Hi Gathering Family,

I hope you’ve enjoyed the topic of embracing your design. This week, we will move into part two where you will take an introspective look at how God has uniquely designed you to determine how you might make an impact here at the end of the world as we know it. Continue reading →

Ready for some more heavenly hope? If you missed the first installment of this topic, you can find the Rapture Ready article here: “Heavenly Hope.” We rapture watchers sure do need an ample dose of hope most days to keep us hanging on. If you’re anything like me, you thought we would be outta here by now. While the world goes crazier than we ever thought we would see and attacks on us and our families only intensify, many of us are becoming battle weary and experiencing deep despair. Some days and some seasons, it all simply becomes too much to handle, our hope wanes, and we try our best to escape the battlefield.

Bad news alert: It’s only going to get worse. There’s not much I see on the horizon in the way of relief other than Jesus. The closer the devil gets to his foretold end, the more his demonic activity is going to ramp up and his attacks intensify. My family and your family are targets and will remain in the enemy’s crosshairs. Without hope, how are we to stand firm? The loss of hope can turn catastrophic in the life of a believer and allow the devil’s predictable opposition to become unforeseen oppression. We noted in the previous installment how opposition stands in our way, but is surmountable, whereas oppression stands on our head and sits us down. Continue reading…

Assaulted, that’s the word that would best express what I’ve felt so far in 2023. I’ve been under attack and under fire. The year started off in January with my father’s horrific suicide, a journey I conveyed in an article here on Rapture Ready titled When Darkness Prevails. At the time I was working on Heavenly Vision, a segment of what has become the “Heavenly” series. Even prior to my dad’s death, the Lord was challenging me to maintain heavenly vision rather than earthly vision, to fix my eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of my faith. When I do that, I know the story isn’t over, no matter what’s happening around me.

If I’ve ever needed that reminder, it’s here now in June. Since my dad’s death, in the past four months, my younger brother had two strokes, my husband lost his job, and my older brother, at only fifty-nine, was placed in skilled memory care for fast-progressing, early-onset dementia. He’s all but lost to us already. Seriously, my family and I have truly been under fire.

I know I’m not alone in this. You have been under fire too and have experienced family tragedies. I get emails from readers who are dealing with hardships and heartbreak, assaulted lives and homes and families. A common theme is our prodigal adult kids. I’m there with you on that one too. Our children, young and grown alike, are in the enemy’s crosshairs as he wages an all-out offensive against them. Continue Reading…