READ: PSALM 27:7-10; JOHN 14:18-20; ROMANS 8:31-39 It can feel terrible to feel all alone in the world. Whether you’re going through a time when you don’t have a lot of friends in your life or you feel like you can’t connect with others when you’re around them, loneliness can hit you hard and upset [...]

READ: MATTHEW 20:16; MARK 9:33-37; GALATIANS 5:13-16; PHILIPPIANS 2:1-11 Have you ever been picked on? Or have you made fun of others for being different? In our broken world, this is an all-too-prevalent reality. But here’s the thing. When we pick on others, we’re acting like chickens. Think about it—chickens have a pecking order. The [...]

READ: EPHESIANS 2:1-10; 3:14-21; 6:10-18 Ephesians is a short book—only six chapters. Paul wrote this letter to the church in Ephesus, but everything in it is for us as well! This small letter contains some large truths. In fact, if you want a brief overview of the good news of salvation, along with your standing [...]

READ: PROVERBS 17:17; 27:17; ECCLESIASTES 4:9-10; JOHN 15:12-15 Do you ever meet someone and think something like, “I hope your weirdness matches my weirdness, so we can be friends”? I do! The Bible says, “As iron sharpens iron, so a friend sharpens a friend” (Proverbs 27:17). The longer I walk with God, the more I [...]

READ: LUKE 15:1-7; ROMANS 7:15–8:4, 38-39; 2 PETER 1:3-4 When kittens are rescued and placed in a new family, they have a lot to learn—which usually includes learning not to scratch the furniture! Still, their rescuers are patient and help them learn how to live in their new family. This is kind of like our [...]

READ: 1 CHRONICLES 29:10-14; PSALM 62:5-8; EPHESIANS 2:4-10 Emil hadn’t dreamt about dinosaurs since he was eight. Yet here he was with a full-sized Tyrannosaurus rex, in a top hat no less, right in front of him. “If you’re going to eat me, do it quickly, I have other things I’d rather be dreaming about,” [...]

READ: EXODUS 15:13; PSALM 36:7; ISAIAH 54:10 Unfailing love of Jesus,unending mercy renewed,Unfailing strength in my weakness—for your name is Faithful and True.Unceasing comfort in sorrow,untold delight in my heart,Unceasing hope for tomorrow—for your mercy I see from afar.Jesus, my Savior, I praise You,Jesus, the One I adore,Jesus, the face of the Father—my God, my [...]

READ: ISAIAH 61:1-3; JOHN 16:16-33; REVELATION 21:1-5 Every seven weeks, I watch an IV drip two hours’ worth of liquid medication into my arm. That’s the reality of a chronic illness— it’s never-ending. It’s most likely not going away. Not before Jesus returns anyway. Living with Crohn’s disease feels like a part-time job. I have [...]

READ: LUKE 24:1-49 After Jesus was raised from the dead, the women who went to the tomb were surprised to find it empty. Then angels appeared and told them Jesus had risen! So the women rushed back to tell the apostles and all the others what they had seen, but they didn’t believe the women [...]

READ: MATTHEW 13:1-9; JOHN 15:1-17; 19:41–20:18 John 20 contains one of my favorite scenes in all of Scripture. On Easter Sunday, Jesus’s disciples discovered His tomb was empty, but they had not yet seen the risen Lord. They were probably confused and concerned, suspicious that something terrible had happened. In the midst of all this [...]