It is my great pleasure to feature Stephen Garner for the first time. I hope you enjoy my father’s unique blend of biblical insights, illuminating anecdotes, and punny repartée. Our numerous hikes together over the past decade have then a powerful connecting force during my young adult years. Read more of his work at https://hikerdude.wordpress.com/. […]
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Three Guaranteed Steps to Know God’s Plan for Your Life
Have you found God’s plan for your life? Wouldn’t it be nice if every one of us got a letter in the mail when we were 17 years old telling us exactly what we were made to do? I definitely did not, yet the journey has been both winding and incredibly satisfying. I hate to […]
Guest Post: “There is Surely a Future Hope” by Heather Leigh Greene
[Orig. pub. Oct. 23, 2016 on Ramblings of a Bluestocking] Ok, let’s be raw. I’ve always been a very driven person. In college, I knew what degree(s) I wanted, where I would be in ten years, what kind of job I wanted, and what kind of man I wanted to marry. However, if you haven’t […]
Are You at Sea Level or See Level?
It’s not often that an offshoot of the Allman Brothers Band starts a conversation about God‘s revelation. I went hiking last week of my father in Shenandoah National Park. As we tackled a particularly steep 800ft ascent, my father began laughing as the iPod he was listening to shuffled across a song by the band […]
My Favorite Promises from God’s Word, pt. 1
These were all reader submissions. Thanks for contributing! May they deepen your faith and expand your prayer life. Presence Isaiah 54:10 “For the mountains may be removed and the hills may shake, But My lovingkindness will not be removed from you, And My covenant of peace will not be shaken,” says the Lord who has […]
My 7 Favorite Free Prayer Tools
Do words fail you when you pray? Are you ever not quite sure what to say? Do you ever get distracted? I can honestly answer yes to all three, and I think I’m not the only one. Using a guide/resource when you pray doesn’t make you any less spiritual. Here are some tools that help […]
3 Steps to Praying More Powerful Prayers
I used to think that prayer was telling God what your problems were and then expecting an answer from him sometime later. You know, kind of like filing an insurance claim. I’m astounded at how much my views have changed since then. Would you like to pray more powerful prayers? When you pray, would you […]
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Why You Don’t Pray: 4 Truths You’ve Forgotten/Missed
Would you like to have a better prayer life? Do you need motivation to carve out time against your maxed-out, packed-out schedule? Here’s four scriptural reasons to keep first things first in your relationship with God. 1. It’s the most important question When the disciples of Jesus saw his miracles, they had only one question. […]
Process through Your Heartache WITH God: 4 Steps
What do you do when life knocks the breath out of you? How do you handle heartache and discouragement? I’ve dealt with low-level chronic pain for more than a decade. Rather than ignoring the pain, do what I learned. Process through the pain with God. 1. Tantrum – This first step may surprise you. Whether […]
What My Church Never Told Me (Cont.)
In college, I got a group of friends around me that were like me in that they believed in Jesus, but they were different in some surprising ways. They talked about relationship with God in a different way than I’d ever considered. For them, the Christian walk was not so much about getting from spiritual […]
What My Church Never Told Me
Walking to the edge of our theology, the farthest reach of what we understand of God, is like getting waist deep in the ocean that goes on as far as the eye can see. I was raised in a church culture that did not value mystery. In it, the most important thing about life was […]