Our Stories Unleashed

Expectations and Looking for God

“Yet I will show love to Judah; and I will save them – not by bow, sword or battle, or by horses and horsemen, but I, the Lord their God, will save them.” - Hosea 1:7 Expectations. We wear them around like corrective lenses. Only, these lenses do not always help us see more clearly. Expectations, when inaccurate, can distort. They can manipulate and confuse. In the 8th century when the book of Hosea was penned, Israel was struggling through a very turbulent time. They...

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Behold, He Knocks

I saw a comic strip once – a Christian comic strip, if you can believe that. It opens with the protagonist standing at a fork in the road. To the right is Jesus, floating above the path as His radiance extends softly but evidently from Him. The other path is filled with neon lights, larger than life signs and all manners of worldly things. It’s evident that the choice is Jesus or sin, and the man chooses sin. The next few segments show the man getting deeper into ‘worldly...

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Finding Your Identity

My heart longs to please. For most of my life, what others have said or thought about me has been the wind – or lack thereof – in my sails. The praise I would receive from performing well was intoxicating. Likewise, a harsh critique, or even just a lack of acknowledgement, served as a barrage of insult continuing to weigh on me far after the matter was resolved. I believed the reactions I brought forth from others were markers of my identity – praiseworthy or failing. This...

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