There Is A Big God And It’s Not Me By Beth Demme I want a GIANT poster that says, “There is a Big God and it’s NOT me.” This is the foundational truth at work in the Bible, from the very first sentence of the very first chapter. (Genesis 1:1) It’s the first of the Ten Commandments God speaks to …
Our Eroded Places Don’t Have to Remain Empty
By Beth Demme In the course of a lifetime, we all endure moments that range from unpleasant to dangerous to downright destructive. Sometimes those hard experiences get submerged deep inside our hearts. Like a small stream running through limestone, they cause erosion at such a slow rate we don’t even see it happening. Then one day, the erosion becomes a …
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. …
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 …
The Nativity Isn’t Seasonal, It’s Timeless
By Beth Demme This December, as I’ve done every December of my adult life, I put out a Nativity scene. I bought this one eight years ago. Usually, I put it in the dining room, a place I can see it every day. I love how colorful this one is and how pretty it looks on the table. Sometimes I …
Living Loved Is Like Being Adopted
By Beth Demme When I talk with my children about adoption, I ground everything in that precious four-letter word, L‑O‑V‑E. I think #NationalAdoptionMonth is a great time to explore what it means to Live Loved. When my children were toddlers, they learned their adoption story as part of their bedtime routine. I would tell them:
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 …