By Sarah Sanderson I’ve lived through a little more than four decades, and each has brought a tremendous amount of change. I began the 1980s as an infant, and ended them an adolescent. I entered the 1990s in middle school, and left a college graduate. In 2000, I received an engagement ring; by 2010, I…
Tag: Christianity
His Perfect Plan
By Kara Williams Many are the plans in a man’s heart, but it is the Lord’s purpose that prevails. Proverbs 19:21 (NIV) Every person reading this has received the time-gift of living through the past decade: ten autumns and winters, springtimes and summers; 3,652 sunrises and sunsets; air filling and leaving your lungs over a…
Making Room for the New
Author: Beth Vice On days without sunny skies and fluffy white snow, January can feel dark—leafless trees, decay-matted flower beds, and unrelenting cold. It’s a stark contrast to the color and exuberance of Christmas. This is the month I struggle most with depression, overeating, and the desire to hibernate. But taking time to celebrate the…
The Wait of Christmas
Immersed in the sight of snow-packed roads and lightly dusted evergreens, my husband and I drove over the Cascades for Christmas with my family. We were deep in waiting. Waiting to find out why having children wasn’t easy for everyone. Waiting to see if the doctor would take young newlyweds seriously. Waiting for the perfect…
Remembering We are Loved at Christmas
Our pastor sometimes says at the end of the church service, “He loves you and He likes you. Go in peace.” It’s one of my favorite things he does. God likes me? This wasn’t a concept I had any notion of until my adult years. Up until that point, I was still pretty focused on…
Understanding Wisdom
Wisdom has always sounded like a grown-up word. I can remember hearing stories of Winnie the Pooh and the “Wise Old Owl” being the center of knowledge and direction for A.A. Milne’s lively creatures in the Hundred Acre Wood. I can also remember sitting in Sunday School class as the flannel graph images of King…
Get Wisdom, Get Insight, Shine Brightly
“Make your ear attentive to wisdom and incline your heart to understanding.” Proverbs 2:2 I sat back in silence and looked up from my screen. My mind was a mess of turmoil; thinking, counter-arguing, crying, and pleading for the sake of what’s good and right. Tears of anguish filled my eyes and I closed them…
Being Still When Doubt Taunts
Shame over our past, shame over our failures, shame over our status in society, shame over the lack of fruit in our lives: all of this shame can drive us farther away from God if we let it hide who we were or are. We cannot allow lies about ourselves to plant seeds of doubt…
3 Pitfalls of Doubt for the Religious
Some people wear their scars on the outside. Life circumstances make it obvious that there is a need for wholeness and healing. We love to see God’s grace and mercy transform regular humans into what 2 Corinthians calls a “new creation.” The addict turned counselor. The depressed turned joyful. The wanderer who finds the way…
Battling Doubt
The last couple of years have not been easy ones. Closed doors academically and vocationally have dreams seemingly crushed dreams and left me questioning whether I really knew how to hear from God. Which grew into questioning if I really knew how to follow Jesus. This past year especially has left me wrestling with my…
Anchored Voices 