By Beth Demme One of the major lessons of the Bible is this: God loves us even when we act unlovable. A great example of a Biblical character who fails to live loved is a man named Gideon. When we meet Gideon (in Judges 6), he is feeling a little hopeless. The angel says (and I’m paraphrasing here), “nice day …
How Do I Relate to an Invisible God?
By Beth Demme I tend to rely on visual cues. I like calendar reminders that pop up on my phone. I like post-it notes and pictures. I work surrounded by a bit of clutter. I often work from piles because when I put things away, I forget about them. I’m a classic “out-of-sight-out-of-mind” person. My home office is tucked under …
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. …
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 …
How Adoption Changed My View of God
By Beth Demme #NationalAdoptionMonth My husband and I are parents by adoption. I have some great stories about our adoption journey, some of which would make you roll with laughter and others that would leave you weeping. Adoption brought a lot of changes to my life (hello, babies!). One of the unexpected changes adoption brought me was a new understanding …
How to Find True Joy
By Beth Demme What do you know about gold? My knowledge of gold is mainly this: it makes pretty jewelry, like the wedding ring I’ve worn for nearly twenty years. It turns out there’s a lot more to gold than its beauty. Gold starts as a rock in the ground. It gets mined —cut— out of the ground. Picture bulldozers …
A Lesson In Humility
By Beth Demme “They are the problem. Not me,” I said, completely unaware of how sanctimonious and unfriendly I sounded. “They don’t seem to know how to express the love of God.” I went on, still unaware of the growing plank in my eye. “Some Christians are just closed-minded and they wrap that mess up in a cloak of false …
How Ugly Leads to Beautiful
I spent the week pausing to #NoticeTheBeauty around me. This particular week blended the last of my family’s summer fun with the beginning of a new school year. The busyness made it the perfect week to intentionally notice the natural beauty around me and the beautiful moments in my life. I noticed the natural beauty of fawns feeding in the …