Do you ever feel so overwhelmed by temptations around you? Our world is packed with opportunities to sin. Temptation seems to be around every corner. Each day, when we look at our phones or go to school, we can be faced with jealousy, greed, lust, and so many other temptations to sin—to doubt God's plan. [...]

I love that when kids are adopted they receive a new or expanded family history. It takes time for them to learn about their new family, but it's so worth it. As children adopted into God's family, the same is true for us. The history of the Old Testament of the Bible is now our [...]

Have you ever had an argument end a friendship? Or have you ever said things to someone you wish you could take back? Whether you have been wronged or you have wronged someone, reconciliation can be a very difficult and complicated thing. But, if you're in Christ, you are empowered by the Holy Spirit to [...]

You can't catch your breath. You feel weak, and you just want to lie down and give up. If life is a race, you're in last place and the finish line is miles away. Should you even try to keep going? Many people who've gone before have felt the same way, and yet somehow they [...]

Trusting Jesus for the future can be hard during the teen years. For many of us, at age six, trusting God was all we knew, but we have long outgrown that stage. Now, it's often harder to fully trust God and His plan. Our minds may be flooded with questions daily, which we force ourselves [...]

I sat on the couch, overwhelmed. If only the fluffy pillows could shield me from all the decisions I had to make: what to do with my major, how to make a living, who to marry (scratch that—who to even date), how to help my friends who were making wrong choices, etc. Thankfully, as I've [...]

Jeremiah was just a young man when God called him to be a prophet—a messenger to speak to the people on God's behalf. Jeremiah was to tell the people of Judah to repent of their evil and to follow God instead. Even though Jeremiah felt too young and unqualified, God still used him to warn [...]

Ordinary students—like me—kept to themselves in order to avoid fists or knives. Paralyzed by fear, teachers ignored bullying because it was dangerous to interfere. Only blood and severe violence forced school administrators to act. Why was I singled out? I didn't know. For some reason, the gang leader hated me, and her minions made my [...]

When you think of your church, what comes to mind? Do you picture a friendly, generous welcoming of any newcomer? Do people watch for and greet any new person who enters the church? Or is there an attitude of “God bless us four and no more”? May it never be so! God, in His rich [...]

We deal with anger for a number of different reasons. We get angry at ourselves when we fail. We get angry when we see others being treated in an unjust way. We get angry when the people in our lives hurt us. The Bible does not call the feeling of anger a sin, but it [...]