Happy Dependence Day 2024
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Here at A Branch in the Vine, we are proclaiming our Declaration of Dependence! We are celebrating that every day is Dependence Day for those of us who "live from the life of Another."
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SIMPLICITY IN CHRIST -- HE IS the Christian LIFE
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Christianity is a PERSON, not a procedure; the LORD, not a list! Not church attendance, not Christ-like qualities, not good works, not the Christian "to-do list" (which may vary depending on the group and "camp" you are in)...
Not evangelism, not mission trips, not a quality "quiet time," not Scripture memorization or Bible study...
Not spiritual disciplines, not prayer, not fasting, not obedience, not miracle-working faith...
Read MoreSIMPLICITY IN CHRIST: Morning Thoughts for Battles You Face Today
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But I fear, lest somehow, as the serpent deceived Eve by his craftiness, so your minds may be corrupted from the simplicity that is in Christ.
2 Corinthians 11:3 NKJV
Good morning, brothers and sisters in Christ.
May you rejoice in this gift of another day to experience the sufficiency of Christ who lives in you today … right now.
And let’s face it … there will be battles today in this fallen world. Christ has won the war. But while we are here on earth, we will face opposition from the world, the flesh, and the devil (who uses the world and the flesh to lie to us and lure our dependence away from our loving Father God).
So here are a few thoughts and scriptures that may help as we face our today:
Read MoreRevisiting My Needed, Favorite Words
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I have favorite words…do you?
Maybe because my “love language” is words of affirmation, I treasure words … especially words I hear from God. Sometimes His words are those that “jump off the page of Scripture.” Sometimes they are words that enter my consciousness, gently or suddenly or in response to a question I barely had time to ask.
Called to Be Spiritual Fathers/Mothers
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If we are followers of our Lord Jesus Christ, siblings in the family of God, we are called to mature into “spiritual fatherhood/motherhood” in the family.
Is that a surprising thought? Let's think together about this idea of "spiritual parenting."
In his first letter, the fatherly, aged apostle John penned a tenderhearted passage on the growth stages in a believer's life.
Read MoreI Have a Father
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For all who are led by the Spirit of God are children of God. …
As we come up to Fathers’ Day, I’m remembering this song. Its a heart-warming reminder of my True Father, and it grabs my grieving soul with its moving music and lyric.
You see, the beautiful person deep inside my earthly father had been often obscured by the abuse of alcohol that trapped his soul and body. (Remembering My Dad)
Oh how sad and painfully tragic! Oh how I miss the real Daddy whom I truly loved yet often “hated” at the same time.
Read MorePraise to You, O Father of Mercies, for These Graduated Beloved Ones
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O Abba Father,
I am so grateful! You worked it out. Despite my sickness and hospitalization, you gave me the desire of my heart … to be at the high school graduations of our two oldest grandsons — in two different states, spaced 10 days apart. Amazing!
Read MoreSurrendering to the Will of Another: my recent hospital stay
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It all started a week ago. At first it seemed to be a severe cold compounded by allergies. But it was continually morphing throughout the week. I cancelled everything I could to rest and recover. Our two oldest grandsons would be graduating soon, though a week apart in different states, and we had plans to be at both.
Read MoreYOU are "Ordained"...for the purpose and pleasure of God!
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Today I witnessed the Ordination to the Gospel ministry of a young man who grew up in our church. It was a very moving experience. And it reminded me of a similar ordination I witnessed back in July of 2013 and the blogpost that I wrote in response.
The reason I would like to share that post again is a powerful truth that the Holy Spirit revealed — we children of God, brothers and sisters in Christ are ALL “ordained by God to minister (serve) for HIS purpose and pleasure while we are on this earth (Acts 13:36).
Read MoreReject Self-Rejection
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Here we are again, sisters and brothers. Let’s think through afresh God’s “masterpiece idea” — us!
For we are God’s masterpiece.
He has created us anew in Christ Jesus,
so we can do the good things he planned for us long ago.
Ephesians 2:10 NLT
A Mothers' Day Pause -- The Emptying's
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There are lots of emptying in life … Motherhood, in particular, is filled with emptyings -- from the emptying of the womb in childbirth to the emptying of self in child-raising. The stripping is hard, every step along the way. And then there is an emptying that affects all mothers sooner or later -- the emptying of the nest.
I know. This is what we have been preparing our children for, right? The launch, the flight out of the safety, security, and nurturing of their childhood home, out into the excitement of what God has for them up ahead.
But who prepares moms for this?
You are NOT an Obstacle to God
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Brothers and sisters in Christ,
Please hear this.
You are not an obstacle to God.
You are His beloved child, His instrument to express His Life on this earth. You are His work of art, His '“poem” He is speaking into His world through you.
Others may think of you as an obstacle, but God is bigger than that. He uses you in your circumstances and relationships to express who He is. Yes, even in your mistakes and failures and fleshly ways. He can turn them around for your good and His amazing purposes today.
Read MoreRemembering Stones: God in YOUR Story
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Remember the wonders he has performed,
his miracles, and the rulings he has given.
Psalm 105:5 NLT
Each of us is on a unique journey and has a story to tell. Our journey-stories are filled with highs and lows, adventures and crises, and everything in between.
Read MoreStone #12: God in My Ordinary
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I’ve come to learn over these years of walking with God that things aren’t always what they seem. The extraordinary is hidden in the ordinary. And let’s face it. You and I live quite ordinary lives. We compartmentalize our lives into secular and sacred. Then we go through each day wondering what this present life is all about. We don’t see the glory all around.
Read MoreRemembering Stones: Reflections on a Life Being Lived
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Live while you are alive. (Patch Adams)
Each of us has a life … the life we were given. We didn’t choose our life. But I guess the issue is, “Are we living while we are alive?” Or, are we waiting till “things settle down,” or, “we lose ____# pounds,” or, “the kids grow up,” or ????, or ????, or ????.
“Things settling down” was always my trap in my early years of adulthood. But things don’t ever settle down, do they? Not for long anyway. They just change. And then the cycle begins again, and so then we never really embrace the life that is ours. So this is what I eventually realized: I need to …
…live the life I have, not the one I wish I had.
Read More[Guest Post] Rumination on a Total Solar Eclipse
/![[Guest Post] Rumination on a Total Solar Eclipse](https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/564e2a34e4b0ad118963f571/1712619354602-MWWTUDW23T7XCMMVG3V4/john.jpg)
… Happy Total Eclipse Day from Dayton, Ohio,
Just thinking out loud about the total eclipse here today. Amazing! What a unique experience! Surprised at the switch-flip to darkness that didn’t happen until the very last rays disappeared! Even saw one star come out during totality!
Are You Guarding an Empty Tomb?
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It is Finished!
But why are so many of us "guarding an empty tomb," trying to keep the shame of memories, regrets, sins of the past from impinging themselves on our present as if these offenses are still alive...and unforgiven?
Read MoreEaster Bonnets and Bunnies: Living in Newness of Life
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I have two younger sisters, Linda and Nancy. At Easter every year, our mom would dress us up in our ruffly Easter dresses, shoes, purses, and of course, bonnets. Since I am the oldest of the three, my Easter clothes were usually brand new. My younger two sisters, on the other hand, had hand-me-downs, but they were “new to them.” This was especially true when it came to our Easter bonnets.
Read MoreA Word of Reunion
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Now I lay me down to sleep. I pray the Lord my soul to keep. If I should die before I wake, I pray the Lord my soul to take.
So goes a traditional nighttime prayer taught by American moms to their children for generations. It may seem odd to us today that there would be the mention of death in a child's prayer. But scientists say that sleep is the closest we come to death while still alive. The Greeks even had a proverb,
Sleep and death are brothers.
However, in the first century, Jewish moms taught their children a different bedtime prayer...quoting Psalm 31:
Father, into Your hands I commit my spirit.
Read MoreA Word of Completion
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Tetelestai!* It is finished! The death of Christ on the Cross is the HINGE of human history...and nowbefore He breathes His last breath... a cry of victory,It is finished!
What's finished? It must be something BIG,...look at what happened when Jesus died:
At that moment the curtain in the sanctuary of the Temple was torn in two, from top to bottom. The earth shook, rocks split apart, and tombs opened. The bodies of many godly men and women who had died were raised from the dead.
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