Soul Sister Time

                      God is good!–all the time.  From the beginning of time God has demonstrated His goodness.  God proclaimed daily creation acts as being good in Genesis 1.  Though the reality of sin has invited badness into time, each day still contains the goodness of God.  We are given time on earth to take in God’s goodness.  Psalm 34:1 says: I will extol the Lord at all times; his praise will always be on my lips .             Each day is full of goodness.  Sometimes you just need to stop and think before you can find the good that He sends into your life on a daily basis.  Losing faith in the goodness of God is the beginning of sickness of soul.  Souls that can’t see God’s goodness begin to search for pleasure, work, wisdom, power, and many other remedies from the world.  It is only the goodne...

            I’ve been to a couple of movies this year that have been about God’s people.  By God’s people, I mean people who have had a true experience of God in the way He reveals Himself in creation, His Word, His Son and our hearts.  The best place to begin to open your heart to God’s story is to read the Bible with the guidance of the Holy Spirit to illuminate the story of God’s inconceivable love (yes on every page of the Old Testament, made clearer if you start with the Gospels).             So when you attend a movie on a spiritual topic written and produced by people who do not have the advantage of the wisdom of God, you can expect that they won’t be able to emphasize what a true believer knows to be vital.  However, I receive great spiritual benefit when I watch movies and television shows through the eyes of God.  I am utterly amazed that God...

            God’s ways are above our ways.  Unless we understand that part, we will never know when we are living out His will for our lives.  Not that I am ever absolutely certain that I am doing God’s will, but I have become comfortable with doing the best I can to follow the direction I think God is showing me.  He is, after all, so far above me that I doubt I will ever absolutely know His will.             What I do know is that I want to live my life in the center of God’s will.  I don’t always do that, but it is the utmost goal of my life.  Anything else is a waste of time.  I want my life to matter, so the best way to live a life that matters is to figure out what God wills for my life and do what He shows me.  The problem is in knowing God’s will.  There is one part that is vital to knowing God’s will. Paul told us in Roman...

            I love learning about the Church Calendar and how it points us to Christ.  I discovered that the Twelve Days of Christmas are part of the Church Calendar.  It is the twelve day festival, starting on December 25 and ending on January 5.  This is known as the season of Christmas that follows Advent and precedes Epiphany which starts on January 6.  Both Christmas Day (December 25) and Epiphany (January 6) are permanent Feast Days—meaning they are always celebrated on the same dates no matter whether it is a certain day of the week—and they do not change depending on cycle of the moon as some Feast days, including Easter.              I love taking these twelve days to focus my heart on taking a spiritual inventory.  Its perfect timing for me since my birthday occurs on the third day of Christmas.  It also gives me permission to l...

                Deep breath—Christmas is here.  Peace is in the air.  The angels sang: Peace on Earth Good Will to Men .  They should know.  Angels are messengers of God’s peace.  They bring the message without delay.  The question is: Do we receive the peace the angels describe?                 Peace in your soul evolves from a heart that has received the message of Christmas—that God gave His only Son to live, die, and rise again.  This reality is what leads to peace.  Peace is the destination we all desire in our souls.  Advent paves a way to peace.                  Peace begins when we hope in the promised Savior Whom the prophets foretold.  A Savior taking on flesh to save the world can have no othe...

            Every heart requires joy!  Joy is what makes us feel alive.  It is eases the pain of living in a fallen world.  Joy is a side effect of a personal relationship with Christ.  No one talked about joy more than the Apostle Paul.  Obviously his joy didn’t come from his circumstances.  In fact in the book of Philippians he writes (from his prison in Rome) the reason for his joy and encourages others to be joyful.             When was the last time you belly-laughed?  Now that doesn’t happen every day for me.  I have a smile on my face from the memory of my last belly-laugh.  It was after a long week of ministry to women in India.  A wise video-photographer asked our women’s team to talk about what we had experienced.  By that time we were all a little giddy from the way God had used us, and we decided to practic...

In the best of times Christmas warms our hearts with love.  In the midst of the hustle and haggling of the season, even the news is peppered with nostalgic tales of loving-kindness expressed to strangers at Christmas.  Hearts seem to grow warmer, not wanting anyone to miss out on the joy of feeling important during the Christmas season.                  Mother Teresa said the greatest poverty in the world is the lack of love.  Our world certainly can use all the love we have to give.  As we move into the second week of Advent, the focus is on love.  It is the Bethlehem candle.  Bethlehem cradled the Love sent to the entire world.  Mary is a perfect example of human love.  Her example calls us to the greatest love human hearts can hold.  It is love of God.  Mary demonstrated her love for God so fully in her response to the angel’s bizarre assignment th...