faith

A Journey Worth Taking

BETHANY BELUE|GUEST When I was a child, our family would take long road trips in our brown-paneled Dodge Caravan. My sister and I each got our own row, and we would nestle down in our matching Care Bear sleeping bags, with all the snacks and activities a kid would want. My dad’s road trip tunes of choice, Barry Manilow, became the background music for our journey. It was the ideal family road trip setup. But no matter how many activities we played, how many snacks we ate, or how beautiful the scenery outside, I would always ask that question that sends a shiver up every parent’s spine, “Are we there yet?” Every trip is too long, and the destination is always better than the journey. The Journeys of Life As an adult, I still don’t like road trips, but I understand that to get to any destination there must be a journey. I thought about this as I recently celebrated my 40th birthday. I reflected on the past 20 years of my life and where the Lord has brought me. As a 20-year-old, I had big dreams for my life. I had a plan for marriage, children, career, and even where I would travel and when. I had no idea I wouldn’t meet my husband for 13 more years, or that I’d walk a road of infertility before becoming a mom 17 years later. I didn’t know my career would go in a completely different direction, that friends would pass away, that desires would go unmet, or that I’d receive gifts unimaginable...

A Journey Worth TakingChristina Fox2023-03-24T17:45:44+00:00

When Your Spouse is Not a Believer: A Vertical Perspective

SUSAN MCCELDRY|GUEST As we sat down for dinner, my husband laid his hand on the countertop, palm up. Knowing our prayer routine, I placed my hand in his and waited for him to pray. Before he uttered a word, tears threatened to come forth, as a thought flashed through my mind: This would not have been possible eight years ago. A Dramatic Salvation Rarely will an unbelieving couple come to faith at the same time, and this was true in my marriage. I came to faith first in 2014 because of God’s dramatic saving of my eternal life. Because of my sin, lack of biblical knowledge, and virtually no relationship with Jesus, I spent at least ten years dabbling in the occult. Not only did I read books written by psychic mediums, I also saw them at in-person events. I then spent an additional two years harnessing and actively developing my psychic ability. I did all these things while professing to be a Christian. My time in the occult ended with a vision of a dark hooded cloak image superimposed over my reflection in the mirror. In that moment I lost all sense of rationality and was tormented by a voice in my head that repeatedly told me that I was going to Hell. I was involuntarily committed to the mental unit of our hospital and spent five days there. I came home a new person, one that never wanted anything to do with the occult spiritual world ever again. Where did that leave my marriage? I became a Christian that was married to an unbelieving husband. God became my authority while my husband’s authority was himself. The struggle of two people living under two different authorities surfaced rather quickly. How can a marriage like that thrive and grow? You may be in a similar situation in your own marriage. Perhaps you trust in Christ for your salvation, but your husband does not, and this creates not only heartache for you, but even discord in your marriage. What does it look like to live out your faith when unequally yoked?...

When Your Spouse is Not a Believer: A Vertical PerspectiveChristina Fox2023-03-24T17:45:56+00:00

When Art Reminds Us of Eternal Truth

REBEKAH COCHELL|GUEST “...the Lion of Lucerne is the most mournful and moving piece of stone in the world.” —Mark Twain Art has a transcendent quality. It can cause us to contemplate the struggles and joys of human experience. Sometimes it overwhelms us with the beauty of the mundane or the eternal. I believe that the search for truth, beauty, and goodness is inherent to the artistic process and is so embedded in the human heart that even if artists do not acknowledge the Creator in their hearts, their art often communicates some truth of the Divine. Since moving to Europe, I have encountered powerful aesthetic responses to beauty three times, bringing me close to tears, and taking my breath away. One of these times was when I visited the Lion of Lucerne in Switzerland...

When Art Reminds Us of Eternal TruthChristina Fox2023-03-24T17:47:29+00:00

Waiting on the Lord

SHARON ROCKWELL|CONTRIBUTOR Orchids have always intrigued me, and I have received many as gifts. In high school I wore a beautiful pale pink cymbidium wristlet to the prom. For my wedding bouquet, our florist mounted a pure white cattleya in the center of my bouquet that could be removed and worn as a corsage on my going-away dress. Over the years, my husband has splurged for orchid plants as gifts to celebrate special events. They never lasted long. Only in my retirement have I been able to join an orchid society to learn the intricacies of good orchid plant care. I am convinced that God did some of his best work with orchids. There are more than 35,000 species of orchids and an even greater number of hybrids. The amount of diversity is astonishing. So is the work involved in raising them. Where I live, we can grow a number of orchid species outdoors. I have a large collection now— cattleyas, cymbidiums, dendrobiums and oncidiums, all under shade cloth on my patio. I have learned from my many mistakes to carefully watch my watering, adjusting for temperature, for the amount of light they receive, and supplementing reverse osmosis water with nutrients that optimize growth. Then there are the things to watch for that work against a healthy plant— diseases, viruses, insects, fungi, bacterial infections, all of which plague the plant itself...

Waiting on the LordChristina Fox2023-03-24T17:48:01+00:00

Jubilee in the Wilderness

SUSAN TYNER|CONTRIBUTOR “Get up! Get up! It’s Jubilee!!” my friend Sidney shouted. I didn’t understand her at first. Three of us were on a girls’ trip marred more by rain than sunshine. I was hoping to sleep in on my last morning, but Sidney’s voice broke through the sleepiness as she woke me and our other friend, Valerie. “Y’all! It’s Jubilee!” For those of you who didn’t grow up near Mobile Bay, Alabama, Jubilee is a rare occurrence when fish, shrimp, crabs, and even eels swarm close to the shoreline, making them easy to scoop from the water’s edge. No one can predict such a show, but when it happens, it feels like a surprise party thrown by God for anyone close enough to grab a net. Without brushing my teeth or my hair, I grabbed yesterday’s shorts off the floor and ran outside. Schools of fish with gaping mouths crowded near the sandy edge. Giant blue crabs hung out in the shallow water. Flounders floated under the water within striking distance. After the first adrenaline rush was over, I grabbed a cup of coffee, pulled my hair back in a ponytail and returned to the wharf to gaze at the water below. A colony of shrimp way off course hovered around the pier’s post. I saw an eel dart by. The birds clamored over the water getting their share of Jubilee, too. My choice was to watch from a safe, dry distance on the wharf or to risk ruining my tennis shoes to join in the wet fun...

Jubilee in the WildernessChristina Fox2023-03-24T17:49:11+00:00

Seeing God Face to Face

SHARON ROCKWELL|CONTRIBUTOR A friend of mine recently had cataract surgery and needed a ride to her surgeon’s office for the first follow-up visit. On our way home she surprised me by remarking that she did not remember that the tops of trees were visible. Or the detail of the leaves. She had been looking at life through opaque lenses for years that only got worse with age. Her visual view of life had narrowed. Seeing God Face to Face I could not help but think of the verse in Paul’s letter to the Corinthians, “For now we see in a mirror dimly, but then face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I have been fully known (1 Cor 13:12). The first question in the Westminster Shorter Catechism is “What is the chief end of man?” The answer is: “Man’s chief end is to glorify God, and to enjoy him forever.” The goal of all Christians is to see God. We long to see God face to face. We long to know him and to see him in all his fullness, and all his majesty, and all his glory. For now, we see by faith, but then by sight...

Seeing God Face to FaceChristina Fox2023-03-24T17:49:26+00:00

When All I Have is a Mustard Seed

JESSICA ROAN|GUEST I had the noblest of intentions. Really, I did. It was just a six-week study, and there are ten weeks of summer break. How hard could it be? I even picked up the book and paid for it on time, and then, it sat wrapped in plastic on my piano. The first few weeks of summer had proved to be busier than expected-imagine that. Driver’s Ed, tennis lessons, the book I needed to read for the class I’m taking, long-neglected projects at home soon took over, and I didn’t even peel the plastic off the book. Then, the weekend before we were to start the summer Bible study, I realized I needed to take my son to his first flute lesson on the night of the first meeting. Sigh. So, as I waited for him to finish, I reluctantly tore the wrapping off of the book and began to read. I only got through day one during those 30 minutes. Where was I supposed to be? Starting week two. When I taught special education and at-risk students, I had a saying: There is no time for perfectionism here. For many of my students, getting the needed credits for graduation required that they focus on the larger, more important assignments and tests and let some of the small things go. Their learning and personal challenges did not allow for them to do everything on the class list. While I don’t usually struggle with perfectionism, my struggle with my immediate failure to keep up with a summer Bible study disappointed me. I needed this focus on scripture in my life; how could I fail so miserably? The Bible has good news for those who fail to maintain spiritual discipline and it has less to do with us, and everything to do with God...

When All I Have is a Mustard SeedChristina Fox2023-03-24T17:50:37+00:00

Flourishing in Christ

MEAGHAN MAY | GUEST She was simply selling magazines door to door. I never caught her name, but she asked me a question that left an impression. She asked why I would buy a magazine from her, and thinking a visual image may stick, the word “flourishing” fell from my lips. Flourishing in Relationship with Christ In Mark 10 we read the story of a man who by most standards was a success. He ran up to Jesus and asked, “Good Teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal life?” Jesus engages him with a question, “Why do you call me good? No one is good except God alone.” Asking the man if he recalls the Commandments, the man responds, “Teacher, all these I have kept from my youth.” Like this rich young man, we spend a lot of energy trying to succeed on our own. Instead of sending him away in frustration, Jesus invites the young man into deeper fellowship.

Flourishing in ChristKathy Wargo2023-03-24T18:07:19+00:00

Stewarding the Struggle

KAREN GRANT|GUEST The rough concrete scratched my toes as I focused on keeping my nose above water at the Fun in the Sun Club pool in Arlington, Texas. My goal that day was to touch the bottom. Water pooled in my ears and my hair swayed like seaweed in my eyes as I learned to hold and release my breath while flipping upside down to touch the bottom. Then I could swim toward the light. My parents applauded as I ventured into deeper and deeper water, opening my eyes to churning legs and feet, and watching my breath in measured bubbles. Discovering that less and less effort was required to break the surface, I began to trust air and water to do what they do. Where were you in the murky pool called the pandemic—that time of uncertainty, fear, and crisis? Were you upside down, attempting to avoid the churning chaos, swimming for the light before you ran out of breath, looking for cheer from someone, anyone out there? To gain perspective, we must somehow step outside of our own view. I believe the only healthy way to do that is to open God’s word to a relevant passage, engage with it, wring it out, cry into it, and ask questions until we get to the bottom. We submerge ourselves and trust Christ to do what He does when we engage with the living and active breath of God. We burst through the surface into His world, His thoughts, His reality, and it does what He does: it reveals areas where we must repent, restrains us from wrong, and sheds enough light for at least the next step. Stewarding Our Sorrows I remember the image of my pastor many years ago as he related the death of over ten friends or family within the span of a year. He and his wife were left empty; they could only be still and listen. They realized that stewardship is not only for money, gifts, and time, but also includes stewarding our sorrows. He held his hands out in the shape of a bowl before the congregation and told us that all he had to offer the Lord was ashes. This image continues to guide me as I’ve come to Jesus with my own offerings of ashes due to losses, severed relationships, and broken dreams, laying them at His feet and trusting Him to make them beautiful in His time. My question to Jesus in 2020-21 then became, “How can I steward this unto Your glory? Would you use me, and re-form me to bring comfort and encouragement to others?” He took me to Isaiah 12, and I was stunned. The truths in this chapter are clear for both its original and prophetic audiences, the covenant people of God. Gratitude, Opportunity, and Joy This is what I found: Our stewardship comes through gratitude, opportunity, and joy. Look at verses 1 and 2...

Stewarding the StruggleChristina Fox2023-03-24T18:13:47+00:00

The Secret Sauce of Gratitude

STEPHANIE FORMENTI|GUEST My family and I lived in Brazil for a little over three years. And while I grew to appreciate many things about Brazil, probably the thing I learned to love the most is the delicious food! I love the tropical fruit, the beans and rice, the meat, and the cheese bread. But the best Brazilian food is my mother-in-law’s cooking, and here is the secret to her food: she starts almost every dish by sauteing fresh garlic and diced onions in quality olive oil. It’s the base for nearly everything she cooks, and this flavor combination makes all of her food really delicious. I think gratitude is the garlic and olive oil in our walk with Jesus. Just as food can still nourish and fill me up, if it doesn’t start with my mother-in-law’s secret sauce, it lacks the deliciousness that garlic, onion, and olive oil bring to a dish. In the same way, gratitude enhances our everyday experience with Jesus by bringing flavor and beauty. We can read our Bibles, spend time in prayer, participate in godly fellowship and partake of the sacraments. Those things do provide spiritual nourishment and are essential to cultivating a love for Jesus and for others, but a posture of gratitude aids us in more vividly tasting and seeing the goodness of God. This action of giving thanks is captured in the Greek word eucharisteo. The root word of eucharisteo is charis or grace. We also see its derivative—chara— which we translate as joy. Displaying gratitude then seems to imply a connection to both grace and joy. Maybe gratitude is a repeated decision to receive grace which then results in joy. I believe this happens in our lives in three specific ways. Gratitude provides perspective. Thanksgiving reframes things for us. Gratitude is a perspective changer. It shakes us up and gives us proper sight in two ways: First, gratitude moves us from a position of ownership to a position of stewardship. It rightly places God as the giver of all things (James 1:17), the one who owns the cattle on a thousand hills (Psalm 50:10), and the one who gives generously without reproach (James 1:5). This necessitates an acknowledgement that we are simply recipients; to receive a gift is foundationally a posture of humility. We do nothing other than stretch out our hands and accept it. Whatever we have, whether that be material goods, children, financial stability, healthy relationships, athletic prowess, or spiritual insight—we receive all of it as an immeasurably gracious gift from God. He created it all and He owns it all. Whatever we have is a gift from him. Gratitude gives us this perspective. Without it, we spend a lot of time hoarding things and even more time protecting them. We approach life tight-fisted, exhausting our emotional energy and the hours of our day fighting to protect the wealth, relationships, status, achievements, abilities, looks, and power which aren’t even ours to begin with. Secondly, gratitude moves us from a mindset of scarcity to one of abundance...

The Secret Sauce of GratitudeChristina Fox2023-03-24T18:20:09+00:00