Godly Insights for the 21st Century Life

"For it was You who formed my inward parts You knit me together in my mother's womb" ~ Psalm 139:13 The verse quoted above is from a Psalm that beautifully depicts just how well we are known and loved by God. I particularly like this verse because it depicts not only God's provision for us before we were born, but also how He intricately formed us in His image. As a knitter myself, I am well aware of the time commitment and focus required to do it well, and it speaks of a God who cares enough about all of humanity to work so hard to create each one of us. My knowledge of knitting and the words of this passage are also the reason I am against two things that unfortunately are embraced by society, including some of my fellow Christians: abortion and transgenderism. Abortion:  My pro-life stance has been well documented in my posts " Choose Life " and " Unplanned " so I won't go into it much further here. How this verse relates to my stance i...

"What if tomorrow What if today Faced with the question What would you say?" ~ Michael W. Smith, " This is Your Time " Last month marked 20 years since the deadly school shooting at Columbine High School. To some, this was just the first in an epidemic of mass shootings that is beginning to spread farther and farther. While this is unfortunately very true, that day means something different for me. What I heard about in the aftermath of that day caused me to question the strength of my faith for the first time in my young life. At the time of the shooting, I was 11 years old, and though I grew up in the church, had only really been a Christian for about a year. When I first heard about Cassie Bernall being shot after admitting to being a Christian, I was shocked. The thought of someone being killed for faith in Christ was completely foreign to me. At that point in my life, everyone I knew was a Christian, so it was hard for me to understand that anyone wasn...

"As long as my God holds the world in His hands, I know that there's no such thing as unplanned." ~ Matthew West, " Unplanned " At the end of last month, the movie Unplanned  hit theaters, and I went to see it on opening weekend. It tells the true story of Abby Johnson, a former Planned Parenthood clinic director who switched sides after witnessing an ultrasound guided abortion. While I enjoyed the movie immensely and would highly recommend it, I must confess, it is a bit hard to watch. The movie is rated R for violent and disturbing images, which refers to three specific scenes. Other than those three scenes, this is a PG movie, but those three scenes are quite intense. This movie is not for the faint of heart or weak of stomach, but if you are neither of those things, than I would suggest you see it. After seeing the movie, I was interested to know more of the story, so I got the book from the library and read it. There really wasn't more in the book t...

"Forget the lies you heard Rise above the hurt And listen to these words You are beloved" ~ " Beloved "-Jordan Feliz When I listened to this song one day last month and decided to use it for a blog post, my plan was to reach out to all those who were feeling unloved for one reason or another. There have been times when I myself needed that reminder, and my first name is derived from the old French word for beloved, so naturally this song is one that is very meaningful to me. I knew it could be that way for anyone who needed a reminder of God's love for them. However, the events of last month's special General Conference of the United Methodist Church has caused me to narrow my focus to one specific group. For those unfamiliar with what happened, the conference was called in order to address issues relating to human sexuality, specifically whether or not to allow practicing homosexuals to be ordained as clergy, and whether or not same-sex weddings can ...

Last fall, I did a study on the book The Anatomy of Peace. The book tells the story of parents whose kids were at a youth rehabilitation camp, and who were in a two day meeting to try and help their children when they returned home in two months. The leader of the camp taught the parents how to have a heart of peace toward their children rather than a heart of war. In our meetings during the study, we talked about practical ways that we could cultivate a heart of peace in our own relationships. After learning about the difference between a heart of war and a heart of peace, I began to notice in interactions with others where their hearts were in that moment. Coworkers that had trouble getting kids to listen to them were the ones whose hearts were at war with them, and I found that sometimes I also interacted with kids with the same heart and got the same results. Relationships that I had struggled to improve were hampered by the wrong motivations, and they have improved now that my h...

Celebrating Thanksgiving last month got me to thinking about what I'm thankful for. Here, in no particular order, are some of my favorite things from the past year. Christian Music:  I have listened to Christian music since fourth grade, but this past year has been a particularly good one. My favorites include "The Breakup Song" by Francesca Battistelli, "Best News Ever" by MercyMe, and "He Still Does (Miracles)" by Hawk Nelson. "The Breakup Song" is written as a letter to fear to pack up and get out of our lives, and I had some fears that needed to go away, and listening to that song helped me to face them and get rid of them. "Best News Ever" is the message of the gospel in song form, and reminds us that the story of Jesus isn't just good news, it's the best news ever. "He Still Does (Miracles)" is a reminder that the power of God to perform miracles is not just something that happened in biblical times, but so...

"I hate what I've become The nightmare's just begun I must confess that I feel like a monster"~Skillet, " Monster " Today is Halloween, a day when ghosts, goblins, and monsters come out of the shadows and freely roam the Earth. Well, sort of. The origins of the holiday as we know it stemmed from that belief, but in reality, it's more of a day to dress up and have fun. However, there is a type of monster that we need to watch out for, one that, unfortunately, can show up at any time and in any place: the monster that lives within our own hearts. In some people, this monstrous version of themselves is quite obvious. Just in the last week, those of us in America heard about at least two of them: one who sent bombs to politicians and one who murdered 11 people as they worshiped in a synagogue. Those were just the ones who made the national news. In big cities, there are even more of these monstrous people wandering about. Where I live, I hear about at ...