Key Truths - Page 7

At home in God's love: Cozy brick house with lights in windows, beside a canal lined with autumn-tinted bushes and trees. Two people enjoy a small dock at canal's edge. Two ride bikes across the stone bridge that spans the canal.

Now and forever: Resting in God’s love

Post published:January 8, 2022
Post category:From: Return to Your Rest
Post last modified:March 27, 2024

Think of it! All that David experienced and described in Psalm 23 – all of it – is still flowing from God’s great love, in hot pursuit of you.

Two deer drink from a mountain stream that runs through a wooded valley beside a gray slat fence. A shaft of sunlight shines down from above.

My cup overflows: Resting in God’s favor

Post published:January 1, 2022
Post category:From: Return to Your Rest
Post last modified:April 17, 2024

I praise you, Lord my Shepherd. You have overcome for me all the shame that ever has or ever will attach to me. You are teaching me to overcome it too. By your grace, I drink deeply of your favor, and it restores my rest.

Shame: Head shot of woman against black background. Her hands are in front of her head, covering her face. And yet also, her arms are outstretched, with her hands gripping both sides of her head.

Can we talk about shame?

Post published:December 18, 2021
Post category:Trauma and Grief
Post last modified:January 23, 2025

It’s not a little thing to face into something as painful as shame. It takes courage, and trust. Yet to experience the abundant life and rest and favor our Lord holds out to us, it’s vital to let him show us when we’re feeling shame, and how to walk free from it.

Newspaper clipping from 1991: Deborah and teammates on Red Square. Deborah, standing on box, pauses talking, looks at her notes, while Alla beside her translates. Three team members in background listen. So do two men, one of them a Soviet soldier.

Extraordinary! Russia, Ukraine, breakthrough, God

Post published:October 16, 2021
Post category:My Story Times and Seasons
Post last modified:March 19, 2024

At times in this world, all eyes turn toward what seems most important, invincible, extraordinary. If we look further, the Lord will remind us what actually is.

Dark, narrow path through woods toward an opening into sunlight

I will fear no evil: Resting in God’s very present help

Post published:October 15, 2021
Post category:From: Return to Your Rest
Post last modified:April 10, 2024

At times, David found himself in a very dark place. When he sang, “I will fear no evil,” he confessed: “Evil is real – but God’s ever-present help is greater.”

Standing between a peaceful canal and the walking path that follows its course, we look ahead to where the channel runs, with a row of stately trees on either side, and a green sunlit pasture lying to the right.

He restores my soul: Resting in God’s unforced rhythms

Post published:September 29, 2021
Post category:From: Return to Your Rest
Post last modified:March 14, 2024

As we come to him, our Lord shows us: “Rest? It restores.” He teaches us a new rhythm that calms our life down and turns it around – an unforced rhythm that brings our soul back from the exhaustion where frenzy and fear rule.

Sun is rising above gray clouds, creating a white-yellow sky and bringing light to a misty valley between dark, forested mountains.

I shall not want: Resting in God’s provision

Post published:September 21, 2021
Post category:From: Return to Your Rest
Post last modified:December 12, 2024

“The Lord is my shepherd; I shall not want,” sang David, the poet-king. Or in other words, “I lack nothing.” “The Lord hasn’t given us enough!” cried Joseph’s clan. We may know and love David’s words. Yet at times, it may seem that we lack a LOT. So what do we do with that?

Colorful, ornate St. Basil Cathedral, against a deep blue sky with gathering white-gray cumulus clouds. Next to the huge cathedral, the people crossing the huge square look rather like ants.

When getting there is the battle

Post published:August 27, 2021
Post category:My Story Times and Seasons
Post last modified:March 19, 2024

As we struggled to reach another hemisphere and to connect with the people of Russia and Ukraine, hindrances just kept coming. Then, the breakthroughs began.

First morning of 1991 Soviet coup attempt: tank in foreground, Red Square in background, St Basil Cathedral on right

An August coup and a promise of breakthrough: My story

Post published:August 19, 2021
Post category:My Story Times and Seasons
Post last modified:March 19, 2024

The day I woke to news that tanks rolled through Moscow’s streets, I wrote, “I don’t plan to beat down any doors. But what God opens, I will walk through.”

Woman on mountaintop, above the clouds. She stands with her feet toward the camera, but her face turned away into the wind, as she looks out on the clouds behind and below her.

I will change your name

Post published:August 13, 2021
Post category:Healing from Toxic Church
Post last modified:May 24, 2024

No longer wounded, outcast, lonely, afraid - your new name shall be Confidence, Joyfulness, Overcoming one, Faithfulness, Friend of God, One who seeks My face.