The Encouragement Blog

Inmate Family Encouragement

Cover image for “Compound Interest”

Compound Interest

Sin compounds too. C. S. Lewis wrote in Mere Christianity, “Good and evil both increase at compound interest. That is why the little decisions you and I make every day are of such infinite importance. The smallest good act today is the capture of a strategic point from which, a few months later, you may be able to go on
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May 09 2018
Cover image for “The Escalator of Temptation”

The Escalator of Temptation

Rachel was eleven when her parents split up. She was angry with her parents and angry with herself since she mistakenly blamed herself for her parents’ divorce. The rage got worse when her mom’s new boyfriend started making sexual moves on her when she turned thirteen. It boiled over when her mother didn’t believe her when she told her about
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Apr 25 2018
Cover image for “God’s Repair Shop”

God’s Repair Shop

We need to remember that even if our lives are completely blown up, they can be repaired. God is a repairman who fixes shattered lives and makes them whole again. His tools are conviction, confession, repentance, and forgiveness of sin. These are the tools of deep, permanent, personal change in our lives. One of the dangerous facts about sin is
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Apr 11 2018
Cover image for “New Life”

New Life

We carry around the chains of pride and self-centeredness that prevent us from asking God to unlock the manacles of hopelessness. Some of us are afraid to trust Christ because we don’t really believe He will get our lives right. We fall into the trap of thinking that a life in Christ is all about rules and regulations. It isn’t.
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Mar 28 2018
Cover image for “Cannot “Earn” God’s Love”

Cannot “Earn” God’s Love

The writer Helen Wodehouse said, “We think we must climb to a certain height of goodness before we can reach God. But He [God] does not say, ‘At the end of the way you may find me’; He says, ‘I am the Way; I am the road under your feet, the road that begins just as low down as you
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Jan 03 2018
Cover image for “How Sin Works”

How Sin Works

Sinful behavior is frequently the result of many thoughts and actions. Sin isn’t a one-shot deal! Life-destroying sin is the result of many little sins feeding on one another until Satan has messed us up. Satan messed up some of our marriages with adultery. Maybe our spouses were overweight or no longer as romantic as they once were. Our lustful
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Dec 07 2015