Faithful Writers

We usually come to God ready to unload.But good conversation starts with listening. Scripture gives us God’s side of the conversation — His tone, His heart, His repeated themes of mercy, justice, presence, and love.

Doubt was treated like a disease. If you had doubts, you were either backsliding, disobedient, or not truly saved. Nothing could be further from the truth. In fact, it was the process of dealing with doubt that I discovered a richer relationship with Christ.

Faith isn’t about pretending the mess isn’t there. It’s about finding God in it anyway.

Recognition. Reward. At least a little celebration. But it didn’t come. Instead, I watched people walk away from the church, come back, and get welcomed like heroes. I clapped on the outside. But inside, I was thinking: Really? That’s it? Just throw them a party and move on?

The loving Jesus you follow, and cling to certain teachings of, said this about the Old Testament: “Do not think that I have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I have not come to abolish them but to fulfill them.” Matthew 5:17

Let’s start here: Shame is a liar. It doesn’t convict you, it crushes you. And that’s not how God works. When we mess up, it’s easy to believe the voice that says we’ve crossed some invisible line God won’t forgive. But that voice isn’t God. That’s fear. That’s toxic religion.

Wow! Why did I think the response would be a prequel to “The Terminator”? I looked for a drone circling overhead. But the sky was clear. And none of my bank accounts were frozen. No sixes appeared on my right hand or forehead.

I’m not talking about our prayers. What about our daily conversations? Would God listen to the casual chats between you and your Christian bro or faith-filled gal pal? Yes. The proof comes from the Hebrew scriptures.

Yes, there’s judgment. God deals seriously with sin. But I also saw a God who is incredibly patient. Who keeps giving second chances, and third, and fourth. Who rescues people over and over again, even when they keep running away.

This idea that you can pick and choose what characteristics of God you want to believe and focus on is disastrous for your faith. You can’t select, elevate, and revere one above the others and expect a rich and abundant relationship with Him. 

Your first reaction to a prayer request and your action says a lot about you and your relationship with God. 

My deep and dreaded fear is that the churches have, for so long forsaken the Spirit that the connection to Jesus is broken. The churches now seek comfort in the wrong places because the spiritual bond and level of certainty that God desires for us is gone.

Now, how does one become an available vessel? There are just 3 criteria.......

I wanted to write Psalms 23 in a way so that when people read it, they see the beauty and meaning behind every translated word chosen for this prayer. And when they pray it next, it is not the mindless chant that it has become in churches. 

You don’t ask why does God allow suffering because you’re curious. You ask it because something inside you is crumbling with anguish. This isn’t really a question born from curiosity. It’s more like a scream we turned into words.

I grew up with the impression that doubt was something to repent of. Like it was mold on your spiritual fruit. But when I look at scripture with fresh eyes, the ones God seemed to draw nearest were often full of questions.

I want to propose a different way of looking at “be still” for anyone struggling and waiting on God.

In that moment, I knew a day would come when I would have to defend and fight for my right to say I am a mother in conversation.

Nagging in the back of my head was this feeling that I answered wrong, that I needed to rethink my response, and why I responded that way. And you betcha I rethought my response, and it was an intense moment of realization, faith, and repentance.

Why can’t it be both? Maybe I’m wrong, but here are my thoughts. First, we are not puppets, we have free will to choose what we want.