Posted on August 18, 2026
by Paris Renae
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Joy is returning. I had to fight for it. Anything worthy requires persistence. February through July were like a sunset slowly becoming sunrise. A life chapter closed and for a while night set in. Part way through, dawn began drawing me back, awakening me.… Continue Reading “Assured”
Category: featuredTags: assurance, awakening, blind, change, child, choice, confident, dark, depression, doubt, drama, emotion, eternity, evil, faithful, fearful, fight, forever, friend, God, good, grief, happy, hide, Holy Spirit, hope, human, Jesus, joy, life, loss, night, pain, peace, power, pray, purpose, reality, rejected, rest, restoration, retreat, sad, soul, spouse, strength, tearful, trauma, trust, truth, weary, weep, world, worry, worthy
Posted on April 15, 2026
by Paris Renae
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“The days are long, but the years are short.” A little wood block painted black with white lettering makes me look off in the distance. From my current viewpoint, it seems the days were short as well. I blinked and forty-two years had passed.… Continue Reading “You know”
Category: featuredTags: brokenness, calm, children, death, despair, diagnosis, dream, emotion, forever, freedom, God, graduate, grandchildren, grief, heart, heartbreak, home, husband, illness, Jesus, life, loneliness, longing, Lord, love, memories, pain, prayer, promise, Psalm, purpose, regret, rejoice, relationship, salvation, sickness, sorrow, soul, travel, trust, truth, viewpoint, weep, worry, young
Posted on October 10, 2025
by Paris Renae
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Most of us dream this: meet prince charming, get married, have kids, live comfortably, die holding hands while rocking side by side on the porch. But life… Sometimes that dream is shattered by abuse, or divorce, or childlessness, or a child dying, or a… Continue Reading “When your dream changes”
Category: featuredTags: abuse, accept, agony, assurance, beautiful, best, birth, change, Christ, comfort, die, divorce, dream, earth, eternity, expectation, faith, Father, free, God, good, heart, heaven, hope, illness, inheritance, Jesus, kids, life, Lord, married, mercy, old, peace, personal, perspective, possible, power, praise, prince, promise, rebel, relax, resurrection dead, rich, salvation, special, spouse, time, treasure, truth, wish, write, young
Posted on July 24, 2025
by Paris Renae
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My best friend needed encouragement. Problem is, she lives 3000+ miles away. I texted her this: “You are loved, you are enough, Jesus says so.” Later I thought: this is truth, one of the authors in the Bible should have written that. But wait…they… Continue Reading “Jesus says so”
Category: featuredTags: accuse, angel, angry, assurance, Bible, chosen, Christ, condemnation, control, darkness, debt, demon, earth, eath, enemy, fear, forever, friend, genie, God, grace, heart, hell, holy, hope, imperfect, Jesus, light, love, messenger, nature, perfect, power, praise, priest, problem, royal, sacrifice, Savior, selfish, silence, sin, sincere, special, tears, text, treasure, trial, truth, victory, worry
Posted on May 30, 2025
by Paris Renae
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Usually, when we least expect it, something happens that slows the path we’re on. Often unwelcome. For me this week it’s been a mild illness – so mild it’s hard to name it, but enough to break up my rhythm and hinder my plans.… Continue Reading “Unexpected slowing”
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Posted on April 23, 2025
by Paris Renae
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I wish you could have seen it. Easter Sunday as our family attended a sunrise service, the pastor started explaining Romans 10:9 (ESV) “if you confess with your mouth, ‘Jesus is Lord,’ and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead,… Continue Reading “Right Here”
Category: featuredTags: author, believe, challenge, character, confess, created, dead, doubt, Easter, faith, family, fear, God, grown-up, heart, honext, Jesus, knowledge, legacy, life, Lord, love, mercy, mouth, news, novel, pastor, prayer, pride, rejoice, relationship, roman, saved, seek, survive, tears, truth, wish, woman
Posted on April 2, 2025
by Paris Renae
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Sunday morning the pastor had chosen a passage that seemed like an unlikely way to illustrate a point. As he progressed, he showed us how all of God’s Word is relevant at all times and is food for our souls. The topic was based… Continue Reading “No matter what?”
Category: featuredTags: angel, bad, belief, Bible, child, compassion, daughter, death, demon, disappoint, discipline, emotional, eternity, fault, fear, forever, God, good, grow, heart, hell, Holy Spirit, immature, lie, life, longing, Lord, love, men, pain, pastor, perfection, physical, satan, selfish, soul, strange, struggle, stumble, suffer, time, truth, why, women, world, worry, worth, wrong
Posted on March 12, 2025
by Paris Renae
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A pastor and author that I’ve come to dearly love, announced it is time for him to step down from his role. He’s in his 70s and physically things aren’t going well. Tears sprang to my eyes. I’ve learned so much from him. Through… Continue Reading “Courage”
Category: featuredTags: afraid, assure, author, battle, Bible, Christ, courage, creator, encourage, encurance, eternal, faith, Father, forever, friend, frightening, God, grace, heaven, help, Holy Spirit, hope, Jesus, life, Lord, love, money, painful, pastor, persecution, power, promise, prophet, scary, scripture, strength, teach, tears, torture, trouble, truth, ugly, world
Posted on March 5, 2025
by Paris Renae
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Looking up I noticed light creeping through the window edges, the fringes of dawn. As I raised the curtains I smiled at the beginning of a new day. I’m a morning person; I love first light. I’m also a walking, hiking person. Give me… Continue Reading “No comparison”
Category: featuredTags: affliction, age, beautiful, calm, cares, comparison, dawn, details, discover, earth, eternity, forever, gift, glory, hike, Holy Spirit, home, husband, imagine, Jesus, jewel, love, morning, nature, smile, strong, temporary, thank, time, trail, trouble, truth, valuable, walk, woe, world
Posted on February 19, 2025
by Paris Renae
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I was starting to read a devotion by one of my favorite authors (Holley Gerth) when she mentioned she felt God ask, ‘Will you let me use you, right here and right now?’ I put the book down and responded in my heart: ‘Every… Continue Reading “Every day, every way”
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