By Beth Demme I spend a lot of time in my mini-van. My garnet Honda Odyssey is only a few years old, but I have over 99,000 miles on it. I don’t know where my Odyssey has taken me, but apparently we’ve gone there a lot. Last week the van told me it needed an oil change. I ignored it …
Why I Choose Church
By Beth Demme Recently I had the privilege of teaching at a women’s conference in Nicaragua. Many of my Nicaraguan friends are shown in this photograph. I’ve been to Nicaragua several times and I’m always encouraged by the love I receive there. One of the topics I spoke on was “Presencia” – the importance of fully participating in community. My …
God Can Work With Anything, Even Nothing
By Beth Demme Guess what? You have a gift. Truly. You have a gift. Actually, you ARE a gift. You have been uniquely created by God to be … YOU. You are the VERY BEST you God has ever created. In fact, God is so pleased with how great you’ve turned out, that God will never again make another you. …
New Welcome Video Released
I’m very happy to share a video with you today, instead of typed words. I’ve just released a new video explaining what my current work, including this website, is all about. Watch it and let me know what you think! Send me an e-mail or find me on Facebook or Twitter.
Lent vs. Valentines Day: Are Sundays a Lenten Loophole?
By Beth Demme This year there’s a collision of potentially epic proportions between the church calendar and the Hallmark calendar. You may be one of the millions of Christians facing a monumental dilemma this year. Perhaps you, too, feel the impossible strain of culture drawing you away from a longstanding and beloved spiritual practice. Yes, this year Ash Wednesday arrives …
Maybe You Shouldn’t Try to Read the Bible This Year
By Beth Demme Have you ever decided to read the Bible in a year? How did it go? Did you start at Genesis 1:1 and work your way through to Revelation 22:21? Maybe you’ve intended to read through the Bible in a year but never quite made it. It’s February. Have you already fallen behind in your plan? I have …
The Old Testament is the Story of My Life
By Beth Demme Plenty of people today dismiss the Old Testament as a collection of ancient writings with unknown provenance. I think that’s a mistake. I don’t think we should idolize the Bible, but there’s a lot of room between dismissal and idolatry. I fall somewhere in between, where reverence and belief intersect faith and hope. One of the reasons …
Does God Want Me to be Happy?
By Beth Demme My focus for 2016 is to let my heart prepare Him room. This is my prayer: I was inspired by the song, Joy to the World. It starts out, “Joy to the world! The Lord is come. Let earth receive her King. Let every heart prepare Him room…” Do you know the last verse of that song? He rules the world …
Praying Smaller
By Beth Demme You know how in the Lord’s Prayer we pray: thy kingdom come, thy will be done on Earth as it is in Heaven. I wonder if, for me, this is too big. I wonder if I should pray smaller. It’s not that I don’t think God can accomplish big things. This isn’t an indictment on the power …
Can I Be Overwhelmed With Joy?
I’ve had an epiphany! Actually, we’re all having another Epiphany. It’s more than a sudden inspiration; it’s a season on the church calendar. It’s the time of year we celebrate the arrival of the Wise Men. The Wise Men were astrologers. They were star and sky readers. A star led the Wise Men to Jesus, but if you read the …