InstaEncouragements Blog

5 Questions to Ask About Your Prayer Life

2/12/2021

Prayer. That one word represents so many things to me: peace, beauty, communion, praise, duty, failure, distraction, forgetfulness, absence, frustration.

What do you think of when you think of prayer?

Are you so busy during your day you often forget to pray?
Are you so plagued by guilt over sin or lack of prayer you don’t want to pray?
Are you so out of practice in prayer that you don’t know how to pray?
Are you so in love with your God that you pray continually throughout your day?
Are you so ritualistic in your prayer times that you don’t remember what you prayed?

Prayer is one of the most precious aspects of the Christian life.

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Embracing the Blessings, Burdens, and Blahs

1/15/2021

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Embracing the Blessings, Burdens, and Blahs

A new year is the closest thing to true magic. On the eve of a new year, I feel like Anne of Green Gables believing that

“Tomorrow is always fresh with no mistakes in it.”

Of course, I know I’m going to ruin that clean slate after a few steps into it, but for some reason, that doesn’t lessen my anticipation.

I have many New Year’s resolutions for 2021, but whether or not I achieve them all, I know that 2021 can be better. I’m not saying that because 2020 is the year no one ever wants to relive. I’m saying that because 2021 isn’t going to magically erase the darkness of 2020.

If anything, that darkness of disease and turmoil may increase. But I believe 2021 can be better.

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Anxious for Nothing: Replacing Worry with Joy

12/18/2020

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Let's be "Anxious for Nothing: Replacing Worry with Joy." Well, that’s easy to say.

I know from personal experience that it is rarely helpful for someone to tell me "Don’t worry, be happy." When I allow anxiety into my heart, it becomes a crippling force that controls my moods, my words, and my actions. I don’t want to be told to "Let go and let God" when that happens. I want to curl up in a ball and binge-watch television shows until I can no longer escape reality. Then I want to cry and complain and feel sorry for myself.

This past week, I have been living under the control of anxiety. Changes at work, a brief sickness, and some disappointments created inside me a feeling of emptiness, fear, and unease. I allowed my mind to dwell on things unlovely and untrue.

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Where is Your Happy Place?

11/13/2020

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The doormat in front of our cozy loft apartment declares “This is our happy place.” My husband and I found the quotation fitting because we’re both homebodies—me especially. I take comfort in the feel, smell, and comfort of home. When I walk through the door after a day of talking to patients and concerned parents at work, a sense of peace settles back into my heart.

Lately, between COVID-19 and the election process, our home has felt more like a safe-haven than ever. But even the security of home hasn’t been able to calm my heart lately. Fear of an unknown future creeps into my happy place through our phones, tablets, and computers. It seeps under the cracks and crevices and worms its way into my heart.

Why do I fear the whirlwind of change, uncertainty, germs, and politics swirling outside my door?

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The Gospel According to an Introvert

10/16/2020

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God’s creative design bursts with variety. In the human race, He fashioned a diverse assortment of looks, personalities, and abilities, giving a unique combination to each one of the nearly eight billion people walking around out there.

He created the acrobat, the person who can trip over thin air, the beauty pageant winner, and the self-conscious preteen boy with a bad case of acne. He understands the outgoing church greeter and the quiet accountant. He designed both the orators who always know the right thing to say and the people like me who can manage to give a socially awkward response to a straightforward question.

God didn’t make any mistakes when He made you or when He made me. As the psalmist declares, each one of us is “fearfully and wonderfully made” (Psalm 139:14a).

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Be Still and Go Forward

9/18/2020

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“Be still, and know that I am God. I will be exalted among the nations, I will be exalted in the earth!” Psalm 46:10

"The Lord said to Moses, 'Why do you cry to me? Tell the people of Israel to go forward." Exodus 14:15

Do you have any favorite Truths from Scripture? Passages of promise that make your soul sing and direct your heart towards worship and praise?

Recently, after listening to a Sunday message emphasizing the need for rest in the believer’s life, I entered the week meditating on Psalm 46:10a: “Be still, and know that I am God.”

These words of instruction always touch my heart in a special way. They’re God’s reminder to me every day that I let my busy schedule run my life and my heart.

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What Happened to the Good Old Days?

8/14/2020

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A Millennial's Perspective

I am a millennial Christian. Because of my age demographic and the stereotypes that follow it around, older Christians often ask me:

“So, what’s up with your generation?”

“How on earth am I supposed to understand young people these days?”

I never know how to answer these questions, and this inability has bothered me for a while. Part of me feels defensive of my generation. Another part of me genuinely wonders why teenagers and twenty-thirty somethings today are apparently so different from those of decades past. Is my generation and the new “generation Z” filled with worse sinners than our parents’ and grandparents’ generations?

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