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Today I'm thankful that we have direct access to go to Jesus anytime with our sins and receive the grace he offers.

Ephesians 1:18 – I pray that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened in order that you may know the hope to which he has called you, the riches of his glorious inheritance in his holy people.

This Beatitude is another favorite that I have; it really helps me in times of need or when I'm feeling guilty about a particular sin in my life.

Yesterday I shared about catching ourselves in negative self-talk and talking to ourselves positively instead. One way to assess if our thoughts are positive or negative is to ask these 3 questions (from Jon Acuff in his book Soundtracks: The Surprising Solution to Overthinking)

Everyone experiences good seasons and difficult seasons in their life. It is a given when we are living in a fallen and sinful world that we will face times of hardship and struggle. I often find that when I am struggling and suffering, I am quick to turn all my attention inward. I am so preoccupied by myself and my struggles, I often forget to take time to engage with and encourage those around me.

Today we look at different Bible translations of this verse, Psalm 31:24. They are all saying to put your hope in the Lord, but with different words. I find this very interesting and hope you do too.

God gives us signs telling us which way to go. So often we want the directions to be something as clear as a large neon sign that grabs our attention and spells out exactly what we should do. I've never yet had God show up in a physical written sign. But I have felt strong convictions that left me with a very clear directive on what he desired.

In keeping with the theme of the 4th of July this week, let’s spend a minute talking about the freedom we find in Jesus.

We looked at Genesis 22:1-19 yesterday. The verse that stood out to me was verse 8, when Isaac asked his father, "But where is…

Praise to the God of All Comfort Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of compassion and the God of all comfort, who comforts us in all our troubles, so that we can comfort those in any trouble with the comfort we ourselves receive from God.

As we face difficult decisions, one thing we can be confident in is that if we stay obedient to God, we will be blessed. One decision might lead us down a path with more trials than other options, but as long as we flee from what is evil and cling to what is good, we will make it through the trials and find blessings.

We don't always understand why God does what he does, and many times we may never understand until the next life. What we do know…