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Oct, 15, 2021 0
It is easy to thank God when we get what we want the way we want it. Those are the things we usually count, naming them one by one and being pleasantly surprised at what the Lord has done.
Counting blessings is good for anybody. No honest person could look these over and not thank God.
The…
Oct, 15, 2021 0
It was a time of great discouragement. I was on maternity leave from my job, expecting our fourth child, and my husband was ill and temporarily out of work. With very little income, three small children in school, and mounting medical expenses, the unpaid bills had accumulated. More serious was the…
Oct, 05, 2021 0
In 1995, a hurricane battered the beautiful Caribbean island of Antigua. On Sunday morning following the hurricane, a congregation there, All Saints Church of the Nazarene, gathered for worship.
The congregation had to stand that morning. The pews were damaged, the roof was gone, and the wooden…
Sep, 22, 2021 0
He had made that walk countless times, yet as he passed through the streets of Wittenberg, his pace was slower than usual. He seemed to be lost in thought, as if he were debating some great issue in his own mind.
It was October 31, 1517, and as Martin Luther reached the doors of the church, he…
Sep, 22, 2021 0
I can either let this nag my blood pressure to unhealthy heights, I thought, or I can try to make the best of it. I lifted a prayer asking for an extra dose of grace.
The flight from Los Angeles was overbooked. Not one spare seat. When I got to my assigned seat, 24-D, it was already taken. There…
Sep, 15, 2021 0
I don’t even remember her name, but I’ll never forget what she said. It happened at the conclusion of a Nazarene church service. People were streaming out of the house church in a city southeast of Havana, Cuba. The crowd seemed to be everywhere. The people had filled the house, and there were…
Aug, 09, 2021 0
When I became rector of the Nazarene Theological Seminary in Brazil in 2019, I remembered that this institution influenced my entire family to become Nazarenes. My father was previously a Baptist pastor in Campinas, São Paulo. I wanted to study in a seminary, but there weren’t any Baptist…
Aug, 09, 2021 0
God works in unexpected and mysterious ways sometimes; at least that’s how I often think. Throughout my life, God has shown up in various ways and has led my family on many exciting journeys. For instance, when I was in middle school, God called my dad to minister in Alaska. I remember being so…
Aug, 09, 2021 0
The American dream: I had it all! Well, okay . . . it all belonged to my mom and stepdad, but everything—from education to vacations, from clothes to cars—was at my fingertips. Despite having it all, my heart was still yearning for authentic, unconditional love that would give me purpose. This…
Jul, 22, 2021 0
I was born in 1964 into a Jewish family. I was raised in the synagogue all my life and had my bar mitzvah in an orthodox synagogue. I always believed that there was a God, but I did not know Him. I tried to know Him, but I didn’t get very far because I had not yet understood my need for Jesus. As a…