In kindergarten, I owned a pair of sturdy brown shoes with thick, black shoelaces. My mom often insisted I wear them, but I hated them. I thought they were hideous and felt embarrassed to wear them. They also did not fit me well. More than once, I was enjoying the playground swings, pumping to swing [...]

There is a truth that is unfolding before me: God is holy, and He requires holiness of us. For years, I never saw this tRuth I became a Christian at age eleven and through the years I have been in church, but I never really considered the issue of holiness. I thought I was okay [...]

CLANG! Raymnd's sword clashed against the training dummy, his flowing movements getting faster and faster. SWOOSH! Raymnd was determined to become one of the strongest, fastest knights there was. As he trained, his thoughts wandered to the king. Raymnd ached to be accepted by the ruler of Fidem, King Justain. Though he would never speak [...]

I used to love writing letters to my pen pal. Whenever her letters showed up in my mailbox, I had the thrill of ripping into them, excited to hear what was going on in her life. The Apostle Paul wrote two letters to the church in Corinth. In his second letter, Paul calls the Corinthian [...]

"I wish God understood how hard this is for me,” you whisper. You're trying to live right, but the temptation to do wrong is really strong. “This is the hardest thing I have ever had to do.” In the book of Hebrews, we are told that we serve a God who understands our weaknesses and [...]

Hey, Jesus, we need to talk. I have to tell you about someone we both know. She tries to follow you, but she tends to gossip. She doesn't make up lies or say cruel things, but she shares information she has heard about other people. She indulges in conversations based on rumors. Sometimes, she tells [...]

King David was called a man after God's own heart (1 Samuel 13:14; Acts 13:22). He is remembered as noble, a man of character and courage. In many instances, he obeyed God, but David also sinned just like you and me. We can read about two heinous sins David committed in 2 Samuel 11-12. When [...]

The book of the Bible called Song of Songs is confusing. It uses all kinds of metaphors and imagery that make no sense to us twenty-first-century readers. And, to make it more confusing, scholars have argued about how we should read Song of Songs for centuries. Is it a love song between husband and wife? [...]

Do you find it hard to love people as Jesus tells us to? I know sometimes I do, and it is especially hard to love people who have hurt you. In John 15:12, Jesus tells us to love people as He loves us. If we know Jesus, we can love others because He lives in [...]

"You're not good enough and nothing is ever going to change that." The words rang through his head over and over again. "Forget trying out for the team." He turned and dashed out of the school. The things others say about us can stick with us and cause us to have doubts about our abilities— [...]