Debbie W. Wilson

Refreshing Faith

What to Do When Faith and Feelings Collide

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Why are we able to take some challenges in stride and others level us? I’m not sure, but I know I’m more likely to stumble when emotions connected to past wounds are unleashed. Of course, my spiritual enemy is right there to magnify any offense.

I consider myself to be pretty resilient. But recently something small, very small, caused me to stumble. Actually, it was two small things on top of each other.

I sat down with my journal and dumped out my hurt emotions. Usually, I’m able to identify the lies I’m believing and find relief when I ask God for His perspective. But this time, my feelings didn’t budge. The evidence supporting my injured emotions felt more reliable than the truth I knew.Continue Reading

How Faith Helps You Make Better Decisions

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How do we live and make decisions that please God? How can we be sure we don’t miss His plan for our lives?

Hebrews says, “My righteous ones shall live by faith” (Heb. 10:38 NLT).

Faith pleases God and directs the steps of those who honor Him. Since faith puts us in the center of God’s will and garners His smile, let’s examine how faith looks.

To live by faith is to live with assurance.

Faith believes:

  • God is who He says He is.
  • God keeps His promises.
  • God hears our requests and answers according to what’s best.
  • God is involved in our everyday lives.
Biblical faith rests in Jesus’ character, not in our idea of how something should be. Click To TweetContinue Reading

Shalom, Shalom—How Israel Impacted Me

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Larry and I recently returned from a 10-day tour of Israel with one of our favorite Bible teachers Ken Boa. Larry described our first trip to Israel as drinking out of a fire hydrant. In other words, we sped through the paths Jesus strolled!

The day we walked the Via Dolorosa (“Way of Grief” in Latin) an unexpected sorrow touched me not directly related to this being the path our Lord walked carrying His cross.

We started in the Muslim quarter. Muslim women returning from prayer crowded the narrow paths. I saw plenty of wary, dark eyes but no smiles. Their long, heavy garments looked uncomfortable and confining under the intense Mediterranean sun and symbolic of their religion.

The Via Dolorosa leads through various stations marking significant occurrences on Jesus’ walk to Calvary. It ends at the Church of the Holy Sepulcher where many historians believe Jesus was crucified and buried.Continue Reading

3 Tips to Help Your Kid Know How to Pray (…since we kinda don’t know ourselves)

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Larry and I are back from a wonderful trip to Israel. I’m looking forward to sharing some highlights with you. But today Janelle Alberts is graciously passing on wisdom she gleaned from the story of Gideon. Learn more about her at the end of the post. Here’s Janelle…

Photo by: David Beale

Parents today are at an impasse.

We are less inclined than ever to tell our children trite, “Because I said so,” answers to major questions, especially related to faith. This leaves us in a bind, since our own questions of faith remain largely…unanswered.

Like prayer.

We are fully aware of some bits about prayer that are crystal clear.

Will I get everything I ask for? No.

Will I get anything I ask for? Sometimes.

Why, then, should I bother?

This is where things fall apart, and we’re only on question three. Plus the first two answers stink and are wholly insufficient for the shorties in our homes who are crying with no friends to sit with at lunch or who have debilitating self esteem issues and want to know what? Why? How come? Usually at bedtime and usually when a track uniform still needs laundering or a work presentation needs last minute changes.

In other words, usually when we could use prayer ourselves.

There are plenty of things we cannot know for sure about prayer. Let’s start with the parts that we can.

Tip #1: Prayer engages Someone who is already with you.

Tell this to your kiddo over and over. God is already with them. Then tell yourself.

This presents a problem, because we have lived life, and it isn’t pretty. We know what it feels like when someone is with us, and a lot of the time God’s involvement in our lives can feel…unpredictable.Continue Reading

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