In the Midst of Unanswered Prayer ...

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A beautiful post about how even if the midst of unanswered prayer, of heartbreak, of turmoil, God is still there:

"Hard Times?  How To Hear God's Song Louder Than Any Hard Times"

Even if He doesn't fix our problems or do what we thought He "should" do, He's still with us, walking with us through the pain.  

(And if you can't find Him or feel His presence anywhere else, remember that He's always in His Word, waiting to meet you there.)

Most Popular Posts of the Week:

Christian Testimony: Elizabeth - "How I Came to Jesus (depression and anxiety), Part 1"

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Here is Elizabeth's 13-minute-long testimony: "How I Came To Jesus (depression and anxiety), Part 1" . Of all the ones I've seen so far, hers is probably the most touching, deep, heartfelt one.  My heart breaks for her.  But it's a great testimony about how n o matter how hopeless life feels and how lonely you are, God is always there for you.   As she says, no matter what hard trials life throws at you, “God is real.   And He has me…. God cares.” She says that she feels like she's lived 30 lives already, and yet she's only 22.  Wow!  So much wisdom, heart, and goodness ... and in someone so young, too! And she not only has a beautiful, touching story to share, but she's also got a beautiful, touching voice too!   Beautiful worship songs. God bless you and your ministry, Elizabeth!  Thank you for opening your heart and life up to us!
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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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Destroying Calvinism in 28 Easy Steps (tiny version)

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Here is the tiniest-I-could-make-it version of "Fending Off Calvinism (a.k.a. Destroying Calvinism in 28 Easy Steps)"  (from my other blog) - which itself is the second half of a post called "Calvinism's Systematic Theology (and how to fend it off)" - about the fundamental errors of Calvinism that trap well-meaning Christians into a very bad, very deceptive, very tricksy theology.  I cut out as much as I could here, so check out the longer posts in the links above if you want a fuller picture and more information.   [Despite the title of this post, I know there's nothing easy about defeating or debating Calvinism.  It's such a tangled web of errors, with a cult-like vice-grip on people's minds, that it can't be defeated with just a few verses or rebuttals.  Its errors are so complex, interconnected, and deep-rooted that it needs to be completely dismantled idea by idea, wrong definition by wrong definition, misinterpreted verse by misinterpreted...
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Using Scripture in Spiritual Battles

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If there is one thing I have been learning as I have faced the spiritual battles of depression and anxiety, it’s this:   I NEED GOD’S WORD. I used to see God’s Word as a good guidebook for life.   And, yes, it is that.   And, yes, it is a history lesson and a prophecy of things to come and God’s message of love, redemption, and salvation.   But it is still more than all that.   Ephesians 6:17 identifies the Word as the “sword of the Spirit.”   Along with prayer, it is the only offensive weapon we have in the spiritual battle.   The other pieces of “armor” (read Ephesians 6) are defensive, meant to help us resist the attacks of Satan.   But prayer and the Word (and the Holy Spirit) are meant to help us advance against him, to strike back.   The Word is a sword . . . and yet so often I treat it like a pillow.   Like a nice soft, comforting, cushy thing to lay my head down on at night to help me sleep better.   I read...
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A cool LOTR channel

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I just found this YouTube channel that takes deep dives into The Lord of the Rings, and I'm really enjoying it: The Sundered Age I've only seen two videos so far, but they are insightful, profound, and quite touching.  If you are a massive LOTR fan like I am, check them out and see what you think. Here are the two I watched: Why Galadriel Was the Most Dangerous Person in Middle earth | LOTR Lore Gandalf Would Have Been Worse Than Sauron! | LOTR Lore These videos aren't from a Christian perspective or anything (at least I don't think so), but it still relates in my mind, illustrating how wise and good God is to create people with free-will, instead of dominating everyone with His sovereign control.  (And at the same time, it illustrates how wrong it is for the Calvinist god to deny people true free-will, to control our wills so that we can only think and do what he decrees us to do.)  
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Motherhood Matters To The Ones Who Matter Most!

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Motherhood: It's not just something to do while you wait for a "real job" to come along. Motherhood IS the job - the job that matters most. Pour your heart into it.  Give it your all, your best.  "Just a mom" is an incredible privilege and a blessed responsibility.  Don't let anyone tell you otherwise. Y ou might feel like you don't mean much to the world, but you can bet that you mean the world to your children! Make choices that honor their love for you, that show how much you value your children and your role as the only mother they have. I am proud to be a mother!
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Christian Testimony: Jessica - "Atheist to Christian: How God Saved Me"

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I bet a lot of people can relate to Jessica and her story (30 minutes): "Atheist to Christian Testimony: How God Saved Me" I like her honesty.  And I agree with her that the rapture is soon, that time is short.  And so I appreciate that she's sharing her testimony in the hopes that she can reach as many people as possible before the Church is gone. [ Update : While I like and recommend her testimony video and the one on spiritual warfare, I am leery of the current ones she's posting about dreams and prophetic messages.  I am very wary about that kind of stuff, especially when it's about earthly blessings or opportunities.  Personally, I'd stay away from (or at least be very cautious and discerning about) messages and promises that come from other people, since they are not directly from God or His Word.  Anytime we get our messages from other people, we can be led astray.]
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You Know God's Wrath Is Here When ...

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"The wrath of God is being revealed from heaven against all the godlessness and wickedness of men who suppress the truth by their wickedness , since what may be known about God is plain to them, because God has made it plain to them.  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 . For although they knew God, they neither glorified him as God nor gave thanks to him , but their thinking became futile and their foolish hearts were darkened.  Although they claimed to be wise, they became fools and exchanged the glory of the immortal God for [gods of their own imagination] .   Therefore God gave them over in the sinful desires of their hearts to sexual impurity for the degrading of their bodies with one another.  They exchanged the truth of God for a lie ... Because of this, God gave them over to shameful lusts ...
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The Hobbit

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(Reposted from my other blog, from 2014, but edited quite a bit.  My sons and I have been obsessively watching the Lord of the Rings and Hobbit trilogies lately.  Okay, mostly me.  But I can't get enough of them!  I'm starting on the books now too.  A great way to spend lockdown.) I was driving to the flower shop today to pick up some onion transplants when I heard a line from a song that really stuck with me.    It was something about ‘not knowing how the journey will end.’    And it hit me that that’s exactly what has always scared me about life ... not knowing where things are headed.  To me, everything feels doomed, like tragedy and heartache are always right around the corner.    And so I guess I live with a constant, deep sense of anxiety and discouragement.    Always waiting for the next bad thing.                And I began to think, " Why do I always have to thi...
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Giggle Translate #17: Oh What Great Serenity

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This "giggle translate" is about my relationship with one of my brothers (I did two translations, just for fun). You know what, I'm gonna put the translated versions first and then the original paragraph of what really happened.  This way, you can read the translations first and try to figure out what really happened, and then see how right or wrong you are. Here goes: Translated version #1   ( After running my original paragraph through several languages with Google Translate) : Why hasn't one of my relatives loved me so much when we had so much fun and children?  We ate our table very quickly, and we got a reply within five seconds, but I did or ate so much that we ate less than half an hour later while watching.  Oh how beautiful!  The time has come when he may exchange fivepence when he asks, because he was more than fivepence.  And I extend it to meenie-miney-moe, so it always has to be "he" (so he has the power of blaming me but "I told him he alw...
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