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Embracing the pain
Has a broken relationship left a hole in your heart? Perhaps a recent hurt has crushed your defenses. Today on Discover the Word, we explain how embracing the pain can open us up to more of God’s love and healing. Don’t miss this encouraging discussion today on Discover the Word!
Putting the pieces back together
When a prized possession in our home shatters, we’re prone to simply throw away the pieces. Thankfully, that’s not what God does with broken things! Today on Discover the Word, we study how the fractured parts of our families bring us closer to God. Looking to put the pieces back together in your family? Join […]
“The Beauty of Broken”
Maybe our family portrait isn’t what we thought it would be. And even when we try to touch up the picture of our home life the flaws still show through. Today on Discover the Word, the group shows us how to see God’s goodness through the cracks of our family relationships. We’re talking about “The […]
Broken family & shattered relationships
In the midst of broken families and shattered relationships, we often feel completely alone. Like no one understands the pain and hurt we’re experiencing. But today on Discover the Word, we’re reminded that God knows exactly what it is like to be broken! Discover the God who understands . . . today on Discover the […]
Grace: Accepting God’s Gift to You
Ephesians 2 uses the phrase “dead in your sins.” But what does that really mean? Dead means lifeless, powerless, inanimate. It means we were incapable of doing anything to change our situation. But God is loving and merciful, and He chose to give us new life. That’s the beauty of His grace—we’ve done nothing to […]
How fear can make prisoners of us all
Karen Swanson, the Director of the Institute for Prison Ministries at the Billy Graham Center for Evangelism at Wheaton College, knows about hardship. She’s seen it produce fear in those she works with, and she’s experienced it in her personal life. Today on “Discover the Word,” we will talk with Karen about how fear can make prisoners of us all. Join us for day six of the study called, “We’re All Prisoners, Until Christ Sets Us Free,” today on “Discover the Word”!
Why Me?
Ruth was a foreigner. She was a widow. She was poor. In many parts of the world today she would be considered a nobody—someone whose future doesn’t hold any hope.
However, Ruth found favor in the eyes of a relative of her deceased husband, a rich man and the owner of the fields where she chose to ask for permission to glean grain. In response to his kindness, Ruth asked, “What have I done to deserve such kindness? . . . I am only a foreigner” (Ruth 2:10 nlt).
Boaz, the good man who showed Ruth such compassion, answered her truthfully. He…
Not Forgotten
At her mother’s 50th birthday celebration with hundreds of people present, firstborn daughter Kukua recounted what her mother had done for her. The times were hard, Kukua remembered, and funds were scarce in the home. But her single mother deprived herself of personal comfort, selling her precious jewelry and other possessions in order to put Kukua through high school. With tears in her eyes, Kukua said that no matter how difficult things were, her mother never abandoned her or her siblings.
God compared His love for His people with a mother’s love for her child. When the people of Israel felt…
The Apple of His Eye
A friend’s baby was suffering seizures, so they sped to the hospital in an ambulance, her heart racing as she prayed for her daughter. Her fierce love for this child hit her afresh as she held her tiny fingers, recalling too how much more the Lord loves us and how we are “the apple of His eye.”
The prophet Zechariah employs this phrase in his word to God’s people who had returned to Jerusalem after their captivity in Babylon. He calls them to repent, to rebuild the temple, and to renew their hearts of love for the true God. For the…
Being treated like outsiders
Have you ever felt marginalized because of your gender? Well, today on “Discover the Word,” the group continues their series called “Malestrom” by observing that both women and men can be treated like outsiders because of their gender. Today on “Discover the Word,” the group and author Carolyn Custis James discuss how that happens today even in church. Join us today on “Discover the Word”!
The favored son
Most parents try not to play favorites with their children. But that wasn’t true for some famous families in the Bible. Today on “Discover the Word,” we will discuss, along with our guest Carolyn Custis James, how Jacob’s obvious preference for his younger son, Joseph, created a deep father-wound in his son, Judah. It’s an overlooked “side note” in the Bible that’s critical for us to learn from. A revealing conversation today on “Discover the Word”!
How To Get Over a Breakup
My boyfriend broke up with me in the last week of the last term of journalism school and it was ugly. I received his text message on a Sunday evening, and I spent a better part of the night crying over the phone to my best friend.
The Prodigal Son’s Father
The story of the prodigal son (Luke 15:11-31) is a familiar one. Its three main characters could be the stars of a TV series: The rich patriarch, his elder son, and his youngest—the wild child. We know how it goes: The wild child takes off with his plentiful inheritance to enjoy life.
Surprised by Grace
A woman from Grand Rapids, Michigan, fell asleep on the couch after her husband had gone to bed. An intruder sneaked in through the sliding door, which the couple had forgotten to lock, and crept through the house. He entered the bedroom where the husband was sleeping and picked up the television set. The sleeping man woke up, saw a figure standing there, and whispered, “Honey, come to bed.” The burglar panicked, put down the TV, grabbed a stack of money from the dresser, and ran out.
The thief was in for a big surprise! The money turned out to be…
Never Forsaken
Russian writer Fyodor Dostoyevsky said, “The degree of civilization in a society can be judged by entering its prisons.” With that in mind, I read an online article describing “The Top 8 Deadliest Prisons in the World.” In one of these prisons every prisoner is held in solitary confinement.
We are intended to live and relate in relationships and community, not in isolation. This is what makes solitary confinement such a harsh punishment.
Isolation is the agony Christ suffered when His eternal relationship with the Father was broken on the cross. We hear this in His cry captured in Matthew 27:46: “About three…
