Faces: Stories They Tell And How Love Matters

Love whispers, Look deeply and intently at faces. Gaze into their eyes. They’re faces with a story and the people God loves.

There’s more to a face than meets the eye. Aesthetics present features in color and shape, and how they lay between the forehead and chin.

Yet, much more is seen. So consider the variant qualities of faces: beckoning, engaging, enchanting, yearning, magnetic, and stolid.

Faces are Storytellers

Narratives of gladness, sadness, loneliness, heroism, defeat, victory, or captivity dwell behind a face. And other chapters waiting to be written. Every human longs to share one story of magnitude. A story of real love.

God calls us to love the people in our home and family, in our neighborhood, in the workplace, in a local church, and so on. And loving in a broader sense in our community and world.

But how do we love others well? Can we love all people? And is it possible to simultaneously love people under our roof, those in our backyard, and people on the other side of an issue, a hurt, our town, and the world?

Perhaps the answer is found in an attempt to grasp how God sees and loves people.

See the Way God Sees

God sees every person as someone who needs a story of love. Because God loves each of us with a steadfast love like no one else.

His love story was already written on Calvary’s cross and an empty tomb. It becomes our personal love story if we let God write it on our hearts when we accept His salvation.

But other stories of love are waiting for us to pen in people’s lives.

The Voice of Hope: 6 Mic-drop Messages

Maybe you are familiar with the voice of reason. The adage means a person’s communication toward a particular issue is level-headed and reasonable. 

Or, the voice of truth. Also a song title for the Christian band, Casting Crowns.

For believers, the voice of truth comes directly from God and His Word.

So let me introduce you to the Voice of Hope.  

Like every other guest who’s shared a message here, I pray we listen carefully to her words.

And we welcome Hope’s message into our heart to live forever.

Finally, let Hope’s voice override every hopeless thought.

Without further ado, here’s the Voice of Hope.

Unwavering Hope

God’s child, 

The heavenly Father gave me to you as a gift; a stable, certain, and secure hope. I never waver based on circumstances, people, or opinions. You see, in an uncertain world, I’m an undeniable hope, an unshakable anchor for your soul. 

But you possess the choice to hold fast to the confession of your hope without wavering, for God who promised is faithful (Hebrews 10:23). Because Christ lives in you, a glorious hope also resides in you (Colossians 1:27).

Sincerely, the Voice of Hope

25 Soul-stirring Journal Entries During Covid-19

Earlier this year, I shared life-giving thoughts from my journal. But many of the entries came from my own personal crisis, penned before Covid-19. 

Whether it’s a personal or world crisis, suffering, loss, or the unknown, journal entries stir our souls.

Journaling pens messages on our hearts.

So, I’m opening my journal again with entries for such a time as this.

Home and Church Entries

(1.) Staying home more reacquaints us with “home.” Such as, There’s no place like home. Or, Home is where your heart is. It’s an opportunity to spend quality time with people under our roof. And a reminder our eternal home is where our spiritual heart is.

(2.) While churches are not allowed to gather, Scripture tells us people are the church. Men have constructed breath-taking churches and cathedrals. But what if I asked the Lord to make my life a breath-taking sanctuary for Him? 

(3.) The Holy Spirit is moving among us, using our present situation to draw people to God. He’s calling the church out of complacency to a spiritual awakening. An opportune time to pray for revival. Rise up, church!

(4.) Social distancing is a must right now. But I’m keeping Jesus near through walking closely with Him. Christ is in me, with me, and for me!  

(5.) People are searching for real hope. Hope found at Calvary’s cross and an empty tomb. Because Hope has a name. Jesus. Am I pointing others to Him, the cornerstone of the church?

Suffering and God Notes

The Sad Little Secret in Christian Circles

Please welcome my guest, Lori, to our blog community. We met at a writers conference in North Carolina. And Lori not only reveals the sad little secret in this article, but also discusses her new devotional book that released April 13.

Furthermore, besides telling us the secret, Lori’s new book, along with a fresh breath from the Holy Spirit, helps electrify our quiet times.

By Lori Hatcher

The sad little secret in Christian circles is that many of us are bored with our devotional time. We know we shouldn’t feel this way.

Because of the importance to read our Bibles every day. After all, it’s God’s Word, the source of truth, and life, and hope. 

While some successfully built the discipline of Bible reading into their lives, others struggle. Even those who regularly read their Bibles find it a bit dry at times.

Many of us also read devotionals, not to take the place of Bible reading, but to help us discover unfamiliar passages and stories and benefit from a godly writer’s perspective.

So I wrote Refresh Your Faith because I was frustrated by many of the devotionals I read. They seemed to focus on the same basic verses I’d memorized with my children twenty years ago. John 3:16, Romans 8:28, Psalm 23, Matthew 3:5-6. Same with the Bible passages and stories.

Don’t misunderstand me. I treasure the familiar verses and stories. I’ve held them close to my heart during some of the darkest times of my life. 

Help for this Secret

Celebration of the Resurrection’s Not Canceled

Celebration.

A word wiped from our vocabulary as events wiped clean from our calendars.

Because events worth celebrating disappeared from our day-timers and lives with little warning. Like weddings, graduations, sports championships, family gatherings/vacations, and church worship services—in person with our brothers and sisters in Christ.

“Celebration canceled” hoovers over our present world crisis and maybe some of our own personal ones. 

While we live in unprecedented and downright scary times. Although life seems less than stable and celebratory.

Even though we all took a crash course we never signed up for on how to manage current life. 

There’s no better time to deeply celebrate the resurrection of Jesus Christ. 

Celebration: God Bankrupted Heaven to Send a Rescuer

Those daydreams of shining knights coming to save the day and us. The people we hope will swoop in as a hero over our difficult circumstances and life’s unexpected curve balls. They all have cracks in their armor or holes in their capes. 

But Jesus steps in and rescues us from areas in our life marked: Rescue needed. 

These are our real needs. These are the areas where a true rescue needs to take place. Such as forgiveness, mercy, and grace for sin. Like unconditional love and real peace only found in our Savior.

“For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life” John 3:16 ESV.

Let’s celebrate how Jesus saves! 

Celebration: An Empty Tomb for Every Empty Place

Why “Full” Runs Out at the Bottom of Human Buckets

Human buckets run dry faster than we keep them full. Why?

Even though we are wired for God’s filling, we learn to self-fill. Labor that never gets to take a break. Since humans are never able to keep buckets full. 

So to continue our theme from last week, Keep Going Back to the Source, we transform our thinking about long-lasting satisfaction. 

You see, the two main ways we fill our buckets is with life’s stuff and substitutes for God. 

But here are the problems with our bucket-filling techniques. 

(1.) There are expiration dates on life’s stuff.

Maybe you or your church collects non-perishables for local food banks. Items with a long shelf life for the underprivileged. 

Poor in spirit, we have intangible needs that never expire. Like grace, love, mercy, joy, peace, and hope. Although they seem abstract, we actually take hold of them when we go to God. Because unlike things that expire, God manifests these characteristics in our lives. And they never run out. 

Yet, when our silent screams for attention remain unnoticed, we turn to life’s stuff to fill our buckets. Stuff with expiration dates such as the perfect body, aspirations, accolades, or material possessions. 

Remember 6 Words: Keep Going Back to the Source

Whether our current days of uncertainty rob our joy. Or, we scramble for resources we fear are not available. And even in times of abundance, when life seems good and our source secure. The Lord wants us to remember…

He is our true source. 

Our battle cry in this world: “Lord, fill me.” 

But how do we:

Remember to go to the true source of everlasting joy and peace?

Discover the Lord fills us with good and true things?

Know God’s fullness seeps into every corner and crevice of our empty places?

To answer these questions, let’s look at 3 points to keep us going back to the real Source. 

(1.) Remember our cup’s not half-empty or half-full but overflowing in God.

We realize we no longer need to live with the perspective of the half-empty or half-full cup. And we no longer do just enough to get by until more is required to fill our own cup. Instead, we ask the Lord to give us the strength to run to Him for everything we need. Because these are promises found in His Word.

“You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies; you anoint my head with oil; my cup overflows” (Psalm 23:5).

“For he satisfies the thirsty and fills the hungry with good things” (Psalm 107:9 NIV).

“I am the Lord your God, who brought you up out of the land of Egypt. Open your mouth wide, and I will fill it” (Psalm 81:10).

4 Things God’s Most Interested in From Us

God’s more interested in the deeper aspects of our lives than what we often focus on. 

What’s happening in our world right now confirms this truth: we have zero control over most things in life. Yet, the Lord never created us for control. Control was always meant to remain with Him.

“For kingship belongs to the Lord, and he rules over the nations.” (Psalm 22:28)

Our heavenly Father created us for dependency on Him.

Therefore, here are 4 things God’s more interested in from us as His children.

(1.) God is more interested in our surrender than our sufficiency. 

Although your struggles, needs, and empty spaces may look different than mine, we all experience the same moments of desperation. 

Like the kind that makes us hope we are all cried out someday. The kind that makes us question our faith. And praying the same prayer over and over because of a lingering void in our life. 

But we hold the power not to let it affect the trajectory of our lives. Our power comes in focusing on how complete God is, not how incomplete we are. We concentrate on our heavenly Father’s sufficiency instead of our shortage. 

To do this, we put the spotlight on God’s power and glory. Total serenity comes in placing our hope in the Lord alone. So, we fully surrender to who He is as God and Lord over our lives.

“Not that we are sufficient in ourselves to claim anything as coming from us, but our sufficiency is from God.” (2 Corinthians 3:4)

Prayer: Lord, help me surrender to You. Because in You, I  find true sufficiency. In Jesus’ name. Amen.

How to Move Past the Past to the Present

The only purpose in looking through a window of the past is to open doors to the present and future.

One time my dad hit another vehicle from behind on an interstate entry ramp. You know why? He looked back too long without breaking or checking traffic in front of him. 

Are we looking back so long our past crashes into our present and threatens our future?

Because this always keeps us at a stand-still, unable to move in any direction. Nobody just zooms into the present without detours, obstacles, or entry and exit ramps. And no one just stumbles into God’s newness and purposes for today without first getting over her past. 

Maybe we spend years, even decades, holding on to painful memories and never making peace with the past. 

Sure, we learn from the past. Yet, we were never meant to stay there—to let the past set up residence in our heart.

So let’s look at how to move past the past for authentic relationships, a joyful present, and a grand anticipation of the future.

(1.) Promptly deal with conflict. 

Until we at least attempt to resolve riffs in our relationships, we continue to connect past heartache to present tension. For example, we may withdraw or hold a grudge because there wasn’t any closure to the “thing” that happened yesterday, last month, or years ago. 

But nothing swept under the rug really helps anyone. Instead, it only causes us to keep tripping over the same issue. 

5 Simple Ways to Meditate on God’s Word

I’m excited to introduce a writer friend to this community. Rebecca and I connected online several years ago since we move in the same writing and blogging circles. Her writings resonate with me. And particularly this one with her practical tips for how to meditate on God’s Word.

Because, if we’re honest, we often complicate parts of the Christian journey.

By Rebecca Hastings

For a long time I thought I needed to wake up with the sun when the rest of my family was comfortably asleep, sit in a special chair (probably facing a window so I could see the sunrise) and hold my worn Bible in my lap as I met with God each day.

The problem: I really like sleep. 

I couldn’t seem to do the early mornings with God so I figured I was just getting an “F” on my report card for Morning Meditation with Him. The good news is, there is no report card. Also, there’s no wrong time to be with God.

Here are 5 simple ways to meditate on and incorporate more of God’s Word in your day.

(1.) Verse of the Day

This is one of my favorite ways to incorporate scripture in my day. With a simple app like YouVersion, you can read a verse each day right from your phone. (Bonus tip: writing the verse out in a notebook or journal is a great way to spend a few more minutes letting God’s Word penetrate your soul! Check out how I’ve done it here.)