Join the quest and Accept The Love Challenge!
![The Best Christmas Pageant Ever… [a holiday movie review]](https://rachelwrains.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/11/30C39796-049F-4F25-A03F-EA5BDC534981-scaled.jpeg)
I had no idea what to expect when I walked into an early screening of The Best Christmas Pageant Everđ last Saturday. Since I hadnât read the book or seen the stage production, I guess I expected something of a Junie B. Jones, elementary reader nature. But instead, I encountered a wondrous story of Godâs…
![How to Love the World… [one challenging circumstance at a time]](https://rachelwrains.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/01/0793C85F-A059-44BE-8D72-81D06F7E9EB2.png)
When I issued the very first LOVE challenge to myself and asked others to join, what I really desired in this world more than anything was to be one of those ârare Christiansâ Tozer talked about. A Christ-follower whose very presence compelled others to become âbetter Christiansâ themselves. Apart from God, none of us are…
How do you love your enemy? Jesus loved in all sorts of challenging circumstances, but none more difficult than Mount Calvary. As he hung on the cross, Jesusâ prayed for his enemies [Luke 23:34]. When praying for our enemies, it becomes easier to love them. Praying for our enemy opens our hearts and allows us…
![How to Show Kindness [in an Unkind World]](https://rachelwrains.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/03/55A8C129-B776-482B-99D3-044E0F5EA0FC.png)
The most random act of kindness we can commit is to answer unkind words and deeds with extraordinary grace. True kindness is Spirit produced and matters most when it is the least expected or warranted. The key to Spirit-filled kindness begins with the idea all of us are undeserving in light of the cross. Jesus…
![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 daughterâs 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 professorâs office along with her classmates, we…
![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, itâs a great time to remind them to spread Godâs 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. âYou donât have to be fake, just [be] kind.â KINDNESS…
![Godâs [Amazing] GraceâŚ](https://rachelwrains.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/04/82344DE5-AFBE-49FE-9753-6EDB5FBDF097.png)
At the heart of accepting The Love Challenge is a âholy yearningâ for Godâs LOVE to illuminate your life. When we meet the challenge to love a broken world with Godâs 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…
![I Am From poem… [Finding Hope and Healing]](https://rachelwrains.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/03/0191D615-E662-4543-AB5D-8533679CD733.jpeg)
I am from Gospel sounds. From Sunday dinners made from scratch. I am from parents who tried as best they could, but also lost their way. I am from magnolias tall whose beckoning branches encouraged me skywardsâalways. I am from hand-me-down dresses and scrapbooks full of girlhood achievements. From Jack and from Nellie. From as…
![How to Love in Challenging Times⌠[a true story]](https://rachelwrains.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/01/3CE4BA17-E174-4B1D-AC16-D66F04BE9E20.jpeg)
âItâs a bad day for beautiful trees.â I said to the foreman as we stood there assessing the damage. The cuts already made… and the damage done. Alas, there was no turning back. What once was a tree that brought me immense joy in a season of hard was now mangled beyond repair. And would…