When You're Discouraged By The Hard Days

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For an encouraging reminder that we don't always know why things happen or how they will work out, but we can trust that God is always working all things for good:  
The White Horse Maxim by Ann Voskamp.

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Hardest Spiritual Lesson #9: Humility and Brokenness

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The last of the "Hardest Spiritual Lessons" posts (finally): Humility and Brokenness (Once again, another long post which repeats some things that I’ve said in other posts.    But it’s totally worth reading.  At least I think so.  But then again, I'm the one who wrote it.😁) Matthew 18:4:   “Therefore, whoever humbles himself like this child is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven.’”   Whoever humbles himself like a child!    This, I believe, should be the ultimate goal of every believer.    Humility.    Brokenness.    Now, everyone might define humility a little differently, but here’s my attempt at it:   Humility is recognizing and freely admitting that we are needy, helpless, and dependent.    It’s knowing that we need our Heavenly Father desperately, that we are helpless to do anything without Him, and that we are fully dependent on Him daily.    It’s resting in and so completely trustin...
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List of Calvinist Preachers, Authors, Theologians, Websites, etc.

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I  found a lot more names to add to my list of known Calvinists (found in my various  "How to Tell if a Church, Pastor, or Website is Calvinist"  posts).  But instead of adding this huge list to all those posts, I am going to put it here, and I'll just provide a link on those posts to this one.  [FYI: I added a note at the bottom of this post on May 5, 2021.] So here it is, a "master list" of known Calvinists to help you be careful and discerning about who you listen to and where you get your theology from.  There are plenty more Calvinists out there, but these are just the names that I ran across the most.   These are either definite, self-professed Calvinists or "most likely Calvinist," in my estimation.  (I haven't heard of most of them, but it's good to know their theology before I do.)   After finding these names in various places online, I looked up each person to see if they are Calvinist.  If they did not self-identify ...
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Why I Could Never Be An Atheist!

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“The fool says in his heart, ‘There is no God.’”   (Psalm 14:1)   “For since the creation of the world God’s invisible qualities - his eternal power and divine nature - have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made, so that men are without excuse.”   (Romans 1:20) I have gone through some hard times recently.   (This is a repost from not too long ago.)  Not only has there been a bunch of discouraging trials, but these trials have been accompanied by “spiritual droughts” of sorts.   Long, dry spiritual times, the kind that could leave you wondering if you only convinced yourself all along that there is a God.   He has been so silent, so distant . . . and at a time when I needed Him to show Himself most.   My soul has ached for more than what He is giving right now.   I cry out, but hear nothing.   I pray and pray about certain things.   And . . . nothing happens.   Many prayers have not been...
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Help for Anxiety, Depression, and Suicidal Thoughts (repost)

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It's so sad to hear about all the celebrities who have recently committed suicide (or about anyone who has committed suicide, for that matter).  My heart breaks for them, for the pain they went through, and for the ones who love them, for the pain they are now going through.  It is truly a tragedy. To anyone who is hurting really badly, who is struggling with overwhelming anxiety or depression, who is considering taking their own lives ... I dedicate this post.  Please, take some time to look through some of the links here.  This is a round-up of some on-line resources or posts about dealing with anxiety or depression, particularly as a Christian. But first: Quick tips for help: If you are desperate for some immediate help and don't want to look through the links I have below, try some of these (or if it's really bad and you're afraid you might hurt yourself, call 911 or go to the emergency room): 1.   Put on a worship song right now.  Or sing a...
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The Early Church and God's Gender

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I said in the last post that there was one article on a Christian News website that bothered me enough to remove the link to that website.  But then I re-added the link, and decided to simply write about the bothersome article here. The article is entitled "What The Early Church Thought About God's Gender."   In this article, the author is trying to make a case for God/Jesus being feminine, more feminine than the Word really portrays them.   I have no problem with saying that God/Jesus has a feminine side - a gentle, loving, nurturing side, like all people do to some degree.  Or with saying that since God created man and woman in His image then it must mean that feminine and masculine characteristics come from Him and are evident in His nature.  It's just that men got the more masculine traits and women got the more feminine, and that men and women together in marriage give us a more complete picture of the total nature of God. That's all fine.  But w...
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#20 Atheism and World Religions (not shortened)

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(This is a super long post, as it is in the original Bible study lesson , except for some questions I cut in this one.)    In this lesson, I combined parts of several posts from https://myimpressionisticlife.blogspot.com .   This lesson is not really an academic “study” of atheism and world religions, but it’s a very personal account of why I could never give up my faith in Jesus, why those other options are not for me, and how I would explain salvation and faith in Jesus to a non-believer.       Christianity isn’t a squeaky clean, “everything goes smoothly and life is always what I want it to be” kind of faith.   It can be messy and painful and difficult.       Due to many trials which have caused me to struggle deeply with my faith, I’ve become a little less polished and a lot more real over the years.   This is why I included this lesson and the depression one.   Because I really wanted to show the very real, human si...
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9 Marks of a Calvinist Cult #5 (isolation, control)

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[This series is  "The 9 Marks of a Calvinist Cult"  split up into smaller, individual posts.]   Cults use isolation, control, fear, coercion, mind-control, and thought-reform to enslave the members to the cult.  The members' "inner voices" are suppressed. 5. Information Isolation and Control Of course, Calvinists don't physically isolate members in a commune or anything like that, as more extreme cults have.  But Calvinist pastors do practice various forms of "mental" isolation by controlling the information and resources.   From the very beginning,  Calvinist pastors set out to carefully control the information we get, the resources we have access to, the verses we hear, who's in charge,  etc. Verses:  Calvinists will  ignore verses that contradict or disprove Calvinism , but highly favor those that can be twisted/interpreted to support it.   For example: Calvinist pastors fill their sermons with verses that appear to fit...
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UGW #9b: Help For The Journey

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Understanding God's Will #9b: (No Calvinism information added to this post.) So, as seen in the point 9a, faith in God isn’t “claiming” something that He hasn’t promised, believing that He’ll do it just because we believe in His ability to do it.    Godly faith is trusting that He is the God that He claims to be in the Bible and that He will do what’s best, in His time and in His way.    And our job is to follow in obedience, not to lead.                And contrary to the “name it and claim it” way, I believe that we are off-base when we are “claiming” a particular answer to prayer before He reveals it, when we tell Him the answer that we expect and that we are going to wait for.    I think we need to not be claiming specific answers or blessings as much as “instructions” or “help along the way.”              While we can and should pray what's in ou...
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Pre-Chosen People? Is God's Call Irresistible?

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(Part of the "Predestination vs. Free-Will" series) John 6:37 :   “All that the Father gives me will come to me, and whoever comes to me I will never drive away.”              This one confused me for awhile.   It sounded like Jesus is saying that all the people that God has pre-chosen to be believers are destined to come to faith in Him.   And that only those who are chosen by God will come to faith.              But I’m not sure if that’s what this is really saying.  
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Is Calvinism's TULIP Biblical? (the complete post)

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[This is based on a post I found online:   What's wrong with Five-Point Calvinism?   I was going to send a copy of that post to my relative who is in jail awaiting trial, but I ended up adding so many of my own notes that it became a whole new post.  (But there are still some very similar parts, and I give credit to the author of that post for what he wrote.  Read it.  It's short and good and worth reading.)  My relative (who dabbled in, if not embraced, Calvinism, at least back in the day) shares what I send with the women on her floor, doing their own little Bible study.  And so I figured, "Why not send them my thoughts on Calvinism since I know they will read it?"  And as a bonus, the cops have to read every letter that passes between us, and so they will have to read it too!  A captive audience!  (Ha Ha!  Bad joke.  But if I don't laugh, I'll cry.)  Anyway, this is what I sent to her, a "brief" look into Calvinism's TU...
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