Doing the right thing can be hard.  In life, we are constantly challenged to do the right thing.  Let’s go back to the beginning: Satan enticed Eve to do wrong (Genesis 3).  His whole aim was to get her to disobey God.  He hasn’t changed.  Still today, every single day actually, we are tested and tempted.  Our days are filled with many opportunities to give in and do what we feel like doing (which is often wrong), or we can fight to do what’s right.   We have to fight to do the right thing. Doing right requires humility.  Humility will cause us to treat others right even when they…

There are some things that I’m able to learn and apply somewhat quickly as I follow Christ, but then there are other things that really take time.  What do you do when you seem to keep running into the same issues over and over? Keep at it. I love the Lord for many, many reasons- one of them being His ability to understand.  He is so patient, so gracious, so understanding.  Yes, He does judge our actions, convict us, and discipline us; but He walks us through a process- not expecting perfection from us overnight. God understands why we do what we do. I love the Lord because He is…

There are so many things in life that will push us around if we don’t stand up & take control.  Our flesh will push us to do what we want to do, fulfilling our own selfish desires, doing what is contrary to the will of God.  Other people will push us around, pushing us to please them and keep them happy- allowing them to have a level of control over us.  The cares of this world try to push us around, pushing us to constantly gain this, achieve that- controlling our emotions, energy, and our time.   There comes a time when we have to stand up & take control.…

We’ve entered a new year and time is quickly passing us by.  How’s your year going so far?  Do you still have the excitement that you had on January 1st?  Are you still focused? Surely, we’ve all had things thrown our way that we hadn’t expected- some good, some bad.  The daily distractions and responsibilities of life seem to overwhelm us and take all the energy that we have. How do we handle daily life, yet still stay focused on our goals and dreams? Here are 3 Tips to Keep Moving Forward: 1. Create a theme for the year.   Pray and think about what you really need to focus on.…

As the Lord is growing me in grace, He is showing me how grace and compassion are intertwined.  Jesus is compassionate.  Are you?  Christ has been so gracious toward us, but we are often so hard on others.  We must extend compassion to others, just as Jesus has extended compassion to us. We are only able to extend grace to others when we are compassionate toward them and their situation.  So often, instead of being compassionate, we criticize.  We have gotten so hard that instead of empathizing, we simply judge.  We talk about why people got themselves into situations instead of praying for them, helping when we can. Jesus is…

Why do you do the things you do?  If we’re honest, we’ll find that we do many things for the wrong reasons.  We must constantly check our own hearts to assess the motives behind our actions. Naturally, we are selfish creatures.  We have to be taught to share, to care, and to love.  We don’t have to be taught to go after what we want, to think about our own desires, to take care of ourselves.  Naturally, we will think about ourselves. Consider any 2 year old: Mine! No! I want that! They may be more dramatic than us as adults, but honestly we are just as selfish.  It’s imperative…