Guest Post by Norma Poore (and some bonuses)
At six years old I was a red-headed, freckled-faced little girl and an orphan once again. I believed I was unlovable. With the death of my foster mom, I was taken from my beloved family who could no longer take care of me.
Continue reading “Chosen”
Welcome to Part 2 of 2 of A Conversation with United Army Chaplain, Special Needs Parent, and Writer Brad Lee. In this video segment Chaplain Lee is joined by his wife, Lori and they share more about life as a military family with six children, one of whom has Downs Syndrome and Autism. Lori gives insights on how we can support military wives and parents of special needs children and more.
Continue reading “Part 2: A Conversation with U.S. Army Chaplain, Special Needs Parent and Writer Brad Lee”It is my honor to introduce you to United States Army Chaplain, Brad Lee. Chaplain Lee is a husband and father of six, and a writer with a forthcoming book inspired by his journey with his young son who has Downs Syndrome and Autism.
In Part 1 of this two part conversation, Chaplain Lee shares the road that led him to become a chaplain in the U.S. Army, some of the adventures, challenges, and opportunities he encounters as he serves our country and our soldiers, as well as some powerful thoughts on and wise counsel to our nation.
Continue reading “Part 1: A Conversation with U.S. Army Chaplain, Special Needs Parent and Writer Brad Lee”There’s only one explanation for Robin—Jesus. And also for her sons Miles and Jake. Robin and Jake are nurses currently caring for Covid19 patients. Miles serves as a teacher in Malaysia. Robin is also an award winning author, speaker, and leader of Higher Ground Outreach ministry for incarcerated women. What an honor to interview them during Teacher and Nurse Appreciation Week and in time for Mother’s Day, and to share their timely and timeless, inspiring and joy filled stories with you in these two videos and the article that follows.
Continue reading “#FaithOverFear from the Perspective of a Mom, Nurse, and Teacher”
Jesus Is – not just for Easter! (And neither is my recommended series suitable for family viewing at end of this article.) But first I’d like to share:
Honored to have my article, Reflections on Grace, featured on Southern Ohio Christian Voice: “Sometimes we miss the splendor of God and what He is doing when it isn’t wrapped in the trappings we expect or want….Do our desires focus more on God prospering us in worldly wealth and meeting physical needs and wants, while we turn a blind eye to our spiritual poverty? Are we more enamored with position and possessions and traditions of men than the greatest gifts—God’s grace, salvation, and Christ Himself?” Click HERE to continue reading my guest post, Reflections on Grace, on Southern Ohio Christian Voice.
Jesus Is
The following piece, Jesus Is, is an unfinished project. It’s going to take a while to complete all the ideas I have for developing it, but I decided to share it as is for now.
A friend and fellow writer put out the challenge to fill in the blank in a Tweet with the following words, “Jesus is______.”
I replied with my short answer. Here is my long list in progress. In these turbulent times we need to remember who God is and that He is in control. We can find calm amid chaos, comfort during crisis, peace in a panicked world because:
JESUS Is
ALPHA, He is the Almighty, Anointed One. — JESUS is Alive! He is my All-in-All. He is the Answer, and the Answer for All That Ails Us. He is Adonai.
HE is —
BEAUTIFUL and Blameless; He is Bulwark and Bastion. He is the Balm of Gilead. He is our Banner. He is the Bridge and the Bridegroom.
And HE is —
COMING!—Are you ready? — He is the Christ; He is the Cure. He is Creator and Cornerstone. And yes—JESUS is My Crutch. I like to lean on Him.
HE is the —
DESIRE of Nations, the Divine Deliverer, the Designer of our Destiny. He is the Devil-damner and the Defeater of Death and our great Defender. He is The Dayspring; He is The Door.
JESUS is —
ETERNAL, He is Everlasting, He is Emmanuel. He is the Exonerator, He is Everything We Need, He is Elohim. He is Enough.
JESUS is —
FATHOMLESS, He is Faithful, Friend, and Fortress, He is Faultless.
JESUS is —
GOOD and Glorious; He is the Gracious God. He is the Grave Robber, the Gateway, and the Great Physician.
HE is —
HOPE for the hopeless, Help for the helpless. He is our Healer and Hiding Place. He is the Hell-raider; He is our Hedge. He is Humble; He is Holy.
JESUS is the —
INITIATOR. He is the Intercessor. He is Indescribable, my Inspiration. He is Indomitable, Incomprehensible, Invincible. He is Infinite, He is Inimitable. He is the great I Am.
JESUS is —
JUST, He is the Judge. He is Jehovah. He is my Joy.
HE is —
KING of kings, He is the Key, He is Kind.
JESUS is the —
LOGOS, the Light of the World and a Lamp to our feet. He is Life. He is the Limitless Lamb of God, the Lion of Judah, the Lord of Lords and the Lilly of the Valleys. He is Lowly, He is Love and He is the Lover of my Soul. —Do you know Him?
HE is the —
MAJESTIC Messiah, Mighty God, He is our Maker He is our Master. He is the Mender of the Breach, the Mediator. He is Merciful; He is Mine. —Do you want Him too?
JESUS is —
NAME above Names; He is Never-failing, Never-ending.
HE is —
OMNIPOTENT, Omnipresent, the Omega, the Overcomer.
JESUS is the —
PRINCE of Peace, the Pardoner, the Propitiation. He is my Protector and Provider. He is the Purpose. He is my Passion and the Possessor of my Soul. He is Perfect.
HE is the —
QUALIFIER, the Quencher of Thirst, the Quaesitim.
HE is the —
RIGHTEOUS Redeemer and Restorer. He is Royal; He is Regal. He is The Rock and The Reason. He is the Rose of Sharon, He is my Resting Place. He is Risen!
HE is the —
SON of God. He is Sovereign. He is Servant and Savior and Sanctifier. He is The Steadfast Sustainor, a Strong Tower, a Shield. He is the Satan-stomper and the Storm Stiller. He is the Shepherd of my Soul. He is our Strength. He is Sufficient; He is Supreme. He is our Salvation.
JESUS is —
TRANSCENDENT, He is Triumphant. He is Truth, He is My Testimony.
HE is the —
UNDERGIRDER; He is the Underpinor. He is Unprecedented, Unparalleled, Unfathomable, Unfailing. He is Unmatched.
HE is the —
VINDICATOR. He is Victor. He is Virtuous.
HE is —
WORTHY, Wise, Wonderful. JESUS is The Way and the Way Maker, and the Wellspring. He is The Word.
JESUS is the —
X in CHRISTMAS. He is Xristos – Χριστός
HE is —
YESHUA and Yahweh.
HE is —
ZION and He is The Zenith.
JESUS is ____
HE is Risen
Inspired by a sermon on early Christian church history which tells of believers greeting each other with the words, “He is risen!” and their response of, “He is risen indeed!”
I tried to quell the yearning for a greater something, a purpose greater than the here and now
I chased all manner of both good and evil earthly pursuits
But nothing fulfilled. Not even religion
It was all vain distraction
But then, He found me
I met mercy and forgiveness on the way called grace
Mercy withheld judgment
Forgiveness wiped away my transgression
Grace translated me from servant to friend, from abandoned to adored
Do you want this?
God created you for Himself, for Heaven
That is why everything else misses the mark—just as we do
I fall short, but Jesus is the difference maker
Yes! My Creator is my crutch. I like to lean on Him
He is my healer, redeemer, restorer.
He is the Way and the way maker.
He wants to be yours too
I am a riverbed whose banks cannot contain the rushing water
He rains on me; He reigns in me.
I overflow
He compels me
But I do not walk alone
Here is a highway.
This is my rooftop
Hello, world!
Can you hear me?
Do you know my Jesus?
Because He is risen, I have hope
Because He is risen
I know Him
Because He is risen
I can come boldly before His throne
I do not fear death
Because He is risen
I have been translated
From dead in my sin to alive in Christ
From slave to set free and daughter of the King
From bound for Hell to Heaven bound
He is risen indeed!
This world is not my home
It’s just the road to where I’m going
Heaven is my home, and Jesus is my prize.
The Chosen TV Series – A good choice for the whole family!
The Chosen | Official Trailer HD “The Chosen is the first-ever multi-season series based on the true stories of the gospels of Jesus Christ. It is the #1 crowd-funded media project of all time.”
The Chosen: Complete Episode One
More information about The Chosen here:
https://studios.vidangel.com/the-chosen/
Please Click HERE to read my guest post, Reflections on Grace, on Southern Ohio Christian Voice.
May you know Him, His comfort, and blessing more fully in this season and beyond. – Rachael
CLICK HERE to sign up for the TATTOO IT ON YOUR HEART NEWSLETTER to receive my blog posts, occasional notifications of special events, offers, and free downloads by email.
Click here for Live Stream of Church Services from Victory Chapel –Sunday 11 a.m. & 7 p.m. and Wednesday 7 p.m. Eastern Time. – Replay available afterward.
© 2020 Rachael M Colby | Tattoo It On Your Heart
You cannot stay here.
Mountaintops, valleys, running with the wind and running in water, heartbreak and breakthrough, trials and triumph. — It’s been the best of years; it’s been the worst of years. I’ve braved the battleground. I’ve floundered and failed; I’ve pressed on and prevailed.
Sometimes life bulldozes. Stuff happens. Yes, “onward” is my word of the year, and no, the irony of getting stuck writing Onward did not escape me. It’s been awhile. Forgive me. Shame tried to hold me down, but God said, “Rise.”
Continue reading “Onward!”
It’s not enough to just be right if we want God to use us to reach people with the Gospel. Our rightness only serves ourselves if we alienate people by our attitude and choice of words. Failure to show interest in people as individuals comes across as an attempt to propagate one of a myriad of doctrines and treating people as another notch on our belt.
We live in a world where many are talking, but few listening, all while broken hearts cry out, “Does anyone hear me?”
Click below to continue reading my entry in RZIM Connect’s 2019 Writing Competition. I’m no trained apologist or theologian, just small fry in a sea full of big fish—but I couldn’t resist. 😉
Topic: Why is it so important to answer not only the question, but also the questioner? Continue reading “Answering the Questioner”
“—I passed out candy and tracts tonight (I prayed about it and got confirmation to do it.). I had MANY Christians tell me I was wrong. One said, “You have 364 other days of the year to tell people about Jesus…not today.” 😮 ” my fellow writer Angela Tweeted me last year.
“Wow.” I said. “I guess I missed the scripture about a day we weren’t supposed to tell others about Jesus. Oh, wait—maybe that’s because there is no such scripture! 🙂
Continue reading “Pastor Appreciation, Seize the Night & Some Freebies!”
I cried when my friend Cherrilynn asked me to go to Blue Ridge Mountains Christian Writers Conference. There was no way I could go! I had wanted to for three years, but the timing was wrong, the money wasn’t there, and how could I leave my husband and two teen boys, one of whom just became our foster son, to fend for themselves? Besides, I was sure my husband would never say yes. So I didn’t ask.
“Just praying and doing the One-Day-at-a-Time Sweet Jesus 🎵 thing,” I told my editor friend. “So much to write. So much drama and distraction. Sure wish I could run away for a few days to Blue Ridge Mountain Christian Writers Conference. Well—🎵 Hallelujah Anyhow.🎵 Thy will Lord—in Your strength.”
Then Cherrilynn called two days before departure and asked again if I would go with her to the conference.
The thought of attending a writers conference with all those amazing people and accomplished writers terrified me! Who am I to go?
God makes no duplicates so why compare yourself?
Shouldn’t I have a several thousand page book written first to justify the expense and inconvenience to others? I have a couple children’s picture book manuscripts but… Am I worth it? Am I worth investing in? What if I fail?
Our worth is not defined by ourselves, others, or by our performance, but by Christ’s investment in us, His precious blood spent and His love for us. That makes us priceless. And it is He who bestows gifts on each of us for His glory and to help others.
I don’t doubt God’s calling on my life to write, but sometimes I doubt myself. I fear quitting. Remember in the Grinch when the townspeople are all shouting at him? “You don’t belong there!” echoed in my mind. Continue reading “Am I Worth It?”
(For fathers, children, and not just for Father’s Day)
The Perfect Father
Relentless and reckless in His love for us
He is an ever present help in all He calls us to
He is a father to the fatherless
He offers hope and healing to the hurting heart, strength to the weak
forgiveness from failure and a new beginning at the end of our road
“Just as a father has compassion on his children, So the LORD has compassion on those who fear Him. For He Himself knows our frame; He is mindful that we are but dust.” Psalms 103:13-14 NASB
Click for SONG: Reckless Love – Cory Asbury
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=Sc6SSHuZvQE
Honored to have my article, In Step with My Father published on Southern Ohio Christian Voice. You may click here to read it and while you’re there please check out their other great offerings. 🙂
(For fathers, children, and not just for Father’s Day)
I remember Daddy holding my hand as we entered the gates to the botanical gardens, Wrigley’s gum, Elephant Ear pastries, Matchbox cars, him carrying me when I was hurt, and scraping every speck of black pepper off my food. And bumper cars. I hated them, but I never told him because I liked to hear him laugh—and we were together.
Daddy was pale and shaky after riding the corkscrew roller coaster. We made kites with bamboo and tissue paper. They always crashed, but that was okay. He drove way too fast on the windy island mountain roads in his little ultramarine Triumph Spitfire… Cont. Here: http://sohiochristianvoice.com/in-step-with-my-father
Please forgive me for my quietness here. I have much to share and am currently working on a few articles as well as a couple new exciting writing projects. I’m looking forward to catching up with you in a few days. Thank you for joining me on this writing journey. and for your prayers.
Continue reading “The Perfect Father”
