Can I Send a Text Message to God?
Sending text messages to God.
It sounds ludicrous but not that far-fetched in the digital habits and minds of today’s young people and adults.
Sure, it seems like a reasonable question in a culture where personal communication is going out of style. No one wants to look us in the eye and tell us how they feel about themselves or about us. Or communicate face-to-face to resolve a conflict.
So it’s not surprising as I sat in a meeting a few weeks ago and learned of high school students who admitted they don’t know how to pray. But the same students know how to text and spend hours each day talking to others this way.
Isn’t prayer simply talking to our heavenly Father? Communicating with God on a deep-soul level.
A Do-not List for Sending Text Messages
August 31, 2017 at 11:01 am | Uncategorized
How to Turn Down the Volume in a Noisy World
Is there a volume button for our noisy world?
Because the noise drowns out my favorite parts of life:
1) Peace and quiet for my spirit.
2) Deep-rooted solitude in my soul.
3) The ability to reflect without distraction.
4) In-person intimacy and heart-felt conversation among my closest friends and family.
I wear a title in my family, AKA “noise manager.” So I send out memos, audible and text, to my people requesting they make adjustments to the loudness.
Turn down the television.
Please lower your voice.
Your music’s too loud.
But sometimes I misplace my own remote control in life. When I find myself smack dab in the middle of the world’s noise—among the clamor and racket—I search for an escape. I even want to run away. But where do I go? How can I rise above the noise…the roar?
Restless in a Noisy World
There’s so much noise tugging at my heart these days. Twirling in my head. The loudness of it all suffocates the quiet.
A gazillion shouting voices. And the words spill out on social media. Rhetoric screams on every street corner.
August 24, 2017 at 10:21 am | Uncategorized
Do Picture-Perfect Couples Exist in Real Life?
“They’re splitting up.” A picture-perfect couple. The news sent shock waves.
Nobody—for one nanosecond—thought it would happen.
A romantic storybook flashed through my mind. A fairy-tale slide show portrayed on timelines, rolled through the news feed on social media.
Starry-eyed followers viewed a plethora of images labeled “in a relationship with” and “date night.” To keep the pot boiling, engagement pictures topped any Hallmark movie we’d ever seen.
A Picture-perfect Union
Enduring wedding pictures captured marital bliss—the tagline for each anniversary to come. Would this honeymoon never be over? The attractive couple knew what they wanted. A match made in heaven.
August 17, 2017 at 9:30 am | Uncategorized
Expectant Hope—Guest Post by Nan Jones
Today I welcome a guest author and my sweet friend, Nan Jones. A kindred spirit, Nan often writes with a message of hope. Not just any kind of hope, expectant hope. Let her words reach deep into your heart.
By Nan Jones
Three years ago, life as I knew it fell apart.
Jeremiah understood the feeling. Most of Jerusalem lay in ruins, the temple set ablaze, the people carried captive into exile. God’s chosen people lost everything and found themselves in a hopeless situation. Life as they knew it fell apart.
Even the prophet Jeremiah struggled to hang onto hope.
But then he remembered something.
August 10, 2017 at 10:04 am | Uncategorized
21 Life Changing Quotes from She Speaks Conference
800 WOMEN WORSHIPPING
Do you enjoy soul-stirring quotes?
Recently, I attended my third Proverb’s 31 Ministries speaker and writer conference, She Speaks. I met women with kindred spirits, heard inspirational talks, and held compelling conversations about ministry, writing, speaking, and Jesus.
But quotes I gleaned from the conference changed my life.
And since so much of the content blessed me, I highlight 21 of my favorite quotes in this post. l pray the Lord uses the words to speak to you.
Quotes from Chris Hodges
(Keynote message. Chris is the founding and senior pastor at Church of the Highlands. His son is married to the daughter of Lysa Terkeurst. Lysa is founder and president of Proverbs 31 Ministries.)
(1.) “Lower your expectations of people, raise your expectations of God.”
August 3, 2017 at 9:38 am | Uncategorized