Where God's Word Meets Our Mess
Usually, Thanksgiving is the time of year when we share what we're thankful for. But in this post, I decided to do something different. I'm going to discuss three things that I'm not thankful for (plus offer some encouragement with you if you, too, aren't thankful for them).
It’s true that stress is normal and that you'll probably experience it throughout your life. But we all get stressed, and the world isn’t as awful as it seems in the midst of our stress. Here are five ways to handle stressful seasons of life.
But the truth is that the shocked, unable-to-respond, shunning Christians are probably hiding something from you, too. Even though their struggles are as real as yours, it’s unlikely that they’ll share them. As I talked about in Part 1, being authentic is hard. It’s easiest to hide because other Christians might judge us or reject us if we’re honest.
But there's more to Halloween than gooey candy and cute costumes. There's also more to Halloween than evil witches and creepy goblins. This holiday requires us to determine—and discuss—our convictions.
I saw pain in the eyes of the 20-something single woman taking pictures on her phone. I saw it in the eyes of the young mom holding a curly-haired toddler. I saw it in the eyes of the older man, looking off into the distance. The passengers on that tractor ride may have been noticeably hurting—but often the hurt in people’s lives isn’t so noticeable.
Clearly, I couldn’t focus on the task at hand: doing my quiet time. Even though I try to have a regular quiet time, I don’t always meet that goal. And I certainly have trouble focusing while I do it. So why do I bother? What's the real reason that I have a quiet time?
The announcer didn’t call my name. He didn’t hand me a certificate. He didn’t congratulate me. He just called off other people’s names and written pieces and awards. And I just sat quietly in my chair and wondered why I had lost—again.
I have a friend, Taylor*, who always wants to do the next exciting thing in her life but never seems to be content in the present. When she started high school, she wanted to find a boyfriend. When she found a boyfriend, she wanted to get her driver’s license. When she got her driver’s license, she wanted to get married. I've struggled to understand why Taylor always seems so eager to move onto the next thing—until I realized that I'm a lot like her.
We can blame our bad habit of chronic worrying on our circumstances by claiming that they merit our worry. But to be blunt, all of our worries (including mine) have doubt at their core.
Tizzie's Tidbits of Truth 