Out of the Chaos
Inspiration for living outside of the chaos.
Tag: Jesus
OUT OF THE CHAOS 12.17.2021
22But the Holy Spirit produces this kind of fruit in our lives: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, 23gentleness, and self-control. There is no law against these things! Galatians 5:22-23 Last week I wrote about love. Not the kind of love displayed in Hallmark Christmas movies or the love expressed for dark chocolate peanut clusters, …
OUT OF THE CHAOS 12.16.2021
Joy is a commodity we cannot live without because joy is our strength. Joy is found in the presence of the Lord. Therefore, strength comes from being in the presence of God. 11Search for the Lord and for his strength; continually seek him. 1 Chronicles 16:1`1 31But those who trust in the Lord will find new strength. They will …
OUT OF THE CHAOS 12.15.2021
There is an increasing emphasis on self-care. It is important to incorporate into our routines those practices that renew and rejuvenate our minds and bodies. It might be a massage, a quiet day away, a few hours of sitting with a good book and a glass of your favorite beverage, a shopping trip, fishing by …
OUT OF THE CHAOS 12.14.2021
What is joy? I wanted to make a case that joy and happy are not the same. Except that in the original language of scripture – Greek – the two words are quite similar. Perhaps I want to make them different because I always believed that happy depends on circumstances and joy is a deep, …
OUT OF THE CHAOS 12.13.2021
Advent Week 3 – Joy The focus of this third week of advent is joy. What is joy? Is it happy? Does it depend on circumstances? The writing of Nehemiah records the rebuilding of the wall around the city of Jerusalem after the people returned from captivity in Babylon. The wall was finished in fifty-two …
OUT OF THE CHAOS 12.10.2021
Here we are just two weeks before Christmas. I wonder what you are experiencing. If you picked a movie to illustrate how you feel, would it be a Hallmark movie? How the Grinch Stole Christmas? Christmas with the Kranks? It’s a Wonderful Life? Or maybe something else entirely! What would you choose? I wonder if …
OUT OF THE CHAOS 12.09.2021
I struggled for many years with God’s love for me. I knew he loved others. I believe he loved the world. In the most general sense, I knew, in my head, he loved me. The distance from the knowledge in my head to the space in my heart aching to be loved unconditionally was strewn …
OUT OF THE CHAOS 12.08.2021
I, like many young people, wondered from an early age if I would marry one day. More than that, I believe my deepest longing was to be loved. Would someone love ME? Yesterday we discovered that before anything was created, God already loved humans and chose them to be holy in his sight. So even …
OUT OF THE CHAOS 12.07.2021
Sitting at the dentist’s office, I hear another advertisement for a reality show that toys with the idea of love before sight. Love at first sight is difficult enough to embrace, but love before sight? That seems a genuine stretch. Living in a world that, for the most part, rejects prearranged marriages, I wonder what …
OUT OF THE CHAOS 12.06.2021
ADVENT – WEEK 2 The focus of the second week of Advent is love. Today “love” refers to the feeling one has toward pizza, a good movie, the weather or a life partner. A bit overused, so perhaps the message “You are loved by God!” doesn’t hold much weight. But you are, in fact, loved …
Out of the Chaos 