Join the quest and Accept The Love Challenge!
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…
![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…
![How to Find Peace… [when peace seems evasive]](https://rachelwrains.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/03/27546403-0FF9-41ED-9940-E9338379901F.png)
PEACE in this world is evasive… If we didn’t know it before, we certainly know it now. No matter how advanced our world may grow, lasting peace continues to elude us. The only peace to be found on earth is in the dwelling place of the God most high. “Then my people will dwell in…
![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 skywards—always. I am from hand-me-down dresses and scrapbooks full of girlhood achievements. From Jack and from Nellie. From as…
![Black History Month… [Celebrating People of Color]](https://rachelwrains.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/02/9607F7A0-E9BA-4CE5-987A-B5330CD246BF.png)
When celebrating Black History month, I couldn’t help but think “some of history’s BEST examples of accepting the challenge to love a broken, unlovable world are People of Color.” Hands down, the life story and mission of John M. Perkins is the best, fully-human example of loving the unlovable I’ve ever encountered. Rather than hating…
To BELIEVE is to accept Truth; to feel certain that God is who He says He is—today, tomorrow, and forever! We can all be encouraged as we experience God moving and working in our lives. Matter of fact, it is through this evidence of God working in the midst of uncertainty in my life, time-and-time…
![Over My Head… [Hope and Prayer for Heavenly Justice]](https://rachelwrains.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/08/989549A1-53D5-4FA0-A1EE-7C9F1B6D2A76-1024x1013-1.jpeg)
Yesterday, someone in my feed asked the question “What moment over the past year stands out for you?” She was referring to George Floyd, of course. One such moment was the words of @esaumccaulley when He said “LOVE is sufficient to gather all the divided peoples of the world, people like George Floyd. There is…
![Prayers of Blessings… [and tears]](https://rachelwrains.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/08/66796F73-C7C9-40E4-8FE7-D9292EE0D441.jpeg)
Anybody who knows me at all, knows I’m a crier. As my family will attest, one risen lump in my throat and it’s ‘water works’ city. My grandmother, Nellie, was a crier. So much so, her crying became folly for a long-standing, ‘inside’ family joke… Around the late seventies, at the end of a very…