James 1:2 “Consider it pure joy, my brothers and sisters, WHENEVER you face trials of many kinds.” God promises us over and over throughout Scripture: “You WILL face trials and experience suffering.” Why does God allow trials anyways?
8 Ways Happy People Live
The Healing of Allison Frank
The following was written by Sara Frank, the mother of Allison Frank. It details what God did in Allison's life through the faithful prayer of her parents, family, and friends. "A little over three years ago, our oldest daughter was diagnosed with juvenile dermatomyositis, a rare autoimmune disease that can attack the skin, muscles, and internal organs. At our first appointment with the rheumatologist, he told us we needed to start her on medicine right away.
'Something Unexpected' Changed My Life
What follows is a story from Brian Steere on how an act of kindness changed his life. “I met Matt Paddack, Relevant’s Worship Pastor, in November of 2015. A few months prior, my marriage was irretrievably broken, I had lost my job, I had no money, and I was unable to pay my bills for several months. I thought I was going to lose my possessions like my house and vehicles. Christmas was coming and I couldn’t even provide a gift for my child.”
Expect God to do powerful things...and He will!
For over two years I’ve had a lot of back and SI joint pain, sometimes severe, often just uncomfortable and annoying. Because this has been going on awhile, I started accepting this pain as something I might deal with for the rest of my life (often people do). As a physical therapist, in some ways I think I’ve gotten hardened by seeing and hearing stories of people having chronic back pain. Despite my efforts to treat it myself, it has never gone completely away.
"Something Unexpected" Year 2
If we’re being honest, pretty much everybody feels warm and fuzzy on the inside when we are the recipient of generosity, OR when we get to bless someone else. Unexpected generosity is especially powerful. It can change a person’s day….sometimes, their life. With all that's going on in our country right now, it's time to show some kindness to one another, don't you think?
7 Practical Tips for Raising Grateful Kids
Let’s face it…many of our kids have been struck by the “arrow” of entitlement. They’ve developed an attitude that says “I deserve more and better”. You can quickly spot entitlement if you hear your kids constantly complaining, “It’s not fair!”. Entitlement is destructive because it results in the act of greed. In order to kill greed, we must to train our kids to be grateful. How do we help foster an attitude of gratitude in our kids amidst a culture of entitlement?
Choose Your Path
After 40 years of wandering in the desert, you’d think that the Israelites would have learned their lesson. In the book of Numbers, we see the Israelites leaving Egypt behind, as they were challenged to obey God’s commands, have faith, and trust Him through what seemed like impossible circumstances. Miracles were performed before their very eyes, God Himself provided their daily needs, and the Promised Land was so very near. Yet, the Israelites complained and grumbled about their journey in the desert.
The "Arrow" of Bad Company
“Bad company corrupts good character.” We’ve all seen this play out again and again. A “good” kid gets in with the wrong crowd in high school and ends up addicted to drugs. An NFL player making millions of dollars gets arrested for robbery. His coach’s response: “He’s gotta get a new crew.” A high school student who is “on fire” for Jesus, goes off to college, makes new friends, and comes home no longer believing in or following Jesus. Why do stories like this happen?
Ignoring Consequences
As parents, how do we protect our kids’ hearts from being destroyed by the consequences of their choices? We all need to understand The Principle of Consequences. The Principle of Consequences is this: If we’re on path A, we will end up at destination A. We choose the positive and negative consequences we will experience later by the path we choose to be on today.
15 Attributes of a Difference Maker
All Are Committed
One of our greatest desires as Relevant Community Church is to be a difference-making church. There are some key differences between people who “go” to church (“churchy people”) and people who are the church (“difference makers”). If we really want to be difference makers and be a difference-making church, we need to take a long, hard look at our lives and consider whether we are living as churchy people or as difference makers.
All Are Engaged
Repentance
We all screw up and sin…in relationships, with our families, at work, on the weekends, on weekdays, all the time, repeatedly. Sin causes us to be “unfaithful”. All throughout the Bible, sin is described as faithlessness toward or a breaking of faith with God. The posture of sin is the same posture unfaithfulness in any relationship…turning our back on. Sin is TURNING OUR BACK on God himself…thus separating ourselves from Him.
Prayer & Fasting
There, by the Ahava Canal, I proclaimed a fast, so that we might humble ourselves before our God and ask him for a safe journey for us and our children, with all our possessions. I was ashamed to ask the king for soldiers and horsemen to protect us from enemies on the road, because we had told the king, “The gracious hand of our God is on everyone who looks to him, but his great anger is against all who forsake him.”
It's Important, BUT...
Will you inject LIFE or DEATH?
Words are a powerful thing.
Words have the ability to BLESS another…to inject the LIFE of God. Words also have the ability to CURSE another…to inject hurt and ultimately DEATH. Words can literally change a person’s life. In some way or another, we can all attest to that. All of us have our own stories of words that have been said to us that have changed the trajectory of our lives.
Who Will Win Your Heart?
Your family. Your job. Your husband or wife. The latest fashions. Your favorite sports team. TV series. Food. Sex. Money. Success. Yourself. These are things we place value in. These things we hold as “important”. We were all made to worship. It’s in our DNA. The question is…who or what will be the object of your worship?
What Impact Can Summer Blast make?
This letter was sent to us during our inaugural year for Vacation Bible School (which we now call Summer Blast). Such a powerful story of how God transforms lives during this week for our children. Dear Relevant VBS Volunteers, I just had to write and tell you all thank you. I know this past week at VBS has meant many very late and stressful nights, busy days, time off work, time away from your children, and busy, hot, chaotic days with 100 young children!
Friend Or Foe
“Very rarely will anyone die for a righteous person, though for a good person someone might possibly dare to die. But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still SINNERS, Christ died for us” (Romans 5:7-8). In case you missed that, read it again. “But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.” While we were still sinners – literally, ENEMIES of God – Christ died for us. Have you thought about that?