​Let the voices arise in the new year!
 
Let your voice arise! Arise and shout! No matter how you are ending 2021, enter 2022 with a shout. No matter how messy this past year has been, arise and shout! Let your voice be heard in 2022.

​Has the Lord redeemed you? Has he saved, healed, or delivered you? We all have something to shout about, something to give God praise.
 
2022 will be a year of gathering...

“‘You are blessed, because you believed that the Lord would do what he said.’” Luke 1:45 NLT
 
Nothing is impossible with God. It’s what the Christmas story is all about. Natural, seen-with-the-eye situations meeting the divine. Holy earth-meeting-heaven moments that transform people and situations in ways beyond comprehension.

Are you feeling uncertain? Wondering what the future holds? The world isn’t safe, and neither, according to C.S. Lewis, is God. Good, yes, but “safe”? The mountains shake before him! The demons run in fear of him!
 
But for me, and for you, the name of the Lord is a strong tower...

Feeling lonely or depressed this Christmas - or just wanting to experience a new aspect of God during this holiday season? There’s hope built into the Christmas story that can lift you out of depression and into a deeper relationship with God. Look deeper at the miracle of the baby in the manger and you’ll find a way to exchange your sadness for joy, your loneliness for a friendship with the Savior. My new 5-day devotional on YouVersion (and coming soon on iDisciple) makes it easy to experience "God with us" at Christmas! 

Do you look forward to family gatherings or cringe at the thought? Being in close quarters with unsaved loved ones can add stress to the holiday season – especially when it seems like anything you say or do bounces off their hearts with no affect, or worse, creates conflict in the relationship. With the holiday season approaching, you may be wondering how your family gatherings will turn out this year.
 
I’ve been watching a TV show recently, and in a moment of heartache the female lead stated, “Maybe love isn’t enough..."

Ever hear of the “1 in 60” rule? For every degree a plane veers off its course, it misses its destination by 1 mile for every 60 miles flown. Multiply that by the hundreds or thousands of miles in a typical flight and any pilot will tell you that a one-degree error can have disastrous results.
 
Life, with its twists and turns can easily throw us off course. 2021 with its pandemic challenges may have moved the needle on your year...

Ever feel like you’ve lost your passion, lost your zeal for God? The fire to serve him – to do anything for him that he asked – has died down to embers. ​You don’t share with others like you used to, and when you do it feels like you’re recounting some distant relationship that you no longer have. You feel disconnected from God.

Where did you lose it?
 
It was the question the prophet Elisha asked a student prophet as they cut down trees to build a new school...

​A friend passed away this week. She was old enough to be my mother, but we had bonded over our mutual love for Jesus. Our relationship deepened when we met for coffee a few years ago and she shared her life story with me. She was writing a book about her life and was seeking my advice.
 
Her life was a testament to the goodness and faithfulness of God. Her hope was to inspire a younger generation to reach out to God, to trust and depend on Him, even as she had over many years. 
 
I’ll never forget that coffee date...

The heat of the summer is past and a fresh energy surges through the air. Fall is here, the green of the land turning to brilliant oranges and reds and yellows. The season holds a special place in my heart as it was on a crisp fall day that I came face to face with God.

​I could avoid Him no longer. The time of accounting had arrived and I was found wanting....

Woke up with this scripture on my heart this morning and I’m not fully sure why. Is it an encouragement for the times we live in? A reminder of God’s faithfulness in the midst of uncertainty? Or a matter of prayer for someone in my life?
 
“It is of the Lord’s mercies that we are not consumed, because his compassions fail not.” Lamentations 3:22
 
Or maybe it’s all three...