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Happy Resurrection Sunday!
I’m so grateful to my Lord and Savior for His gift of eternal life through His life, death, and resurrection. Thank you, Lord, for the gift of your love and mercy. In Him, Follow Living Outside the Stacks on Bloglovin’!
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It Is Finished
“But God showed his great love for us by sending Christ to die for us while we were still sinners.” Romans 5:8 In Him, Follow Living Outside the Stacks on Bloglovin’!
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No Greater Love {In the Church}
The hubs likes to say “love is not a feeling, it’s an action”; it demands the individual to do something that requires sacrifice on his or her part. Jesus set the example for love when he gave his life for us way back on calvary. John 15:13 says: “Greater love has no one than this: to lay down one’s life for one’s friend.” Even in our sinful state, Jesus loved us enough to call us “friend” and take the punishment for our sins. And this was not just any death, this was a most brutal death. He was whipped, spit upon, beat up, battered, bloodied and then nailed to a…
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Seeing His Word Clearly {In the Church}
When I was about seven years old, my mom took me to have my vision tested. My teachers had noticed that I was squinting a lot and having a difficult time reading the chalk board. Up until that point, I didn’t realize that I couldn’t see. I seriously thought my issues were due to white chalk on a not~so~clean blackboard. It wasn’t until the doctor started playing with the lenses and asking me to pick which one was clearer that I realized how little of the world I was seeing. Once he settled on a prescription, the doctor ordered my glasses and told us to come back to pick them…
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The Power of the Tongue {In the Church}
On Sunday morning we had a guest speaker at our church named Evangelist Rodney Warren. He often speaks at our church in our pastor’s absence and I enjoy listening to him because I always learn something. Which is a good thing because, well, that’s part of the reason why we go to church, right? For the past year or so, the Lord has been dealing with me on two fronts: my temper and my mouth. I have a pretty bad temper. Not an I’ll cuss you out or cut you kinda temper but an I will verbally cut you down to size and do my best to inflict as much emotional…
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Be Strong {Words of Encouragement}
I’ve gone back and forth over whether I should write anything about the tragedies in Connecticut and China that occurred last week… How do I respond to the senseless taking of innocent lives? What words of comfort do I offer to those who’ll be left with the physical and mental scars? There simply aren’t enough words to convey the sympathy that I feel for all of those who’ve been touched directly by these tragedies. I can’t begin to say I understand how the parents feel to lose their children in such a senseless manner, but I do understand the spirit of fear that grips your heart when you’ve been touched…
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Love {Advent Bible Study}
The focus of this week’s Advent study is LOVE. Love means to have a strong affection for anther arising out of kinship or personal ties. It also means to have an unselfish loyal and benevolent concern for the good of another. SCRIPTURE 1 John 4:7 {KJV} Beloved, let us love one another: for love is of God; and every one that loveth is born of God, and knoweth God. OBSERVATION When I first looked up “Love” in the Webster’s Dictionary, the first entry was for maternal love, the second for romantic love and a bit further down, the love God has for mankind. This struck me as wrong. I know…
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Hope {Advent Bible Study}
The focus of this week’s Advent study is HOPE. Hope means to anticipate or expect with confidence. SCRIPTURE Jeremiah 33:15 In those days and at that time I will make a righteous Branch sprout from David’s line; he will do what is just and right in the land. OBSERVATION God promises His people that after their captivity has ended a righteous descendant from King David’s line will be born. The fulfillment of this promise is the birth of Jesus Christ, who is just and righteous. APPLICATION When I read this passage, I think of a new bud on a tree branch and all the promise that it holds. It represents new…
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Hope {Advent Bible Study}
The focus of this week’s Advent study is HOPE. Hope means to anticipate or expect with confidence. SCRIPTURE John 1:12 {KJV} But as many as received him, to them gave power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on his name: OBSERVATION There are many who reject Jesus and His claims, but there are also many who believe His claims. And it is those who believe in Him, who will inherit the kingdom of God as His children. APPLICATION The gift of life is free to those who simply choose to accept that God in His mercy and grace looked down upon this world in all of…
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Preparing for Christmas {Advent Bible Study}
Last week, I briefly talked about how God has been dealing with me about the ways I’ve been using social media for His glory. Specifically, the fact that I haven’t been. I’ve been using my spaces on the web to talk about style, food, photography and all sorts of other things… There’s nothing wrong with that, I believe that God wants us to have fun, but I don’t want that to be all there is to me. I firmly believe that I’m living at this time and place for a reason. God has a purpose for me. So I know it was nothing but God that lead me to an…