?
Resolutions can sometimes help, though just making a New Year’s resolution is likely to last about as long as your…
The Baby Who Changed Everything
It’s almost Christmas. Children are eying presents under the tree. Adults are perhaps both tired and expectant. Church volunteers are…
5 Things to Do When the Holidays are Hard
Feeling ambivalent about the holidays is pretty normal. You’re “supposed” to enjoy this season of lights, music, giving, and family.…
Experience God Being With You This Advent Season
The season of Advent is here. For some this season brings joy, busyness, and countless activities connecting with family and…
2021: A Different Year, A Different Gratitude List
Today is Thanksgiving Day in the United States. I love that it’s the least commercialized of the major holidays. If…
Have You Counted the Cost of Following Jesus?
When Jesus called people to follow Him, what did they understand they were saying Yes to? And if we are…
How I’m Wrestling with Feeling Angry About Marriage
I’m angry. And I’m wrestling with what Paul says; “Be angry and do not sin; do not let the sun…
Does Your Life Smell Like Jesus Yet?
Fragrance is a delicate thing that’s hard to put words to but impossible to ignore. Freshly brewed coffee. Freshly baked…
What Has God Given You Executive Authority Over?
God is in control. How many times have you heard that? Said that? And of course it’s true! But the…
How to Navigate Your Marriage Through the Messy Middle
So your marriage is in the messy middle. You’ve been drifting, and things aren’t headed to where you want your…
