Join the quest and Accept The Love Challenge!
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…
![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…
![Talk to Your Kids… [Active Shooter Alert: The Call No Parent Wants to Receive]](https://rachelwrains.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/09/0F8C2CC7-7265-4C67-B4FE-DE28DE7A004D.png)
One fall morning in 2015, I received a call no parent wants to receive… An active shooter was reported on my daughter’s campus. And not only was the shooter in her immediate vicinity, but he was headed towards the College of Business. As she took cover in a professor’s office along with her classmates, we…
Days later and I am still in recovery mode from our little excursion in south Texas… The heat way down south in San Antone was excruciating. We’re still scratching our heads, wondering if we had a good time!? 😂 Similar, the heat on the OK/TX border this summer has truly been unbearable. More than once…
![How to Be Kind To Others… [a back-to-school message]](https://rachelwrains.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/08/F3256CB8-A3A2-4FBF-BCD1-0FE3F3C8A7C3.png)
As kids head back to school, it’s a great time to remind them to spread God’s love through loving words and kind deeds. Kindness is the “new cool.”* I love how an educator [and member of the #tlccommunity] expresses the reminder–so simply, yet so profoundly. “You don’t have to be fake, just [be] kind.” KINDNESS…
![How to Love [Others] When We Disagree…](https://rachelwrains.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/06/F618BE7F-2E85-49F8-A7FA-3780E1F687F4-1.png)
No matter where you fall on the recent Supreme Court decision, one thing is certain. All of us share a singular commonality—our humanity. So often as believers, we identify ourselves as “Jesus overturning the tables” in the courtyard of the temple. But rarely do we ever identify ourselves as “Jesus on the Cross” who prayed…
![God’s [Amazing] Grace…](https://rachelwrains.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/04/82344DE5-AFBE-49FE-9753-6EDB5FBDF097.png)
At the heart of accepting The Love Challenge is a “holy yearning” for God’s LOVE to illuminate your life. When we meet the challenge to love a broken world with God’s amazing grace and unfathomable love, we are transformed to Christ-likeness. LOVE is the light of the world and extraordinary grace the distinguishing mark of…