When I meet people as I travel across the nation, and they discover where I live, many have mixed responses. One person asked, “Do you live in the dustbowl?”
I had to laugh because where I live is beautiful, with lots of lakes, and a winding river and bluffs and hills. This video shows how the dustbowl perception is skewed, not reality at all.
Often we have also have misperceptions about Jesus. Let’s dig deeper into that together.
This week’s reading: Mark 4:10 through 6:13
Questions for this week’s study:
1. As you read, note how people responded to Jesus.
2. Why did they respond the way they did?
3. What was Jesus looking for in those who he encountered?
4. How did you form your perception of God?
This week’s study is in Mark 4:1-8. Just 8 short verses but packed with truth that can help us grow in our faith, especially if we feel that God is distant, or we are the ones that are too far away.
If you came over from Encouragement for Today, welcome! I’m so glad you are here.
Yesterday I received a prayer letter from Lee Walker Merrill, http://www.prayergifts.blogspot.com/, a beautiful friend I met at She Speaks a couple of years ago.
The letter was unexpected. Lee had taken Scripture and turned it into a personal Gramma prayer. I don’t cry easily, but I wept as I read the words of prayer over my relationship with my first grandchild, Elle.
The words were powerful, and I will keep this letter tucked close forever.
I shared in the devo today that my father once wrote me a letter at a time that I truly needed to know that God was listening to my prayers. Later my Bible became a love letter from my Heavenly Father. Both of these letters have great worth.
But maybe reading the Bible is a challenge for you (as it has been for me at times, and for many others). How can you make it more personal? (more…)
I don’t want to live so carefully that I forget to laugh and love and impulsively grab the moment, but I don’t want to live as if my words and choices don’t matter either.
More than anything I have come to realize that what I say and do has a trickle down effect. (more…)
I loved Shari Braendel’s devo [Beauty Wounds] today on Encouragement for Today, but it this powerful insight that I loved the most from my friend:
Scripture tells us words are powerful, but so are our thoughts. We often give too much value to the destructive dialogue that runs in our head from past wounds.
I wonder how many times we let words that carry no truth shape the way we view ourselves, or view others, or view life as a whole?
Proverbs 31 Ministries speaker columnist, and author T. Suzanne Eller shares how to live free when you've felt broken, how to nurture family regardless of the obstacles, and how to deepen intimacy with a relevant and life-changing Savior.
Misperceptions about Jesus
