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![Wearing God’s Love… [a not-so-easy how-to]](https://rachelwrains.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/08/634E1C98-1F00-4722-9401-3D2CBAD514BE.png)
Wearing Love LOVE will be the most important thing we wear as believers and Christ followers. And the nature of that love will be visible to a watching world through acts of compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness, and patience. This is why Paul stated in his letter to the church at Colossae we are to “put…
![How to BE LOVE in a [Not-So-Perfect] Barbie World…](https://rachelwrains.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/08/656F884D-5B0F-4ABF-B8EF-C7DDFB78B681.png)
I snapped this photo of a wayward, perfectly pink Barbie shoe as I walked into my Bible study in Nashville—four summers ago. And I’ve kept it on my phone, all this time?! What can I say, it spoke to me. I guess because I’m still a Barbie girl at heart. As a young girl, Barbie…
![Understanding Evil and Sharing God’s love… [in the wake of the Murdaugh Murders]](https://rachelwrains.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/03/72E645C7-FF56-4574-BAAA-3EBAF938CA2D.jpeg)
So much of the Alex Murdaugh case reminds me of my own days of chasing justice. When you come up against pure evil, it becomes life-changing. You truly grasp the reality that evil walks amongst us. And the enemy of our souls is indeed present on this earth and hard at work to destroy us….
This tattered, incomplete set of 1950’s commentaries may not look like much to you. But to me, they are proof of God’s love for me. As I prepared this week’s #TLCcommunity study, I thumbed back through some old notebooks. It was then I had the thought, I wish I had the Barclay commentaries that I…
![Shining God’s Love Through Art [in a Dark World]](https://rachelwrains.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/03/47C85D92-D517-4009-A1F9-6A5B4C6E7C59-scaled.jpeg)
I’m still processing much of our European trip. We experienced so much—in such a short amount of time. An image that has stuck with me, more than any other, is that of the immortalized young ballerina, Marie van Goethem. The idyllic, romanticized life of Degas’ La Petite Danseuse de 14 ans is far from the…
![Surrendering to God… [Word of the Year 2023]](https://rachelwrains.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/01/05A9A94E-B97B-4419-B8CF-6A150667B78F.jpeg)
To be honest, my word of the year scares me–quite literally! It feels way too large, untidy, and full of the unknown. I’m not sure where its going… And maybe that is exactly the point!? I’m not supposed to know. I caught a nasty cold the Sunday after thanksgiving–and it never went away! While still…
![Telling the Story of His Wondrous Love… [a Christmas memory]](https://rachelwrains.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/12/90647690-C713-4A56-B7C5-2540A3E49D4D.jpeg)
My [almost] oldest childhood friend gifted me this photo of us for my high school graduation. I believe it was taken shortly after moving to Hometown, OK from Dallas, TX. Late in the fall of ‘73 my little brother and I stayed with my grandparents while our new home was being readied for our arrival….
At the end of last year, I felt more joy-depleted than joyful. Life’s circumstances had me feeling battered and bruised. But the testing of my faith produced long-lasting evidence of fruit in my life–of which I’m eternally grateful! Perhaps you’ve been there yourself? Or perhaps, joyless is an accurate depiction of your current circumstances? If…
![Lessons in Becoming [how to become all that God created us to be]…](https://rachelwrains.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/11/5C91D790-8AD6-47BF-BFA9-B1514202A9A9.jpeg)
You would never know by looking, but this young woman [circa ‘97] is “in between” life seasons. And in less than two years, she will land in Nashville to carve a life. A dream she didn’t know “to dream” for herself as a young girl. But a life, God was calling her to—nonetheless. As we…