The Bible heroes are incredibly flawed yet the Bible has something to say to us in an attempt to understand our purpose. Despite all our flaws, we can have hope that God draws straight lines with crooked sticks and will break through to lead us to be the kind of people we yearn to be.

Jesus Christ stared death in the face. He died for you and for me. He conquered death. Everyone who has hope in Jesus purifies himself just as Jesus is pure. Life is challenging and can make you retreat and fearful. But love is the goal.

The Lord leads us into our purpose and he knows that when we step fully into our purpose as sons and daughters of God, we will face the adversary. The devil wants to tempt us to turn God's promises into proofs and to impose our finite interpretations on his infinite ways. He wants to split us from God and from others and from our conscience. We can ask Jesus to show us how to take up the armor of God, how to sing the praises of God, and never be derailed.

The moment we believe we are beloved children of God our paths shine brighter. He has claimed you and his intent is for your light to continue to shine brighter, if you do not shrink back. When you turned your life over to the Lord, he said, “I've got this. I will carry it on to completion in you until the day of Christ Jesus.”

The invitation that Jesus gives throughout the gospels is both a spoken invitation and an unspoken invitation. Many who listened to the invitation experienced its power and saw he truly was who he said he was. If we haven't said yes to His invitation, there's something missing in our lives. We’re all invited into this loving relationship, but we need to say Yes.

Scriptures: Matthew 4: 18-28, John 11

Our fears become obstacles and barriers to trusting God. Essentially we're saying to God “My fears are greater than your abilities.” God says “fear not” because fear can sink us faster than anything. Fear can keep us away from trusting Him. Once you're empowered to trust God, you begin to do things that are beyond your fears.

Scriptures: Matthew 14: 22-23, Isaiah 43

Jesus came to give up his godliness and to serve. Being a servant is a difficult call on anyone's life, but we know it's a call to lower ourselves to see the needs of others. It is in serving others that we see the grace of God and that we receive the grace of God.

Encouragement is powerful and has amazing impacts on people. It’s a tangible way to love others and change lives. It's looking at others in our connected world and telling them we appreciate them. But it's not just about what others do for us, it’s the tool that battles the shame and untrue messages about ourselves.

The family is a privileged place where God designed himself to be revealed to our children and to us. In the midst of the tension families create; God is fully present. Gratitude is the first step from going where you are to wherever it is to being fully alive.

Our lives and the world that we live in are broken. Experiencing brokenness is part of being human. The story of the Prodigal Son unveils this sin that's at the heart of the story for both of the brothers. Does our own brokenness relate to the younger son, the older son or by some strange confluence of the two? In what ways do we try to deal with our brokenness and make sense out of all of it?