Category: Comfort

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Captivated by Christ

Our family’s Christmas decorations include trees and lights, candles and wreaths, and several nativity sets scattered throughout the house. This year, I thought it would be fun to have my two-year-old grandson, James, help me set up the manger scenes, partly because he enjoys animals so much. While we worked, he named the animals and the sounds they made, but one thing that surprised me was his fascination with Baby Jesus, not only then, but also during the days leading up to Christmas. Continue reading “Captivated by Christ”

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Hope from the Ashes

Unshaken Hope Ministries banner

The background photo on our website speaks hope to me. The vibrant flowers catch your eye at first, but behind them in the distance towers the remains of Mount St. Helens, a volcano which erupted in May 1980, covering the area in lava and filling the air with ashes. I recall as a child witnessing on TV the devastation caused by its powerful eruption, and in 2017, my family visited the site to see it for ourselves. Continue reading “Hope from the Ashes”

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Food for Thought

Food for Thought

Food is an important part of our daily lives. We need it to survive. I do most of the cooking in my home, which means I plan the meals, buy the ingredients, prepare the food, serve it, and finally, eat it. It takes time to do all these things, so food and all the tasks around it occupy my thoughts on a daily basis.

From the very beginning, God provided food in the Garden of Eden for man to eat. It was “pleasant to the sight and good for food” (Genesis 2:9). The purpose of food is to nourish our bodies, but in addition to that, God made it pleasant. He wanted man to enjoy that which was good for him. Continue reading “Food for Thought”

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Gravy, Grief & Glitter

Gravy Grief and Glitter

By Sheri Ellington

If you’ve followed my story thus far, you know that my family has experienced much loss over the past year. Reaching out to our extended families, I can count nine who have died. The closest to me was my mom. The closest to my husband was his brother. Both sides of our family are grieving, but not like those without hope (1 Thessalonians 4:13). Praise the Lord for the hope we have in Jesus Christ! Still, dealing with the grief is a daily battle, and our first holiday without these two proved to be a tougher battle than I reckoned it would be.

Continue reading “Gravy, Grief & Glitter”

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God’s Will for You in Christ Jesus

Be Thankful in All Circumstances

By Sheri Ellington

1 Thessalonians 5:16-18

16 Rejoice always, 17 pray without ceasing, 18 give thanks in all circumstances; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you.

If you’ve ever been encouraged to memorize scriptures, then you have to love verses like 1 Thessalonians 5:16 and 17! “Rejoice always,” “pray without ceasing!” Got it! Two verses memorized! Maybe we should add verse 18 since it is part of the same sentence (notice the commas, not periods, at the end of verses 16 and 17): “give thanks in all circumstances; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you.”

Three verses, one sentence, twenty-two words

Why is this statement in 1 Thessalonians so important?

Continue reading “God’s Will for You in Christ Jesus”