--- About Dena

“First and foremost, I’m a Daughter of the King and a long-time Christ follower. I’m also a dog mom who enjoys reading Christian books, cardio drumming, traveling often, and I’m a bit of a technology geek. My life has seen its fair share of curve-balls and I’ve found that I’ve become closer to Christ in each trial as He’s comforted me and shown me that I can solely put my faith and trust in Him. 2 Corinthians 1:4 NLT says “He comforts us in all our troubles so that we can comfort others. When they are troubled, we will be able to give them the same comfort God has given us.” I feel thankful and blessed for the messes in my life – as they have brought me closer to God. Through the messes, God has given me a message to share with you.”
#NoMessNoMessage

~Dena

 

Desired Blessings

I remember in Bible Study a few months ago we were studying Job. Although Job went through some horrific times that we can’t even imagine, God did restore the blessings in Job’s life. Job just had to continue to endure and trust. Yes, there were times that Job was upset and got frustrated, but he continued to trust our Almighty God with his life and trusted that God was going to get him through.

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First Line of Defense

In Bible Study this week, we’re studying the power of prayer. Man, I sure do need a reminder about that subject. As unexpected things happen with people in my life that I care about, it’s sometimes so disheartening and stressful that I completely forget to pray. As many of you know (either from my blogs or personally), I’m one of those “Let me help!” kind of people. So, when things go awry, what is my first line of defense? “Let me help! How can I help? What can I do to help fix this?”. The answers to these are “No”, “You can’t” and “Nothing”.
 

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Is Knowing, Growing?

Ouch. There’s much to be said for those 3 small words. I’ve been a Christian since I was 15 years old, and raised in a little Baptist Church my entire childhood, but l’ll admit in my life, there’s been times that I did not grow toward God, even though I knew Him. I could even be as bold to say that I grew away from God during certain times in my life, while still knowing Him. So the answer to the question is: no.

“Anyone who wanders away from this teaching has no relationship with God. But anyone who remains in the teaching of Christ has a relationship with both the Father and the Son.” – 2 John 1:9

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Far from God

I think I speak for most Christians when I say sometimes we feel so far from God. It’s like God is nowhere to be found, but we just want Him near. We go through our days and hope He blesses us, touches us, and is near to us. We wonder where He is when we don’t feel Him. “Why did he leave us?” we ask.

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Full Circle Forgiveness

Wow – God sure does know how to get us where it counts! I was recently out on a date (with a Christian man) and the conversation came around to forgiveness. There were a lot of things in his life that he was working through, and I gave my two cents worth about forgiveness and how we need to forgive others since Christ forgives us. I even wrote a blog about it (which I later sent to him) earlier this year (you can find that blog here). I get it – having

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Return to Limitless Love

I think as Christians we recognize that God’s love for us is limitless. We’ve learned that in the Bible and we’ve taken that to heart. I wrote a blog on this topic many months back (which I’ll link at the bottom of this blog*), and it was coming from a place where we, as Christians know (and try to fathom) how much God truly loves us.

However, it’s a bit harder to recognize and accept that God’s love for those that have wronged us (or wronged other people – especially people we love) is also limitless.

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God’s Might

We all go through rough patches in life. Isn’t that part of what makes life “life”? It’s not always “roses”, as we’d hope life to be. Being part of a church that cares about and values each other as brothers and sisters, and a church that has prayer warriors that step in when needed is so powerful when someone in the church goes through a rough patch. Sometimes when a rough patch hits, you don’t even know what to pray, or don’t have the energy to pray yourself. I’ve personally felt the strength of prayers sent up to Jesus on my

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Out to Lunch Testimony

My family and I recently went out to lunch on a Saturday afternoon and encountered a waitress who seemed to be very happy with her job and overflowing with joy. There were 7 of us, and I could tell by the way she talked to us, served us, and went out of her way with kindness that there was something different about this lady.
 
As the meal went on, she continued to bring us things, and every time she’d stop to just talk. Finally, right before it looked like we were wrapping things up and getting ready to leave, I guess she felt like it was the

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Get out of God’s Way

Get out of God’s Way”.
 
I’ve heard my Pastor mention this a couple of times over the last few years I’ve been attending this church I call home. He’s talked about how we try and try to do something on our own, and God continues to knock on our hard heads to get our attention, only to finally come to the conclusion that I can’t do this myself. I can’t fix this myself.
 
I have a family member that is going through some rough patches in life right now and although I can be there for them and let them know that I care about them, there’s actually nothing I can do to help or fix what they

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Thankful for the Scars

As was driving to work the other day, the song “Scars” by “I Am They” came on the radio and although I’ve heard this song many, many times, this particular morning it grabbed my attention more than usual:
 
“So I’m thankful for the scars
‘Cause without them I wouldn’t know your heart

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