Seeking Pearls

Paul's letter to the Philippians always takes my breath away. It leaves me speechless, and then makes me want to talk about it with everyone I know. It brings me nearly to tears and makes me want to shout with joy. It teaches me to press on in the midst of whatever hardships surround me. It makes me ache to know Jesus more.
Please join me in this study through Paul's beautiful letter to the Philippians. Let's press on together. Will you be my partner in the gospel?

Unfortunately, we tend to get mad at God when He does pretty much anything we disagree with. Even if it means he is saving people. We get mad at God when his agenda of saving the world messes up with our agenda of suiting ourselves. It was true for Jonah, and it's true for me.
Thankfully, we have a God who uses us anyway. Praise be to God!

We like to decide who does and does not deserve God's mercy...don't we? Jonah did too. Thankfully God's mercies never run out and he will wait for us to get our act together. He doesn't change his mind, he doesn't shift like a shadow, he just stays the course and waits for us to get back on track with what he is doing in the world.
Sometimes we are Jonah, sometimes we are stuck in a fish, and sometimes we are the sinful city of Nineveh. Wherever you are today, God is waiting. He is patient with you. Come back to him.

You've probably not been in the belly of a great fish, and chances are you haven't nearly drowned in the ocean. Yet, you know the experience of drowning. We all do. Drowning in sorrow, grief, loneliness, depression, illness, confusion, abandonment...in some way, we have all be there.
How do you cry out to God in the midst of suffering? Jonah teaches us to turn our face to Him, because He is in fact there and He does in fact desire to save.

Have you found yourself trying to flee from God anytime recently? Maybe trying to avoid the exact people that God has called you to love and serve? (People He loves...)
Have you found yourself in the belly of a big fish, face to face with the very God you were trying to get away from?
Well, so has Jonah. Jonah is just like us, and he points us to Jesus. Jesus is the One who did not try to run away when God send him to save a sin-sick people. Jesus is the One whose mercy is bigger than sometimes we even want it to be.
Jonah is just like me, and he points me to Jesus. Join me in this journey with Jonah to the city of Nineveh, where we will meet a God who's mercy and love is bigger than we can even understand.

In this episode of the recurring Do You See this Woman series, Jesus brings us face to face with our own prejudices. He goes out of his way to pour his mercy upon a dear woman and her daughter who perhaps others think should not get any of the "crumbs" of his healing. Even her, Jesus? Are you sure she deserves your mercy? (As if a person could 'deserve' mercy.) Then he seems to go out of his way to save a woman on a day when the religious elite think he ought not to be healing. But isn't she more valuable than a donkey? Is his love too big? Does he stretch to far? Does his mercy make us uncomfortable???

Oh how I love this woman and her story. She is courageous and strong. She is humble and lovely. On the day when she we certain she would see her death, she instead saw the kind and loving eyes of her Savior, full of compassion and mercy and forgiveness.
She is me. She is you.

In our third recurrence of the "Do You See this Woman?" podcast series, we will look at three women whose names are hidden from us in the pages of Scripture. Though we don't know their names, the Savior does. He meets them right where they are at, in the midst of the muck and mire of real life, and pours his love and mercy upon them.
 

One of the greatest parenting lessons God has ever taught me is that He is better at it than me! He is wiser, kinder, more patient, gentler, more loving, smarter...everything good...He is more and better than I am. What a relief!
And, He lives in my kids. The great Teacher, Counselor, Comforter, Advocate and Helper...the Paraclete Himself...The Holy Spirit lives inside of my kids. What does it mean as a parent to yield my kids over to His control? And how do I pray for my kids, that they themselves would yield their lives to the Holy Spirit?
In this episode we will dive into the Scriptures and explore those questions.

In this final episode of our series on Paul, we will look past Paul to the Jesus that he preached. Going through each of the 13 letters from Paul in our Bible today, we will look at and discuss beautiful passages about Jesus and His cross, resurrection, and return.
Like Paul, may our heart-cry be "I want to know Christ..."