By Allie Marie Smith Photo by Chlesea Steller September 9th – 15th, 2018 is Suicide Prevention Week. When it comes to dark days and nights I get it. I never wanted to die, but I wanted the agonizing pain to end. Part of major depression at its worst is believing a lot of lies: that there is no hope, that you will always be in...
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By Arielle Estoria || There is something about this season that is just as frustrating as it is beautiful. It is the point in our lives where we decide to either sit and twiddle our thumbs waiting for someone to come along and give our lives purpose and excitement or it’s the season where we are wild and reckless with a “do now, think later”...
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Hey Ladies! Check out this post by Asia Major-Waithe who was willing to share her story about God drawing her into Him in a deeper way as her Bridegroom and Husband. Valentine’s Day might be over, but our relationship with God can continually grow deep, even as single ladies! By: Asia Major-Waithe It can definitely be difficult to be single these days… sometimes it feels...
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By: Danielle Kingsley “How will this be,” Mary asked the angel, “since I am a virgin?” The angel answered, “The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you. So the holy one to be born will be called the Son of God. Even Elizabeth your relative is going to have a child in her old age, and...
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By: Juliandra Durkin “The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I came that they may have life, and have it abundantly.” -John 10:10 Abundant life. I dream of that some days. After packing my lunch, cleaning dishes, putting gas in my car, working all day, barely getting a shower after my work out and in between church groups and going out with...
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By: Katie Messer As Thanksgiving is upon us in only a matter of days, take a moment to assess your true feelings of giving thanks. Are they determined by a situation or by the unchanging status of our Lord, Jesus Christ? As I have reflected within my own life, I have come to the conclusion that the world only champions certain blessings. And for other...
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By: Sara Barratt “A rose by any other name would smell as sweet.” Imagine a world where roses were called skunks and skunks, roses. Can you? Yeah, neither can I. While I understand the point William Shakespeare was making in this oft-quoted line from “Romeo and Juliet”, a rose is synonymous for its beauty and sweet smell that we can’t imagine it being called anything...
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By: Juliandra Durkin If you have been walking with God long enough, then you have probably experienced some highs and lows of being a daughter of the King in a war torn kingdom, planet Earth. Life is many things, but hard is definitely up there when you have an enemy whose best weapon against God’s heart is to break yours. However in James we read,...
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By: Tekoa Manning “If our hearts know nothing against us, we have confidence in approaching God” 1 John 3:21. What do our hearts know? “The heart is deceitful above all things and desperately wicked: who can know it?” Jeremiah 17:9 KJV. Yahweh searches the hearts of men to see whats inside them. He knows. Simple. Short. To the point. Can you remember a time in...
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By: Kaci Piccillo Wanting to fit in is a woe faced only by junior high schoolers, right? Ha. Certainly, it becomes less pronounced as you come to know and accept who you are as an individual, but the desire to be a part of something bigger than yourself— to belong— is one that persists throughout all of life, expressing itself wherever a community of people...
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By: Kate Rapier There is this tree right outside of my front window. A wall of trees actually. They are big, lush, green trees. Not evergreens, but in the spring and summer months they are big, vibrant, beauitiful trees. I apologize that I do not know the proper name for these guys, but botany has never been my strong suit. All I know is that...
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By: Lauren Goderwis “What happened?” Hearing that question sends my stomach through the floor. Every. Single. Time. It yanks me back to the shame and embarrassment, the confusion and darkness, that I walked through not too long ago. It punches me with the pain, the hurt, the hopelessness, and the loneliness I thought I’d never escape. I freeze. “It’s a long story.” Why is it...
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By: Katie Messer “The merciful are blessed, for they will be shown mercy” (Matthew 5:7). Have you even been blown away by the generosity of another? Maybe you are in college and instant soup is on the menu multiple times a week. Perhaps you are working multiple jobs, but still not getting ahead financially. Maybe you are financially contributing to some family obligations and do...
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By: Juliandra Durkin Many of our readers are past the awkward teen years, but have realized that college isn’t much better when it comes to awkward. You know what I’m talking about- moving home for summer, you don’t feel quite like the daughter that grew up in your parents home, you’re kind of an adult, but then you kind of still depend on them to...
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By: Juliandra Durkin “She wants me to use my gas money, to drive the opposite direction, to pick her up then drive back to the park two blocks from me, just because she doesn’t feel like driving tonight?!” I stared at my phone aghast at my friend’s request for a ride to the park where we decided to go walking that evening. Stomping to the...
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By: Katie Messer “On the day I called, You answered me; You made me bold with strength in my soul.” Psalm 138:3 (NASB) Have you ever felt as though one challenging situation kept following another within your life? Perhaps you even wondered if there was something you could do to make the difficulties stop. Allow this to be refreshment to your heart and soul as...
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By: Katie Messer “He was right.” Thomas recalled to himself. Still staring up into the sky, with the remaining ten disciples. Thomas continued, “I will forever sing Your praises, Jesus. Thank you.” Jesus of Nazareth had ascended into heaven after conquering death on a cross, just as the prophecies said of the Messiah (Psalm 16:10, Isaiah 52:13-Isaiah 53:12, Daniel 7:13-14, John 14:1-4, John 16:16, John 16:25-28)....
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By: Juliandra Durkin What does Christ’s death on the cross really mean for us? If we grew up in the church, then we know the story… Jesus grew up in Nazareth and at the Lord’s timing was baptized by John the Baptist in the Jordan River. At that point, God the Father sent a dove and spoke from the Heaven’s to say, “This is my...
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For too long I’ve been concerned about the desire to be in a relationship. When I start to think about what it would be like to have a boyfriend, quite quickly, my mood can flip, on the verge of becoming completely obsessed with the idea. So why is it bad for me to make these things at the forefront of my mind? Why is it...
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By: Juliandra Durkin Have you ever started a book that just seemed to take forever to get through? One that you started and stopped, picked up and put down, brought with you to read during appointments and then kept on your shelf for months? There is a particular book that I started last summer and what with the ups and downs with life, other books,...
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