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 Ever🌟 last Saturday. Since I hadn’t 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 God’s…
![Perfecting God’s Love… [Our Life-Giving Gift]](https://rachelwrains.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/10/C369BD7D-F601-4BAA-809E-63D112B5DC3F.png)
Our Human-ness Brokenness became our human-ness when sin entered the world. Our perfectly axised world suddenly set un-straight was forever imperfectly tilted towards disobedience, enmity, and darkness. We’re called, as Christ followers, to peel back the darkness and live in the Light; becoming increasingly more like Him. We’re called to love like Jesus loved. And…
![The Best Kind of Friend… [and God’s Purpose in Suffering.]](https://rachelwrains.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/09/A4A34026-4B78-4E7D-BD8C-9D74E63CC826.png)
The best kind of friend is a praying friend. It’s no secret 2024 has been a hard year for the Rains’ household. Little by little, I’ve pulled back the curtains in this season of life and let friends in… I might’ve overshared a time or two. But the reality is when we share our “stuff,”…
![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 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 “rare Christians” Tozer talked about. A Christ-follower whose very presence compelled others to become “better Christians” themselves. Apart from God, none of us are…
![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…
To Correct or Not to Correct? Have you ever made a snap judgement about someone or something? Sadly, I often make snap judgements. But recently, I found myself the recipient of someone else’s snap judgement. And it took all the Jesus-lovin’ strength I could muster, friends, not to email this person and set them straight….
![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…