Join the quest and Accept The Love Challenge!
![How To Not Be a Stumbling Block for Others [and love like Jesus]](https://rachelwrains.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/03/9886033D-594A-47C8-9248-9C99A78006F5.jpeg)
Doing What I Do Not Want to Do “For I do not understand what I am doing, because I do not keep doing what I want. Instead, I do what I hate.” – Romans 7:15 Do you ever wish you hadn’t done or said something unkind? Or maybe you simply withheld a kindness when given…
![How to Have Joy [and Be Joyful] in a Not-So-Perfect World.](https://rachelwrains.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/12/05A5D243-B06B-4D77-A18E-69ECE0C54FC3.jpeg)
Joyful people see with open eyes the hard reality of human existence and at the same time are not imprisoned by it.” – Henri Nouwen Radiating hope ✨ and Shining God’s love in a weary, not-so-perfect world is what the manger message is all about, friends. God’s love for us does not change like the…
![The PERFECT Christmas… [and the meaning of advent]](https://rachelwrains.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/11/E6357934-CD53-4B38-96B9-3BE6321696E1.png)
Christmas is a busy time for everyone. But it also can be a stressor for many. Even if you absolutely LOVE the holiday—travel, finances, time constraints, challenging people, and difficult circumstances can overwhelm the merriest Christmas diehard. Wherever you fall on the Christmas holiday scale, the best gift you can give yourself and others this…
![Surrendering Your Dreams… [and the Dream-Maker].](https://rachelwrains.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/11/7F552247-2DE2-4B5A-9DDB-26ED39C15E9E.png)
Right now I’m livin’ the DREAM I dared to pray for… Does it look exactly like I thought? Uh, no. Does that make it easy? An emphatic, no. But does it ever!? So, humbly I must SURRENDER this new season of unrealized dreams-—to the Maker of my dreams, again and again. The Great Adventure In…
![How to Love Your Enemy… [When Evil Strikes]](https://rachelwrains.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/04/80D7B089-0A6D-4727-A587-1B1EA131E7DA.png)
If God really does exist, then why do bad things happen? Putting aside the age old question, temporarily. Do you believe evil exists? I doubt anyone denies evil exists. I think enough evidence exists to prove otherwise. But surely, if evil exists, then goodness must exist, too. And if the battle of good and evil…
![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…