Women of Promise

     Everything worth having requires effort.  Healthy bodies, healthy marriages, or healthy lifestyles   do not just happen without intentionality, work, and cultivation. The same is true of a deep relationship with Christ.  It requires a focused, intentional effort on our part to start and maintain a lifestyle of learning and loving Him. While all of our salvation is secured in Christ, and His work only, there is an element of our faith that requires us to act.        Revelation 2:1 speaks of the church at Ephesus and commends them for their patient endurance and not growing weary in the work of the Lord.  This tells us that living out the calling of the gospel in our lives is not always easy!  Now, all along the way God offers us His strength and tremendous blessing.  We will see the benefits of this effort!  However, the church at Ephesus was doing all the right things, but had lost their "first love."  ...

       Life is so uncertain. We never know what is going to be thrown at us. All the self-help or parenting books in the world, cannot truly prepare you for that feeling  that comes when you actually experience an event. The truth is that all of us experience anxiety, fear, grief, and sorrow.  It is part of our fallen nature. Adam and Eve did not know fear or anxiety until they disobeyed in the Garden. Ever since, humanity has been crippled with the effects of sin, deeply imbedded in each heart from birth.      Satan has so many lies that he wants us to believe.  One such lie is that we will always be controlled by our fears and anxiety. He wants us to think that we will always be consumed by grief.  He wants us to believe that God is not enough.  Somehow, someway, we have to do something or find some magic potion that will help us "snap" out of our circumstances and finally have joy, money, and satisfaction.  These are ju...

   Happy New Year!      I hope you have had a wonderful time of rest and fellowship with your family and friends over the past week or two as we have celebrated the birth of Jesus and welcomed in the new year.      As we embarq on a new (or old) set of goals and resolutions for 2026, I came across a really fascinating tidbit of information I wanted to share with you.     Apparently, in Hebrew, every fiftieth letter in the book of Genesis spells out the Hebrew word for Torah. The Torah is the term for the first five books of the Bible, also known as the Books of the Law.  So the very first letter is Tav, 49 letters later is Vav, 49 letters later you will find Reish, and 49 letters later you will find Heh.  Putting those Hebrew letters together is the TORH, or in English, Torah.       This is exactly the same in the book of Exodus!! Starting with the first letter of the book, and moving by groups of 50, you wi...