Category: spiritual

  • The Passions of Christ’s Advent, a devotional.

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    Jocelyn
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    One year ago, at Christmastime, a dear friend of mine gave me a devotional for the season of advent. It was beautiful and inspiring: a series of printed cards that I displayed on a garland in my home, along with a paragraph of thoughts for each day. Fast forward to a couple of months ago.…

  • How many kids should we have?

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    Jocelyn
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    The whole issue of choosing whether or not to have children, when to have children, and how many children to have is extremely multi-faceted. It is an issue that has preoccupied recent generations far more than the generations preceding us simply due to the sponsorship of its patron saint: birth controls.* I know you know…

  • “Done!”

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    Jocelyn
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    Do you ever have those moments when several things you’ve been reading, hearing, thinking about, meditating on, all come together at once in a crystal clear and profound way? And in the midst of all of that lucidity, you get all teary and feeling grateful and everyone around you is probably thinking, ‘What’s withĀ her???’Ā Well a…

  • Happy New Year! & #cruconf

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    Jocelyn
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    Happy New Year!                 I’m still feeling so blessed and refreshed in my heart from spending the last few days of 2013 hanging out and catching up with so many close friends at Cru ConferenceĀ – all staying in the same hotel and many of them freed of their…

  • Heart Treasure

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    Jocelyn
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    When I was a junior in college, I read an article by Bill Hybels called ā€œThe Art of Self Leadership.ā€ The article helped me self-reflect in a way Iā€™d never known before, and it changed my life so dramatically that I made it a habit to read it annually. One thing Hybels addressed was, ā€œWhat…

  • True Generosity?

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    Jocelyn
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    2 Corinthians 9:8 And God is able to bless you abundantly, so that in all things at all times, having all that you need, you will abound in every good work. It was a late spring morning a few years ago when I read this verse during my quiet time for the first time. I…

  • From Barren to Happy

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    Jocelyn
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      This morning I read:   “He settles the barren woman in her home as a happy mother of children. Praise the LORD.” Psalm 113:9   I’ve never been barren in the infertile sense. But I look back on my life before I had children and can easily see how barren I was — barren…

  • Financial Freedom and Financial Security

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    Jocelyn
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    Everyone talks aboutĀ financial freedomĀ andĀ financial security…always out of reach. To me, financial freedom is not having more money than I know what to do with. (How can I be sure that my appetite will not balloon along with my paychecks?) And, to me, financial security is not being one hundred percent sure that I will always…

  • The Sunshine of His Presence

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    Jocelyn
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    My favorite way to start the day is when I wake up before 2boys and have even just 30 minutes to myself in a quiet home. Yesterday, for some reason, I awoke naturally at 4:45am and decided just to get up and enjoy some extended time to read, reflect, and write. I was sitting at…

  • “You are so much adult.”

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    Jocelyn
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    This morning I was reading a chapter inĀ The Christian’s Secret of a Happy LifeĀ that talked about living in the liberty of a child. All of sudden,Ā I heard, in the quietness of my spirit, “My dear Jocey, you are so much adult.” And I thought, “He’s right. {He often calls me ‘dear Jocey’ so that I…