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The Lie That Self-Care is Selfish
We forget because Jesus is God that He was often tired, burdened for people’s situations and needed rest too. If the Son of God took time to care for his soul and body, why shouldn’t we?
Culture
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Honoring your Body
God sees you as perfection by the covering of His son. Not as a waist size, not as a number on the scale. And He gifts us with His power, the power that raised Christ from the dead! He enables us to win every battle (spiritual, mental, physical) over our bodies.
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When We Believe Lies over Truth
Instead of fighting against the lies that Satan and the world would have us believe, we fall into them and eventually those lies become our distorted truths and negative self-talk.
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What does Self Talk have to do with Human Trafficking?
We believe that if we rescue one girl from human trafficking, we will be opening up a spot for other girls to be victimized. So, slowly, we are developing relationships with brothel owners and offering employment if they shut down their business as usual and reopen their business as a handicraft co-op.
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Offering the Gift of Dignity
Rather than a pat-myself-on-the-back moment, this was a stoop-lower opportunity. I was acutely aware that feeding Mary or offering someone dignity through a smile or learning their name or advocating for the homeless is really not about charity or me changing the world as much as it is about obedience to the gospel.
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Seeing Beyond the Pigeonhole
What if we resisted the urge to pigeonhole people and we didn’t use our go-to characters, our familiar illustrations, our well-worn paths? What if we did look at David’s parenting skills, not with an eye for what-not-to-do, but for what to do. Or Ruth and how she used her sexuality in such a way it ended up in the Bible, sanctioned by God. It’s easy to put certain people on pedestals and knock others off. Caricatures are cheap; really understanding someone’s character takes effort.
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Grateful is the New Happy
When I hear the term “gratitude,” it sounds so simplistic and underwhelming. But how often is it that the simple practices and professions in life ultimately become the most personal and significant in leading to real life change. Practicing gratitude–as simple as it sounds–is a revolutionary way of thinking, a decision to turn our backs on the lies that keep us harboring bitterness and face the truth: that we are meant to live with joy.
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Relearning the Art of Hospitality
There I was a few weeks ago, sitting on a bare wooden floor in a humble Thai hut, when God hit the reset button on my perspective of hospitality. This shift was not the kind of hospitality that rings of Martha Stewart or what Pinterest dreams are made of; it was true biblical hospitality.
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Slow Down the Season
The great lie at Christmas is that one needs to do all the “things” to make it meaningful and purposeful. What is it exactly that is ESSENTIAL to Christmas? In Isaiah 30:15 we hear, “In repentance and rest is your salvation, in quietness and trust is your strength.” The only essential at Christmas is an invitation to experience our Lord’s presence; no more or less.
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Amidst The Chaos: Remembering Christ During Christmas
But what if this Christmas, we chose a different way?