Perfecting God’s Love… [Our Life-Giving Gift]
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Perfecting God’s Love… [Our Life-Giving Gift]

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.]
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The Best Kind of Friend… [and God’s Purpose in Suffering.]

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,”…

10 Years Ago…. [Looking Back and Pressing Onward]
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10 Years Ago…. [Looking Back and Pressing Onward]

10 years ago this summer, two incredible things happened…   A New Calling… “See I am doing a new thing! Now it springs up, do you not perceive it? I am making a way in the wilderness and streams in the wasteland.” – Isaiah 43:19 10 years ago this summer, at the height of the Ice Bucket…

Trusting God’s Goodness [in the Darkness]
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Trusting God’s Goodness [in the Darkness]

If We’re Being Honest Neither the church nor our broken world needs more SHINY PEOPLE who hide behind the veneer of an audible “fine.” The world needs more Christians willing to process and wrestle publicly. Because when we are honest about the world’s brokenness and our struggles within it, we underscore the futility of our…

How to Have Joy [and Be Joyful] in a Not-So-Perfect World.
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How to Have Joy [and Be Joyful] in a Not-So-Perfect World.

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…

How to Love The Unlovable… [in the wake of another tragedy]
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How to Love The Unlovable… [in the wake of another tragedy]

Every time I hear of another school shooting, I always return to the same, recurring thought. “Woe is the suffering/misery this person surely endured to have committed such an unfathomable act of horror.” Often you’ll read the words, “I hope the killer rots in hell.” But clearly they’ve already experienced hell. Hell on this earth….