The Pattern of Scripture Advent. If you look back to its Latin origin, you’ll find it means “to come” or “the arrival,” and is usually used in reference to something or someone important. Christians celebrate Advent, the arrival, of Jesus at Christmas. The extraordinary, humble birth of Jesus altered the…
Tag: God
Theology
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2 Samuel – The Fangs of Bitterness: Two Men Who Show Us How To Avoid The Poison
2 Samuel is a continuation of 1 Samuel and mostly focuses on the reign of King David. If you’d like a refresher of some things covered in that book, you can find it here: 1 Samuel – The Prophetic Lullaby – MandyGunter.com There are two stories in 2 Samuel that…
Theology
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1 Samuel – The Prophetic Lullaby
The books of Samuel are historical narratives like many others in the Old Testament. A fun fact is that they are split into two books simply because they are too long to fit onto an ancient scroll. They are intended to be read as one continuous story! 1 Samuel begins…
Christian Living
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The Suffering Tree – Trembling Branches and Secure Roots
Lament is not the absence of praise. It is simply the path through pain to praise.
Christian Living
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Echos in the Valley
I recently found myself in the garden, tending to some flowering bushes I have attempted to grow over the past couple of years. My beloved dog is buried amongst the fragrant gardenias and sweet olive trees. I had Molly for almost 14 years. As college sweethearts, Chris and I took…
Theology
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Ruth – Barren Wombs and Barley Fields
What an incredible story God gave us in the book of Ruth! I want to start off by saying that there are many great commentaries on this book, and recently added to that collection is David Platt’s preaching of Secret Church 24 in which he goes verse by verse through…
Adoption
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God’s Astounding Sovereignty in Broken Bodies and Hurting Hearts
And on my knees, gently shaking CJ’s unresponsive body and between my sobs begging him to wake up, I heard my most desperate prayer groan out of my mouth, “Oh God, HELP!”
Theology
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Judges- Looking for Hope When the World Gets Darker
Judges is a constant downward spiral of Israel in every way. The judges themselves display this theme in their own character, going from good, to okay, to catastrophic.
But if we think our sin is any less abhorrent to God than those listed in this book, we deceive ourselves. Our sin, no matter how little we perceive it to be, marks us to our core. It is an abomination to a holy God.
While my hands are not stained with most of the evils detailed in Judges, they are dripping with sin of my own. If I’m not careful, pride will find a sliver of light and begin to work its way past the doorframe of my heart. I will think that my “lesser” sins mean I’m in less need to be saved from it.
Theology
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Joshua- Prostitutes and Promises
Joshua is an exciting book. It follows the death of Moses and the rebellious generation of Israel that refused to trust God to lead them into the Promised Land. At Moses’s request, God raises up Joshua to shepherd the people into their new land. Most theologians believe Joshua is a…
Adoption
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Holding Onto Hospitals and Hope
The last month has been nothing like I planned. We spent almost half a year preparing for a major spinal surgery for my son, whose scoliosis suddenly curved to 100 degrees and was in the beginning stages of compromising his heart and lungs. CJ carries on his small shoulders a…
Theology
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Deuteronomy – Engraved On Your Hand
Deuteronomy is the last of the five books in the Torah. They have chronicled the beginning of the world, the flood, Abraham, slavery in Egypt, the Ten Commandments, wandering in the desert for 40 years, and now finally, Moses is at the end of his life and He is charging…
Theology
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Numbers- Where Justice and Mercy Balance the Scale
Thus far, on our journey through the Old Testament, Numbers has been by far the hardest to prepare for. Leviticus is usually where my flesh wants to get choked up. The laws are so heavy and some are incredibly difficult to understand from my modern view of the world, and…
Christian Living
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Mary Magdalene- When The Claws of Fear Are Defeated with Faith
Mary. Mary Magdalene stands outside the empty tomb. The disciples have looked in the tomb, and finding it empty, returned to their homes. But Mary stood weeping outside the tomb, and as she wept she stooped to look into the tomb. And she saw two angels in white, sitting where…
Christian Living
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The Suffering Table
God has repeatedly brought a verse to mind over the last few weeks. He was despised and rejected by men, a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief, and as one from whom men hide their faces He was despised, and we esteemed Him not. Isaiah 53:3 My husband, Chris,…
Theology
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Leviticus – God’s painting of His Holiness
Instead of narrowing in on a specific law or passage in this book, let’s examine some lenses to use as we study the book as a whole.
Triggers and Therapy
Our culture and social media are flooded with language that would have baffled the population a mere decade ago. The trend of therapy and working on the self seems to climb upward every day. I, for one, find it to be a fascinating swing from what was considered the norm…
Mandy's Favorites
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Exodus
Glory and Goodness Exodus is the second book in the Bible. It picks up right where Genesis ended. Abraham’s family has indeed been created and grown. His great-grandson was sold into slavery and subsequentially rose to second in command of all Egypt. God has started to fulfil the things He…
Christian Living
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Tearing off the Roof
Our kids spend a large portion of their days dancing and singing (read: screaming) along to music playing on YouTube. Something about watching singers on TV makes them feel like they are at, or maybe they are, a fun concert. Their favorites are some phenomenal worship songs. Lyrics that have…
Holding Torches and Pushing Wheelchairs
Hospitals have become a bit of a second home for us. As a child, I didn’t have much exposure to medical facilities or people who frequently needed significant medical care. In college, I bounced around a bit hoping to land on the right major and dreaming of all sorts of…
The Basics of Loving a Traumatized Child
Childhood and trauma is a sobering paring of words. Events painful enough to cause a wound to the mind and nervous system can rock the strongest adult, but how much more devastating trauma is to a developing child! Statistically, almost every adult in the United States is in some sort…
Walking Each Other Home
As the calendar pages fall and the years seem to pass quicker, I visualize life as a journey. I have enough time under my belt now that I can see the hills and valleys behind me and know more await my arrival in the future. How is it that our…
Adoption Memories July 2015
Learning to Laugh One year ago today, Little Man’s case was brought before a judge on the other side of the world, and he was legally declared our son. I think back to this time last year and I can remember the overwhelming flood of emotions- the relief that he…
Adoption Memories – 9 months home 2015
Always Victorious Little Man has been home for 9 months now. I marvel at the changes we see in him on a weekly basis. It seems that things have truly settled into a normal routine. Things do not feel “new” anymore. Instead, life has become a beautiful phase of rest…
Adoption Memories – 8 months home 2015
Then they will be brave and free… Little Man has been in our arms for just over 8 months now. Can you believe it? I can’t. He has learned SO much in the last two or three months. We were recently at an appointment with a new doctor when he…
Adoption Memories – 6 months home 2015
Sanctification Hello, friends! Tomorrow will mark 6 months since Gotcha Day for Little Man! This is the marker I have been waiting for. Half a year. We have survived half a year. Most experts say by six to twelve months home, we should be settling into some kind of “normal.”…
Adoption Memories- 3 Months Home 2014
You Make Beautiful Things We have been home with Little Man for just over three months now. I fully intended to post regularly on this blog, but it seems that each month-iversary is the best I can manage. Ha! Life has settled into a much better routine. Little Man has…
Adoption Memories – One Month Home 2014
One Month Home Today Little Man has been home for one whole month! I can’t believe how fast the time flew by! In some ways, I feel like we just got back, but in other ways, I feel like he has been here for years. Little Man is losing…
Adoption Memories – Two Weeks Home
Two weeks home Well, I had every intention of blogging each day that we were in country, and updating frequently after we arrived home. Obviously, that didn’t happen. So I guess I should start with where I left off. Our first two days in country were awesome! We landed on…
Adoption Memories- Preparing for Pick Up 2014
Preparing our Hearts We are counting down the DAYS until we leave to go get Little Man. Baby Girl has started saying we are going to “bust him out”, and in many ways that’s exactly how it feels. He has been a prisoner in his crib for far too long….
Adoption Memory – Trip 1 March 2014
The Waiting Well it has been an incredibly long time since I have updated the blog. Don’t get me wrong, there have been many things I have wanted to share, but our computer shut down on us a few months ago, and updating from a phone was difficult. 🙂…
Adoption Memory – January 2014
Toes in the Water Apparently I have been slacking in keeping this blog up-to-date! As of yesterday, our dossier is on its way to Little Man’s country! (The dossier is the giant stack of paperwork that we have been working on over the last few months. It includes our home…
Adoption September 2013
What’s Next? Now that we are officially committed to our son, we keep getting asked, “What’s next?” At this point we have Little Man “on hold” for us, which means that his country has agreed that they will not allow any other families to pursue him. In the meantime, we have…
Adoption – August 2013 part 2
Hello My Name Is… What LOVE the Father has lavished upon us that we should be called His children! And what a great honor to be able, in return, to pour out that love on a son! We love because He first loved us (1 John 4:19). Everyone has…
Adoption August 2013
BIG NEWS! We have a HUGE ANNOUNCEMENT! That’s right, this is THE announcement! Yesterday we received word that we were officially committed to a child! As most of you know, we were planning on going the referral route for this adoption, which meant a 2-5 year process. If you have followed…
Adoption- July 2013
A coincidence? We went for our physicals and blood work today. When our agency and home study agent told us we would need physicals they said, “Oh, just get your family doctor to check you out and fill out this form.” No big deal. …if you already have a family…
The Beginning of Our Adoption Story – 2013
To Belong and Be Loved “Every child has a dream to belong and be loved.” ~ Audio Adrenaline We have very exciting news! We are expecting! That’s right, we are a family of FOUR! So far, our journey of becoming a family of four is a little different than most. …
Old Testament Importance
The Bible is divided into two primary sections- the Old Testament and the New Testament. The New Testament details the life of Christ, the early church and letters written to it, and the promise of a world one day restored to perfection. The modern church spends considerable time studying and…
What is Trauma?
Trauma. It’s the new cultural buzzword. As it gains traction in popularity, it carries with it benefits and potentially harmful outcomes. If we are going to have a discussion about trauma, we should first identify an accurate definition. In his book, The Myth of Normal, Gabor Mate M.D. says, “Trauma…
