by Marie | Jul 22, 2025 | Archives, Inspiration
To belong. To be in loving, meaningful relationships with others. And that shouldn’t surprise us, because God MADE us that way. He planted within us his capacity for loving relationships, his “relational DNA.” God gave us his ability to love, so that we would “do life” in loving relationship with others. To do Christianity “right” requires that we seek to walk in love. And to be in “right relationship” with others requires that we see them with the value that God does. We are unique, one-of-a-kind individuals, each with our own gifts, talents, and personality. You may wish you had someone else’s talents, or someone else’s life. That’s understandable, as we tend to play the comparison game and get sucked into society’s view of “success” rather than God’s. But if we believe that God specifically created us for his purposes, we can choose to trust and appreciate that. Then we can surrender our egos and let go of comparison. We can look forward to partnering with God, finding joy in developing our best selves so that we are open to being used by him. We have to offer ourselves grace as we do this growing — and offer it to others, as we’re all messy humans in the process of sanctification. What fuels relationships is kind, generous, authentic connection. Lifting
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by Marie | Jul 21, 2025 | Archives, Inspiration
The third C of Right Choices: Commit to God’s Way This is our daily struggle, because of our inherent sinful nature. But it gets easier to make choices that honor God as we daily build this habit. It helps to know yourself really well. What thoughts, feelings, and habits do you keep repeating from the past that are hindering you from making God-honoring choices? What do you need to release to change your heart and mind? As our thoughts and feelings do so strongly influence our behaviour, we have to take them “captive,” as the Bible puts it. We don’t have to dwell on the automatic thoughts that pop into our heads from our subconscious. We can send them packing by saying, “No. I reject that thought. I choose to think this one, instead.” You know how bowling lanes have lane bumpers they can put down to prevent gutter balls? When you actively monitor the thoughts and feelings you allow to influence your choices, so that you choose God’s ways, you add helpful bumpers to your life. The fourth C of Right Choices: Count on God’s Protection and Provision Living to God’s holy standard brings us many spiritual blessings, including freedom from guilt, a clear conscience, and far less drama than we will experience if we live to our own standard.
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by Marie | Jul 18, 2025 | Archives, Inspiration
The first C of Right Choices: Consider the Choice You probably don’t realize how many choices you make on a daily basis. But here’s a nifty experiment: Tomorrow, from sun up to sun down, write down every single choice you make. The big ones, but also the tiny ones. It might surprise you to see just how many choices you make on a single day. You’ll also see that you make a lot of choices on autopilot, from past thoughts, feelings, and habits you brought into the day. After you choose to get out of bed, and head to the kitchen, do you choose a donut or an apple for breakfast? We all know which choice is better for our bodies. But the sugary donut tastes so good! So what helps you to decide? The second C of Right Choices: Compare the Choice to God As you begin to think about your day, you likely jump into some level of anxiety, depending on what you have going on. Each of your thoughts then create feelings. When you have a moral choice to make, it’s critical to recognize that your thoughts and feelings will definitely influence you if you’re not actively monitoring them. Building the habit of that pause matters. Because it gives us time to consider how God wants us to live.
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by Marie | Jul 17, 2025 | Archives, Inspiration
Life often feels like an ongoing battle. On a raging battlefield, what protects a soldier? Armor. Can you imagine any soldier stepping onto the battlefield without it? He or she would be defenseless, cut down in minutes! Seeking to live with righteousness influences how we think, how we treat others, and how we respond to situations and temptations. But to live righteously, we must base our thoughts and actions on God’s standard of righteousness, not our own personal standard. The world does all it can to entice us to live self-centeredly. But living to our own standard of righteousness tends to create drama and conflict. But when we stay focused on the Gospel, we gain a “readiness” to live in peace with others. Armies added fire to their arrows, to cause more damage when attacking their enemies. The Romans designed their shields to withstand these flames. Similarly, our faith in God shields us from fiery attacks and the deeper we know and trust God, the stronger our faith grows. Wearing the helmet of salvation protects our head, but it also changes our heart. The Word of God is our defense against worldly arguments, and a weapon to dismantle them. Meditation: “Finally, be strong in the Lord and in his mighty power. Put on the full armor of God, so that you can
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by Marie | Jul 16, 2025 | Archives, Inspiration
Just as God loves us and knows us better than we know ourselves, He desires for us to know Him intimately too. The Holy Spirit serves as our modern-day guide (John 15:26). As we saw with God’s presence in the Garden of Eden with Adam and Eve, God is highly relational. He wants us to spend time with him. He pursues us. He wants us to WANT to spend time with Him. He wants to bless us and give counsel and peace, which is what we find when we seek His presence in our lives. This is where prayer comes in. Throughout the Bible we see God’s instruction for His people to seek Him, to approach Him in prayer, and to rest in Him. Heb 4:14-16 So then, since we have a great High Priest who has entered heaven, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold firmly to what we believe. This High Priest of ours understands our weaknesses, for he faced all of the same testings we do, yet he did not sin. So let us come boldly to the throne of our gracious God. There we will receive his mercy, and we will find grace to help us when we need it most. Phil 4:6-7 Do not be anxious about anything, but in every situation, by prayer and petition,
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