When I was a little girl, one of my favorite places to go was the library. Whenever I’d go, I’d always leave with a stack of books as long as my arms. My dad used to yell at me, saying, “You’re never going to read all those books in two weeks before you need to return them! Pare it down!” My mom would laugh and shake her head, knowing full well I’d gobble every book up. A few months ago, I remembered this part of my childhood and realized: Somewhere along the way, I got too busy to read.

Jesus’ birth was no accident; that’s something we’ve been really driving home over the past few weeks. His arrival was foretold in the Old Testament numerous times in psalms and songs, from prophets, and from God Himself. And since everything from his lineage, to the place and circumstances of Jesus’ birth were already in scripture, we could be sure that when it actually happened, we’d have the ability to check and prove that this birth was the arrival of the Messiah God had promised us. Without this foreshadowing, we might have accepted any liar that wanted to masquerade and exploit themselves as the promise of God.

When I was a kid, I was always confused as to why Jesus was considered a part of Joseph’s bloodline. I mean, Jesus and Joseph shared no physical blood. Jesus was conceived with no participation from Joseph, so how could the Bible claim Jesus as a part of Joseph’s lineage?

Over the past six months, I’ve touched a few times on how we can see God the Father alluding to Jesus and the coming cross over and over again throughout the Old Testament. The first we see it is in Genesis 3, “And I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your offspring and hers; he will crush your head, and you will strike his heel.” Or when we focused on Genesis 15, where God made the old covenant with Abram as groundwork for the new covenant that Jesus’ blood would afford us.

For church this week, Sam and I decided to go to an in-person service. During the sermon, the pastor started talking about Paul. Specifically, how Paul and some of the people that traveled with him went through some pretty severe persecution for being preachers and teachers for Christ. And while I can agree with what he was trying to say, which was that Paul and his friends counted their suffering as joy for the cause of Christ and that suffering was the worldly price for Godly obedience; I didn’t agree with his delivery of the point.

2020 has been a year of hard knocks. I don’t care who you are, but I don’t think anyone had an easy year. Some are jobless, some are mourning the loss of loved ones, and some are living in day-to-day fear, loneliness, and frustration. It was a year of missed plans, disappointment, and cancelled travels. It might seem, as we approach Thanksgiving, that there is not much to be thankful for. Instead, we may want to hide in our homes, order in, and shake our fists at God for all the things that aren’t going for us.

I don’t like really talking politics on Soul Deep. I never want to use this site as a manipulation tool or a soapbox. From its founding, I wanted to build a site and a ministry that pushed people towards Jesus and revealed deep truths about Him. I pray that I have used my very small platform to help you see more of God’s character and His love for you. I pray that I’ve never come across as a teacher that pushes her own agenda over the God-breathed word. I would never want my own political ideology to come through stronger than the standard of God’s heart.

2020 has been a major year for me in learning to tame my tongue. It started earlier this year when my manager at work started calling me out for speaking harshly on the phone. And maybe I knew it was true, but I didn’t realize how deep my problem ran. I mean, everyone does it at one time or another. I always had an excuse.

I’ve been leading us up to this moment for a few weeks now. First, we got to see Abram and God lay out the terms of the contract; Abram needing a son, and God promising to give him that son and make him into a nation. Then, we got to see the making of a contract, seeing the beauty in the seemingly bloody and violent covenant.

I think any Christian that has a real grasp of the Bible has this down: God made a covenant with Abraham at the beginning of the Old Testament, but Jesus died to create a better covenant at the start of the New Testament. The old covenant was specifically for the Jewish people. The new was for Jew and Gentile. The old promise was the law and the new promise was grace.

I was an only child until my brother came along. My memories of the days before he came along are limited, but I remember we lived on a busy street, so it made forming friendships with other kids on our block difficult because we couldn’t just go out and play. I remember asking my mom if she was going to have another baby so I could have a little sibling. A friend.

A few years ago, my childhood pastor gave a sermon on the controversial Old Testament vs. New Testament debate. You know, the one where one side of the fence thinks we can just throw away the Old Testament and only study the New Testament, because it’s the new covenant that replaces the old. The other side of the fence thinks that the inclusion of the New Testament in the Bible is a contradiction to God’s original word. One side believes that God is lawful judgement, and to focus too much on His love is to water down His sovereign word. The other believes that God is love, and to dwell too much in the Old Testament covenant is a decision to not see God in the fullness of His character.

When it comes to the opening chapters of the Bible, Eve always gets a bad wrap. And no, I’m not looking to play a blame game today over who caused the fall of man, but this week, I re-read this story and a lot of things jumped out at me that I’d like to take some time to look at. I don’t necessarily want to call this whole thing a “series,” but I might possibly take more than one week to unpack it.

I think this passage in the Bible is one of the most well-known ones. Even if you’ve never gone to Sunday school, never picked up a Bible, and never had a faith of your own, chances are, you’ve heard fragments of this verse someway, somehow. Whether it’s a scripture reading at a wedding ceremony you attended or printed on some trendy home decoration at Marshall’s, 1 Corinthians 13 tends to be one of those Bible verses that crossed over into secular culture at one point or another.

I started to be involved in ministry when I was 10 years old, where once every other month, I’d spend one Sunday service in my church’s nursery. Yes, it was a small beginning, but to me, it was fun. We’d rock babies into their morning naps, run after toddlers playing with dolls and trains and puzzles, and give them a snack before their parents picked them up.

Hey Pops, I’ve been frustrated recently, remembering where I’ve been in the past and not feeling like I’m there before. I know that I shouldn’t compare where I used to be with where I am now, but sometimes, I can’t help it. I feel like I should be deeper, more confident, or more satisfied. To be honest, I can’t put my finger on exactly what I feel is missing or why I can’t seem to stir myself up to enjoy you more consistently.