by Angele Tanyeri
The Collyde Summit is a gathering of passionate believers in the NY, NJ, and PA area, who love Jesus and are convicted to become world changers. Collyde turned out to be a life-changing experience for me! To gather and worship in this way was profound. It also gave me a chance to ‘collide’ with individuals I may not have had an opportunity to meet otherwise.
by Elise Daly Parker
So for pretty much the 30+ years my beloved and I have been married, we have been “working” on our finances. Initially, it was just a matter of trying to be responsible with our money and not get in over our heads with debt. Truth be told, our success was short term. Some of this was circumstantial – unanticipated life and salary changes threw us for a loop. But, really? We overspent.
by Kathleen Whittam
There is a nickname for people who only go to church on Christmas and Easter--a ChrEaster. My mom has long been a fan of the Christmas cactus, a plant that, oddly enough, blooms around Christmas as well as Easter. I started calling them a ChrEaster Cactus.
By Beth Stiff
I wanted to start from the beginning...
In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. Now the earth was formless and empty, darkness was over the surface of the deep, and the Spirit of God was hovering over the waters.~ Genesis 1:1-2
My focal point was going to be on the three words God says over and over again in the first chapter of Genesis: “…it is good."
He looked at all He created and said it was good. ~ Genesis 1:31
Starting from the beginning sounded like a good plan because I’m currently reading from the Book of Genesis and those three words jumped off the pages as I read. If we believe everything He said as truth, and he says those three words several times, I’m thinking those words are rather important. [Continue Reading...]
by Elise Daly Parker
Even if you don’t go for a big New Year’s Eve celebration, the New Year can mark a fresh start, a new beginning, a shift in focus. It’s a good time to take a look back at the past, and consider a vision for the year ahead.
Many people choose a New Year’s resolution or two… [Continue Reading...]
by Chelle Wilson
Starting today we will be hosting a Facebook Prayer community; a place where we can join together to share our prayer needs and our testimonies of God’s provision. It is a forum for us to share what we are believing God for, so that we can knit our faith together.
Prayerfully, thoughtfully, with hearts broken open, we seek those who would not only help us build our community but... [Continue Reading...]
By Elise Daly Parker
I thank my God always when I remember you in my prayers, Philemon 1:4 ESV
It was THE day…the day we actually left my baby at her new home, Eastern University, a few miles outside Philadelphia. I was told I was not allowed to cry. “Mom, we’ve done that…no, I don’t want you to cry.” “Okay, I won’t.”
I defined the meaning of stiff upper lip. When the inevitable quivers came, I straightened up, took a deep breath, swallowed hard, and tightened my mouth. [Continue Reading...]
But when you ask, you must believe and not doubt, because the one who doubts is like a wave of the sea, blown and tossed by the wind. That person should not expect to receive anything from the Lord. James 1:6 (NIV)
Author Anne Lamott, whose words regularly bring me to tears, writes that the first two of the three essential prayers are “Help” and “Thanks.”
Interesting. The hospital chapel again.
We’ve spent more than our fair share of time there lately. We are no strangers to praying together, this family. When we walk, when we play, in the car, before we rest, we pray together. [Continue Reading...}
There are two ways you can walk with us on this 40-Day Prayer Journey: Subscribe to 40-Day Prayer Challenge by Email (Please note this is a different subscription list from our regular posts.) Like us on Facebook.
Day 11 First Class Notifier (Based on Day 11 in Draw the Circle)
I recently took a photography class. It was a four-week course that taught us the basics of using a DSLR camera. In the third class we learned about the six elements of design: line, shape, form, texture, pattern, and color. The instructor told us that the more often we look for these things in our surroundings the more we will notice them. This is because of our Reticular Activating System. It’s the RAS that determines what we notice and what we do not. I was excited to know that this applies to prayer as well.
When you pray you start noticing providence, divine appointments, and answered prayers in unexpected places.
There are times when we can't see past those things that are heavily weighing on us. Sometimes we can't see past the dishes our sink, the laundry in our hampers, or our to-do list. Prayer lengthens our depth of field*. As we cultivate a habit of prayer we develop our sixth sense - a Holy Spirit enabled perception.
I don't know about you but I don't want to miss a thing!
Dear Lord, I know you hear my prayers. Open my eyes and help me to perceive your hand in __________________________. Help me to notice how you are working in this situation. I don’t want to miss what you are doing in response to my prayers and in my life…
*Depth of field - the amount of distance between the nearest and farthest objects that appear in focus in a photograph. Want to learn more? Check it out here.
This post is a part of the 40-Day Prayer Challenge at Circles of Faith. We are following along with Draw the Circle: The 40 Day Prayer Challengeby Mark Batterson. To read more about it CLICK HERE.
About the author - Kimberly Amici, co-founder of Circles of Faith, is passionate about prayer and excited to share this journey with you.
Disclosure: This post contains affiliate links.
by Noelle Rhodes
One of the challenges of being a missionary, living an ocean away from friends and family, is staying ‘connected’ to them. Thanks to modern technology , we now have ‘skype’ and ‘facetime’ to help stay in contact with those far away. But no thanks, to the minimum five-hour time difference, chatting with folks back home can get tricky.
Someone took the time to tweet this quote they read in a book:
"God isn't offended by big dreams; he is offended by anything less."
Once I read this I couldn't resist, I had to know where it came from. You see, I used to be a big dreamer. I believe in power of prayer but somewhere along the way my dreams and my prayers became safe. [Continue Reading...]
