One time, when a small child, I was very ill. My mother held to my lips a very bitter medicine. I turned my face from it, but still she held it to my lips, gently but firmly urging me to take it. Love was in her voice. She knew what I did not know: that only this could bring healing to me—and that I was her dearly beloved.”

—Message, circa April 1952, “His Plan” by Inez Brasier

on’t ask me where I heard the story, but one motif remained lodged in my memory: the winter boots. Perhaps some compelling reasons are pushing that mental note to my consciousness now.

I remembered that the scene took place during early stages of the Jewish holocaust of the 20th century. German Nazi soldiers, having invaded Poland, forced Gerda Weissmann and her Jewish family out into the streets to meet their fates in concentration camps. On that sunny, spring day—before soldiers sundered this family, never to see each other again—the girl’s father insisted that she wear her ski boots.

Young Weissman trudged thereafter through death and labor camps. At length, she found herself driven in a 350-mile death march throughout Germany toward Czechoslovakia with 4,000 other women prisoners. Their captors did everything they could to avoid their being discovered and freed by Allied forces. Yet, through the march, deprivation, executions, starvation and cold, she had her boots.

he longer I live, the more convinced I am of the impact of healthy food choices on overall health. And, I’m reminded of scriptural references from our Creator, that seem to support that concept:

• the test of Adam and Eve around appetite/desire
• the provision of fruits, nuts and grains as God’s original dietary for man
• the addition of vegetables after sin
• the allowance of flesh consumption, when the earth was bare because of The Flood, with specific restrictions around unclean animals and consumption of blood and fat
• the temptations of Christ around bread
• the fasting of Christ when tempted
• the reference to what we eat, drink or do glorifying God
• the leaves of the tree which are for the healing of the nation.

“It is virtually impossible for people to [listen] unless they believe the other person understands, respects and accepts them for who they really are,” says author, relationship expert John Gottman. Acceptance is the foundation for all human relationships and if it’s missing from your marriage the results could be deep hurt, resentment, and even contempt.

We’d like to challenge you to move past the baseline act of acceptance to something deeper and more meaningful called Radical Acceptance, one of the four pillars of total intimacy.

Why should they be in your business if you drive the best cars, wear the best clothes, live in the best neighborhoods? They may not appreciate that you’re but one paycheck away from not being able to fulfil your monthly obligations.

If you told someone that the results of your physical revealed elevated hypertension, their Christian response is to prescribe a list of foods, and they may even pray and fast with you. However, when you are paying the minimum balance due of thirty-five dollars a month on your $7,500 credit card debt, no one is sounding the alarm.

Starting the church with a congregation of five in her living room in 1986, Hale through the power of the Holy Spirt, grew the Ray of Hope Christian Church in Decatur, Georgia to more than 5,000 members. In identifying the secret to her success, she acknowledged that keeping the personal touch whether face-to-face, or in live services has always made the difference.

Ever Doubted the Credibility and the Accuracy of the Bible? Here’s a Study that Will Stir your Faith.

he Bible’s trustworthiness as the inspired word of God is a matter of considerable significance to Christians. It is not uncommon for even deeply committed Christians to find themselves dismayed by attacks on the Bible’s credibility.

The Bible book of Numbers is one target of such critical attacks. The large numbers cited in the Book of Numbers have caused many critics to dismiss those figures as highly improbable. An in-depth article in the Nelson Study Bible clearly presents the challenge.

According to this verse, God did not make a man in his image, but mankind—the human race—to reflect his image and likeness (Genesis 1:28). He made the human race. Not races, but race. One race. This one race was to reflect the image or likeness of God.

So what is the image or likeness of God? The prophet Ezekiel caught a glimpse of the “likeness of the glory of God.” In this vision, Ezekiel “saw as the colour of amber, as the appearance of fire round about within it, from the appearance of his loins even upward, and from the appearance of his loins even downward, I saw as it were the appearance of fire, and it had brightness round about. As the appearance of the bow that is in the cloud in the day of rain, so was the appearance of the brightness round about. This was the appearance of the likeness of the glory of the Lord. And when I saw it, I fell upon my face, and I heard a voice of one that spake” (Ezekiel 1:27-28).

Rest for Your Souls

At that time Jesus prayed this prayer: “O Father, Lord of heaven and earth, thank you for hiding these things from those who think themselves wise and clever, and for revealing them to the childlike. Yes, Father, it pleased you to do it this way! “My Father has entrusted everything to me. No one truly knows the Son except the Father, and no one truly knows the Father except the Son and those to whom the Son chooses to reveal him.” Then Jesus said, “Come to me, all of you who are weary and carry heavy burdens, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you. Let me teach you, because I am humble and gentle at heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy to bear, and the burden I give you is light.”

enderly He bade the toiling people, “Take My yoke upon you, and learn of Me; for I am meek and lowly in heart: and ye shall find rest unto your souls.” Matthew 11:29.

In these words, Christ was speaking to every human being. Whether they know it or not, all are weary and heavy-laden. All are weighed down with burdens that only Christ can remove. The heaviest burden that we bear is the burden of sin. If we were left to bear this burden, it would crush us. But the Sinless One has taken our place. “The Lord hath laid on Him the iniquity of us all.” Isaiah 53:6.

occurred to me how much masks affect our daily lives. I am not talking about the masks we are forced to wear in modern days to protect ourselves and others from Covid. I am talking about the elusive everyday masks we put on to hide our true personas from the world.

I wear a mask every day. Again, not the cloth mask required of my job, nor the mask of makeup I refuse to leave the house without. I am talking about the invisible mask I put on every morning before facing the world. The I’m fine, everything is fine, my life feels like it is falling apart, I am anxious, worried, stressed, but I don’t want to deal with it, so I will just pretend it does not exist mask.