The Encouragement Blog

The late, Brennan Manning wrote this in an essay on Forgiveness in his book, Souvenirs of Solitude. “The proof par excellence of the Christian who has experienced God’s unbearable forgiveness and infinite patience is that he is able to be forgiving and patient with others.” This statement reflects what Jesus taught in the parable of the Unmerciful Servant in Matthew

In the previous blog, we talked about the most encouraging thing anyone could hear is God saying to us “I love you.” To be loved by the Creator of the Universe is better than having the direct dial phone to the greatest lawyer, movie star or politician. To be loved by God is to affirm our worth. We are worthy

The most encouraging news that anyone could ever hear is the message that “God loves you.” Just exactly why that is so heartening lies in the Bible verse, Romans 5:8, But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us. Note that this verse doesn’t say Christ died for us AFTER

Life is a sexually transmitted disease, with a 100% mortality rate! In other words, we are all going to die. It is just a question of when the trapdoor opens underneath us and we fall off the planet. At that moment, gravity will no longer work for us and keep our feet connected to earth. The only question for us

Christmas colors are red and green. Yet why is it that this time of years causes The Blues?  The Blues; despair, longingness, unmet expectations, fear of hoping for something that Santa doesn’t deliver…The Blues. Christmas time, the Holidays, all the schmaltzy Hallmark movies, the expectations of romance and family harmony are rolled into one big Madison Avenue advertisement for happiness…yet,

Thanksgiving Day is a favorite holiday for most Americans. It is loved by most because it involves copious amounts of really good food, desserts, football games and a little wine. Of course, for some of us, it also means dealing with family members like crazy Uncle Ralph or siblings that are on opposite sides of the political spectrum. Still, most

What does the Cross tell us about ourselves and about God? If we broke the law but received a summons in the mail from the NYPD, we might not consider our crime is not all that serious. If we found out that the NYPD had put out an APD (All Points Bulletin) on us, we would immediately know it is

  There is a moving story about a young girl in Chicago who was killed by a stray bullet during a drive-by shooting. Her organs were donated to six different persons. Each person came together with the mother of the slain girl to celebrate their happiness and joy because recipients had been given new life because of the death of

We have been unpacking 1 Corinthians 13, Paul’s treatise on Love, and looking specifically at what Henry Drummond taught in his essay on this chapter entitled, “The Greatest Thing in the World.”  This month we approach one of the hardest virtues: “Love does not delight in evil, but rejoices with the truth” We have summarized it: Good Thoughts. What is

Jesus and the Apostle Paul place a great deal of emphasis on being a “Son” of God and being called into “Sonship” with Christ (See Matthew 5:9; Luke 6:35; John 12:36; Romans 8:14 & 9: 26; Galatians 3:26 & 4: 4-6). For many women, these passages and references to the Son and Sonship irritate and sometimes cause women to turn