Genevieve had to be the ldquo eyes rdquo for her three children each born with congenital cataracts Whenever she took them into their village in the Republic of Benin she strapped the baby onto her back and held onto the arm and hand of her older two always looking for danger In a culture where blindness was thought to be caused by witchcraft Genevieve despaired and cried out to God for help Then a man from her village told her about Mercy Ships a ministry that provides vital surgeries to honor Jesus rsquo s model of bringing hope and healing [... more]

I don rsquo t remember a time when my mom Dorothy was in good health For many years as a brittle diabetic her blood sugar was wildly erratic Complications developed and her damaged kidneys necessitated permanent dialysis Neuropathy and broken bones resulted in the use of a wheelchair Her eyesight began to regress toward blindness But as her body failed her Mom rsquo s prayer life grew more vigorous She spent hours praying for others to know and experience the love of God Precious words of Scripture grew sweeter to her Before her eyesight faded she wrote a letter to [... more]

When we pray we often talk and talk But do we stop to listen for the still small voice [... more]

My friend rsquo s eyes revealed what I was feeling mdash fear We two teens had behaved poorly and were now cowering before the camp director The man who knew our dads well shared lovingly but pointedly that our fathers would be greatly disappointed We wanted to crawl under the table mdash feeling the weight of personal responsibility for our offense God gave Zephaniah a message for the people of Judah that contained potent words about personal responsibility for sin Zephaniah ndash After describing the judgments He would bring against Judah rsquo s foes ch He turned His eyes on [... more]

A 's fictional TV series Superman featured mild-mannered newspaper reporter Clark Kent a female character Lois Lane and younger male character Jimmy Olsen As children we loved it Superman Clark Kent transformed from mild-mannered to super-charged in an imaginary exchange where he received among other things a red cape that enabled him to fly and Xray vision to see beyond anything natural Entertaining yes make-believe for sure The real-life comparison for born-again Believers is the supernatural endowment from Almighty God to believe Him for unusual interventions in our lives and His very own empowerment to represent Him in the earth [... more]

We must always remember that the God who is sovereign over the suffering of His people is a loving Father He does all things for a purpose and does all things well Today Burk Parsons and Derek Thomas discuss divine providence and human pain Get 'Everyone's a Theologian' by R C Sproul for Your Gift of Any Amount https gift renewingyourmind org everyones-a-theologian Don't forget to make RenewingYourMind org your home for daily in-depth Bible study and Christian resources [... more]

When you approach God you'll find a loving Father who wants to provide for you [... more]

Derek noticed his son didn rsquo t want to take off his shirt to swim and realized it was because he was self-conscious about a birthmark that covers parts of his chest belly and left arm Determined to help his son Derek underwent a lengthy and painful tattooing process to create an identical mark on his own body Derek rsquo s love for his son reflects God rsquo s love for His sons and daughters Because we His children ldquo have flesh and blood rdquo Hebrews Jesus became like us and took on a human form and ldquo shared in [... more]

Robert was embarrassed when he showed up for a breakfast meeting and realized he rsquo d forgotten his wallet It bothered him to the point that he pondered whether he should eat at all or simply get something to drink After some convincing from his friend he relaxed his resistance He and his friend enjoyed their entrees and his friend gladly paid the bill Perhaps you can identify with this dilemma or some other situation that puts you on the receiving end Wanting to pay our own way is normal but there are occasions when we must humbly receive what [... more]

She slammed the door She slammed the door again I went to the garage grabbed a hammer and a screwdriver and walked to my daughter rsquo s room Calmly I whispered ldquo Sweetheart You have to learn to control your temper rdquo And then I removed her door from the hinges and carried it to the garage My hope was that removing the door would help her remember the importance of self-control In Proverbs ndash the wise teacher invites readers to accept God rsquo s discipline The word discipline could be translated ldquo correction rdquo As a good and loving [... more]

During an outing we met a woman who had known my husband rsquo s family since he was a child She looked from Alan to our son Xavier ldquo He rsquo s the spitting image of his daddy rdquo she said ldquo Those eyes That smile Yep Looks just like him rdquo As the woman delighted in acknowledging such a strong resemblance between father and son she even noted similarities in their personalities Still though they are alike in many ways my son doesn rsquo t reflect his father perfectly There is only one Son mdash Jesus mdash who reflects [... more]