Stress Tip: Stay Positive
When stress narrows your focus to the negative, a growing list of good things in your life can change your perspective.
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Practical wisdom, preserved for the road ahead.
Explore selected blogs from more than four decades of helping people grow in their relationships with God, others, and themselves.
Browse 118 blogsDevotional series
Go deeper, one day at a time.
Short devotions that build on each other, from Gaylyn’s devotional books and studies.
22 devotionsExplore God’s Heart for AliyahA 21-day Bible study and prayer guide to understand God’s heart for Aliyah, the return of the Jewish people to Israel, and how you can be part of it.Explore the series 
18 devotionsHidden from Harm: Psalm 91A verse-by-verse study of the powerful promises of protection in Psalm 91, to help you trust God instead of living in fear.Explore the series 
20 devotionsHow God Sees You and His Promises for YouDevotions on your identity in Christ and the promises God makes to His children, with Scripture, reflection, and prayer.Explore the series 
148 devotionsThe Names of GodShort devotions on the names God uses for Himself in Scripture, each with a verse, reflection questions, and a prayer.Explore the series The collection
Start with what matters today.
Short, trusted reads for real conversations, demanding seasons, and lasting spiritual growth.
Showing 118 blogs
How Will Focusing on God Help You?
How shifting attention from overwhelming circumstances to God can transform perspective without denying pain.
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Rules of Engagement for Confrontation
How a difficult confrontation became a path toward understanding, apology, and a closer friendship.
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Do You Want More Joy?
People search everywhere for joy’s door. Why true joy is not a passing feeling, but an attitude rooted in our relationship with God.
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You Can Depend on God’s Everlasting Arms
Deuteronomy 33:27 promises that underneath are the everlasting arms. When you feel you’ve hit bottom, remember where you are resting.
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What Causes Your Stress?
Why identifying the specific internal and external sources of your stress is the first skill in managing it well.
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God Never Meant for Us to Fight the Enemy Alone
Like five-year-olds on a soccer field, we struggle when we fight alone. Why God gives us a team of people to pray and stand with us.
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STOP in the Name of Love!
Recognize the everyday words and actions that quietly sabotage your relationships, and choose healthier ways to connect.
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Trust Is Easily Destroyed
A painful story of broken friendship and reflection questions about how trust is damaged, and how you can build it with godly character.
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How Comfortable Are You with Confronting?
Confronting wisely and respectfully can help others and help you grow. Explore what Proverbs teaches about gentle, honest words.
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Where’s the Joy?
A short Bible study on Galatians 5 and John 15 exploring how joy grows as fruit of the Holy Spirit in our lives.
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Gratitude: The Foundation of Ministry Partnership
One missing sentence of thanks cost a ministry a faithful partner. Why an attitude of gratitude is essential to ministry support.
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Do You Understand Your Enemy?
From witch doctors in a Guatemalan village to a fear of the devil, why believers must know their enemy while keeping their focus on God.
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How Do You Prepare for Spiritual Warfare?
Lessons from missionary preparation in Guatemala on why believers need proven, biblical strategies for spiritual warfare.
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He Restores My Soul
Counselor George Stahnke on Psalm 23:3, how small burdens wear down the soul, and how God refreshes and restores us.
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You Are a Sharer in God’s Grace
Philippians 1:7 says you share in God’s grace, His unmerited favor. Reflect on what grace means and how it can change your life today.
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God’s Love for Us
Nothing can separate you from the love of God. Study Romans 8:32–39 and reflect on what His love means for you today.
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God’s Promise: God Will Direct My Paths
Proverbs 3:5–6 promises God will direct your paths. Explore the three conditions of trusting, relying, and acknowledging Him.
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You Are the Light of the World
Jesus says you are the light of the world. Reflect on how to let God’s light shine through you to the people around you.
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Stress Is a Normal Part of Life
Why experiencing stress is not a spiritual failure, and how a healthy amount of pressure can help us grow.
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Reality Check: What Kind of Listener Am I?
A practical self-assessment for noticing the habits that help people feel heard, understood, and safe with us.
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Act Contrary to Your Feelings
A biblical key to overcoming anger and resentment: act in loving ways toward the offender before your feelings change.
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Jesus, Our Model for Handling Stress
Jesus knew intense stress, yet He endured. Consider what His example can teach you about handling pressure today.
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Dress for War
Before we put on our armor, we put on our spiritual clothes. Are you dressed and acting like a child of the King?
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Self-Esteem Affects Our Joy
How accepting yourself and others as God’s unique creations opens the way to the full joy Jesus intended.
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Defusing a Ticking Time Bomb
Reflection and practical direction for responding wisely when someone attacks with anger.
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Recognize What Holds You Back
Hebrews 12:1 calls us to lay aside every weight and sin that holds us back. Questions to help you run your race with endurance.
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Prayer Maintains Joy
A harrowing journey over Guatemala’s mountains taught Ken Williams to respond to crises with prayer first, and find joy.
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The God of Hope Gives Me Overflowing Hope
A devotional on Romans 15:13: how the God of Hope fills you with joy and peace and causes you to overflow with hope as you trust Him.
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Follow Your Leader
Like the childhood game of follow the leader, Jesus is our example for life and spiritual warfare, even when His ways seem unusual.
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God Will Never Leave Me or Forsake Me
God promises He will never, never, never leave you. Reflection, prayer, and an affirmation for times you feel alone.
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Gratitude Encourages Joy
Stranded in a sweltering airport in Pakistan, Ken Williams chose to thank God, and discovered joy independent of circumstances.
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Why Is Encouragement So Important to God?
Three reasons encouragement belongs at the center of Christian community and everyday relationships.
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Are You Ever Overwhelmed by Stress?
Missionaries often live with stress levels far above what most people face. Gaylyn shares honestly about seasons of overwhelming stress and what helps.
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What Qualities Do You Need to Confront Well?
Biblical confrontation is often simply pointing out a blind spot. Reflect on the qualities you need to confront others well.
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How to Successfully Communicate with Ministry Partners
Lessons from tin-can phones: partners want to be heard. What ministry partners most want to hear about from you.
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Are You Using Your Spiritual Warfare Weapons?
Pastor Steve Sherwood’s story of calmly using the name and blood of Jesus, and why anger is never an effective weapon against the enemy.
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Abounding in Love and Faithfulness
From Exodus to the Psalms, the Old Testament overflows with God’s steadfast love. Meditate on these verses and let them shape how you see yourself.
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How Do My Core Beliefs Influence My Relationships?
How the convictions beneath our behavior shape communication, conflict, and connection.
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Cultivate Life
God calls every believer to encourage one another daily. How a word or act of encouragement cultivates life in the people around you.
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How Do We Stress Ourselves?
A vivid look at internal stress and why two people can experience the same event so differently.
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The WWJD Principle
If Jesus were looking for partners today, what would He do? What His friendships with Levi, Mary, Martha, and Lazarus teach us.
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Don’t Fear or Be Afraid
George Stahnke on God’s repeated command not to fear: fear of change, of lack, and of coming to Jesus, and how His peace replaces fear.
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Recognizing Clues to Greater Intimacy
How noticing the verbal and nonverbal “heart clues” people give can open the door to deeper care, ministry, and connection.
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Do You Struggle with Fear?
Isaiah 41:10 gives two commands and five reasons not to fear. How God’s presence and help can carry you through frightening seasons.
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Transform One-Time Gifts through Gratitude and Caring
More than half of first-time donors never give again. Practical ways to respond to one-time gifts that build lasting partnership.
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Are You Using Your Resources to Manage Stress?
A 15-question self-assessment to see how well you are applying the spiritual resources God provides when you are under stress.
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Biblical Principles for Spiritual Warfare
Spiritual warfare isn’t only for “super Christians.” God has given every believer biblical principles, resources, and a team for the battle.
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Spiritual Warfare Boot Camp
No soldier should go to war without training. Why believers need to prepare for the enemy’s strategies instead of entering battle unprepared.
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Joy Is a Choice
Pain is unavoidable, but misery is optional. Lessons on choosing joy learned through the life and loss of a son.
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Do You Know Your Enemy?
Our enemy wants to convince us we are defeated by our past and our habits. Why seeing yourself as God sees you matters in spiritual warfare.
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I Was Created in God’s Image
You were made in the image of God. Reflect on what that reveals about Him, and why putting yourself down also puts down His creation.
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Conflict Is Normal in Life and Ministry
Statistics on conflict among pastors and ministry workers show why learning to handle conflict well is essential.
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Unlocking Joy
Ministry can steal your joy, but it doesn’t have to. Gaylyn shares how she found peace and joy while her baby son Daniel was critically ill.
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What Is Spiritual Warfare?
Spiritual warfare is our battle against the enemy who comes to steal, kill, and destroy, and it includes Spirit-controlled thinking and attitudes.
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Keys to Transform Your Relationships
Why practical, everyday relational skills matter in churches, teams, families, and one-to-one conversations.
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An Amazing Story of Praise
Facing a vast army, Jehoshaphat sent a choir out ahead of Judah’s soldiers. What 2 Chronicles 20 teaches about praising God in hard times.
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Worship: A Key to Joy
Worship is both a key to joy and an expression of it. Why 1 Thessalonians 5:16–18 belongs together: rejoice, pray, and give thanks.
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Christ, Our Passover Lamb
Jesus is our Passover Lamb. What the first Passover in Exodus 12 reveals about His sacrifice, and how His blood protects you and your family.
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Communicating with Ministry Partners
Three practical principles for written updates that help partners feel connected, valued, and involved.
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Gratitude Releases Joy
Why the practice of giving thanks can make room for joy, even before our feelings change.
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How God Sees You: I Am Not Condemned
In Christ you are free from condemnation. Stop seeing yourself as a sinner and start seeing yourself the way God sees you.
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How God Sees You: I Am a Child of God
Whatever your earthly father was like, God calls you His child. Scriptures and reflection on what it means to belong to Him.
Read blogHow God Sees You: God Has Lavished Me with His Great Love
See what great love the Father has lavished on us! Verses to meditate on and memorize as you discover how much God loves you.
Read blogHow God Sees You: God Adopted Me as His Very Own Child
God paid the highest price to adopt you as His child. Scripture and questions to help you trade a slave mentality for a son or daughter mentality.
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Maximize Your Resources to Manage Stress
How knowing God the Father, His identity, character, and work, becomes a practical resource for managing stress.
Read blogTrials Build Joy
A personal story about grief, trust, and discovering that pain and joy can exist together.
Read blogNonverbal Communication Speaks Louder Than Words
Some of the most powerful communication tools are the ones most people aren’t aware of. Why nonverbal skills matter in every relationship.
Read blogYou Have a Choice about How Stress Affects You
Bombs and gunfire in Guatemala City taught Gaylyn that, even in danger, she could choose whether to focus on the problems or on God.
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Find Joy in Prayer
God ministers His joy to our hearts as we talk with Him. What Jesus taught about prayer in Matthew 6, and questions to apply it today.
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The Power of a Handwritten Note
Personal letters are at a record low, which makes yours more powerful. Why handwritten notes matter in ministry partnership.
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Knowing God Unlocks Joy
A year of reading only the Bible revolutionized Ken Williams’ life. Why a growing heart knowledge of God is the first key to joy.
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The Power of Gratitude
Receiving thanks is a powerful motivator for ministry partners. Why heartfelt gratitude pleases God and strengthens partnership.
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Change Your Perspective on Fundraising
A relational view of ministry support in which missionaries and partners give to, receive from, and care for one another.
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From Donors to Lifelong Ministry Partners
A biblical paradigm shift from one-way fundraising to mutual partnership in the gospel.
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A Paradigm Shift That Will Transform Your Ministry
How God transformed “donors” into lifelong partners and friends, and why relationship-centered partnership can change your ministry.
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Joy and Trials
We can worry and complain in trials, or trust God and rejoice. How thanksgiving in hard times builds a trusting relationship with Him.
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A Checklist for Writing to Ministry Partners
Practical ways to make ministry updates personal, clear, grateful, and genuinely connected to each recipient.
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God Knows You
God knows the way you take, the secrets of your heart, and how you are formed. Scriptures to help you grasp the depth of His knowledge of you.
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How to Get to Know God Better
Two simple practices that help truths about God move from facts in the mind to trust in the heart.
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What Are Some Results of Seeking God?
Those who seek the Lord lack no good thing. A short study of what Scripture promises to those who seek God with all their heart.
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Prevent Burnout: Are You at Risk?
How to recognize the causes and warning signs of burnout before chronic stress leaves you depleted.
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What Is Your Response to Stress?
Feeling distress under stress is not a lack of spirituality. Jesus, Paul, and David all felt it. Examples of how distress can show up in everyday life.
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Definition of Stress
The difference between stress and stressors, and why a biblical view sees stress affecting the whole person.
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Take a Day of Rest
Rest is not laziness. Why God modeled a day of rest, and how setting aside one day a week can bless your life and work.
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Stress Tip: Bring Balance to Your Lifestyle
Some stress comes from lives out of balance. Practical options for stopping, delegating, and letting go of perfectionism.
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Use Humor to Reduce Your Stress
Laughter is good medicine. Simple ways to use humor to reduce stress, and how it helped one family through a painful season.
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Simple Ways to Rest and Recharge
Three simple stress tips: take a power nap, give your mind a rest, and make time every day for something you really enjoy.
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David’s Prayer When He Was Stressed
King David prayed through his distress. What Psalm 4:1 and God’s name, My Righteous God, can teach you about handling stress.
Read blogHis Faithful Love Endures Forever
A verse-by-verse journey through Psalm 136 and the God whose faithful love never quits, in creation, rescue, hard times, and our weakness.
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What Are Some Effects of Stress?
Sleeplessness, irritability, fatigue, headaches. Research shows how often stress affects our bodies, and why it’s worth working through.
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Jesus’ Example of Forgiveness
Even on the cross, Jesus chose to forgive. How following His example frees us from bitterness and changes our perspective.
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Importance of Prayer
A reflection on praying for inner strength, deep roots in God’s love, and confidence in His power.
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Great Love Quotes from God’s Word
The greatest love letter is God’s letter to us. A few of the Bible’s great sayings about love, and Paul’s prayer that you would experience Christ’s love.
Read blogWhat Is Love?
The greatest love we can experience is God’s love. Meditate on Ephesians 3 and the extravagant dimensions of Christ’s love.
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The Riches
Paul prayed for believers to receive God’s glorious riches. How to pray Ephesians 3:16-19 for yourself and others, and experience Christ’s love.
Read blogHow to Say a Prayer
One of the richest ways to pray is to pray God’s Word. Begin with Paul’s prayer in Ephesians 3:14-15 and questions for reflection.
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Pray Bible Verses
A challenge to read, meditate on, and pray Paul’s prayer in Ephesians 3:14-21 every day, and see what God teaches you through it.
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Are You Fighting the Right Enemy?
It’s easy to see people as the enemy. Ephesians 6:12 reminds us that our real struggle is not against flesh and blood.
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Put On the Full Armor of God
A walk through Ephesians 6: the belt of truth, shoes of peace, shield of faith, helmet of salvation, and sword of the Spirit.
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Be Strong in the Lord
Ephesians 6:10 calls us to be strong in the Lord, not ourselves. A vivid picture of choosing His mighty power every day.
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Joy as Spiritual Warfare
How rejoicing redirects attention from consuming problems to the Lord and safeguards the heart in difficult circumstances.
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The Choice to Rejoice
Paul told the Philippians to rejoice in the Lord three times. Why God commands us to rejoice, and how focusing on Him changes our perspective.
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The Choice Is Yours: Sitting in the Pits or on a Throne?
You are seated with Christ in the heavenly realms. What Ephesians 2:6 means for your authority, your prayers, and how you face stress.
Read blogPrepare Your Heart for Easter
Jesus was pierced for us. Reflect on what He and the Father went through for you, and remember what you are celebrating at Easter.
Read blogKept in Perfect Peace
Isaiah 26:3 promises perfect peace, Shalom Shalom, to those who trust God. Questions to help you find His peace in the middle of stress.
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Look What God Did for Us!
We often focus on what we don’t have. Ephesians 2:4-6 reminds us what God has already done, and that in Christ we live in His victory.
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Help Children Talk About Their Stress
Simple ways to draw children out, through questions, self-disclosure, and gentle guesses, so they can put stress into words instead of acting it out.
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How Jesus Handled Stress
Jesus is our best example of managing stress. He was honest about His feelings, trusted the Father, prayed, leaned on friends, rested, and looked ahead with joy.
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Children Get Stressed Out Too!
Children feel stress too. Learn the two key signs, change and regression, and how kids who hold stress in differ from those who act it out.
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Do You Ever Need to Rant and Rave?
David poured out his distress to God in Psalm 31. It’s okay to tell the Lord exactly how you feel. He is always there to listen.
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Treat Others with Love
Over compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness, and patience, Colossians 3 tells us to put on love. What does that look like with people who are hard to love?
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Forgive as the Lord Forgave You
Forgiveness is rarely a one-time event. How remembering how much the Lord forgave you can help you bear with others and forgive them.
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What Is Conflict?
Why conflict is inevitable, how unresolved tension spreads, and how a changed perspective can lead toward healthier resolution.
Read blogChosen, Holy, and Dearly Loved
Colossians 3:12 tells you who you are in Christ: chosen by God, holy, and dearly loved. Do you know deep down that it’s true?
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Fix Your Eyes on Jesus
When stress and hardship make you want to give up, Hebrews 12:2-3 invites you to fix your eyes on Jesus, who endured and finished His race.
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What Are You Worried About?
The “teddy bear verse” reminds us to cast every worry on the Lord. What cares are you still carrying that He wants you to give Him?
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Are You Weary?
Jesus invites the weary and burdened to come to Him for rest. Is He calling you to stop, slow down, and spend time with Him?
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