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Slightly Obsessed #223: Right Clothes, Wrong Spirit
Beware of the false prophets, who come to you in sheep’s clothing, but inwardly are ravenous wolves. – Matthew 7:15 Turn on the television, and the assault begins. The whole world appears to be shouting, “Look at me! Look at me!” Everyone wants to sell their worldviews, their products, or their validation. The church isn’t…
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Slightly Obsessed #222: The Rain
And he prayed again, and the heaven gave rain, and the earth brought forth her fruit. – James 5:18 This summer has lain heavy on my soul. As the hills surrounding my valley turned dry and brown in the daily heat, so I have withered under an unrelenting spiritual oppression. I read my Bible, prayed…
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Slightly Obsessed #221: Are You Green and Sappy?
The righteous man will flourish like the palm tree, He will grow like a cedar in Lebanon. Planted in the house of the LORD, They will flourish in the courts of our God. They will still yield fruit in old age; They shall be full of sap and very green, To declare that the LORD…
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Slightly Obsessed #220: We Only Have One Job
Because He has loved Me, therefore I will deliver him; I will set him securely on high, because he has known My name. He will call upon Me, and I will answer him; I will be with him in trouble; I will rescue him and honor him. With a long life I will satisfy him…
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Slightly Obsessed #219: When the Hedge Comes Down, Part 3
Then Job said, ‘Therefore I have declared that which I did not understand, Things too wonderful for me, which I did not know. I have heard of You by the hearing of the ear; But now my eye sees You; Therefore, I retract, And I repent in dust and ashes.’ – Job 42:3b, 5-6 Job…
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Slightly Obsessed #218: When the Hedge Comes Down, Part 2.
Satan said, ‘Does Job fear God nothing? Have You not made a hedge about him and his house and all that he has, on every side? But put forth Your hand now and touch all that he has; he will surely curse You to Your face.’ – Job 1:9, 10a, 11 Behind the Veil The…
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Slightly Obsessed #217: When the Hedge Comes Down
Satan said, ‘Have You not made a hedge about him and his house and all that he has, on every side? You have blessed the work of his hands, and his possessions have increased in the land. But put forth Your hand now and touch all that he has; he will surely curse You to…
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Slightly Obsessed #216: Daddy Has You
Just as a father has compassion on his children, So the Lord has compassion on those who fear Him. – Psalm 103:13 They call them fur babies, those pets we adore and spoil and spend too much money on each year. The other day I rolled up to a stop light along with the usual…
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Slightly Obsessed #215: Sunday School Had It Right
Let them praise the name of the Lord, For His name alone is exalted; His glory is above earth and heaven. – Psalm 148:13 A Ugandan acquaintance of ours once told us how he learned to master his Sunday school lessons. “The right answer,” he said with a grin, “is always, ‘Jesus.’ As a child, no…
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Slightly Obsessed #214: Friendly Fire
We love, because He first loved us. If someone says, ‘I love God,’ and hates his brother, he is a liar; for the one who does not love his brother whom he has seen, cannot love God whom he has not seen. – 1 John 4:19-20 In 1788, the Austrians were at war with Turkey. Determined…
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Slightly Obsessed #213: God of the Mountains
By Rebekah Hamley I always feel closest to God when I’m in nature. And on my hike in the Hunua Range, New Zealand, I felt His presence all around me. Life has thrown many challenges these last couple months and my future is full of unknowns, but as I explored His magnificent creation, I…
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Slightly Obsessed #212: Believe
For man is born for trouble, As sparks fly upward. – Job 5:7 Jesus said, ‘Do not let your heart be troubled; believe in God, believe also in Me.’ – John 14:1 If it can go wrong, it will. It is said that the author of that gem was Captain Edward A. Murphy. He reportedly…
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Slightly Obsessed #211: Can a Worm Fly?
He does great things which we cannot comprehend. – Job 37:5 NKJV The harvest long gone, the ground lay in deep slumber. A tiny hard seed fell unnoticed to the earth. For months it lay unseen. But within that tiny shell, the blueprint for a full-grown tree rested in the cold, black soil. In spring,…
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Slightly Obsessed #210: Arise
Do not be afraid any longer, only believe. – Mark 5:36 She lay on her bed with her eyes closed, her long, black lashes kissing her gaunt cheeks. Her father hovered over her in distress, the sight of her ravaged body disemboweling him again. He had never, ever, felt so helpless, so full of pain.…
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Slightly Obsessed #209: Look Up
Should evil come upon us, the sword, or judgment, or pestilence, or famine, we will stand before this house and before You (for Your name is in this house) and cry to You in our distress, and You will hear and deliver us. – 2 Chronicles 20:9 A multitude of enemy warriors marched to war…
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Slightly Obsessed #208: Scorched by Trial
Lift up a song for Him who rides through the deserts, Whose name is the LORD, and exult before Him. – Psalm 68:4 A new year usually begins with hope and promise set against the backdrop of winter. My new year began in the heat of a blistering emotional desert. People I love are in…
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Slightly Obsessed #207: The Real Avenger
Never take your own revenge, beloved, but leave room for the wrath of God, for it is written, ‘Vengeance is Mine, I will repay,’ says the Lord. – Romans 12:19 The person on the other end of the phone line needed my last name. When I gave it to him, he paused before asking, “Are…
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Slightly Obsessed #206 A Portrait of Faith: Willing to Learn
Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. – Matthew 11:29 NKJV Decades ago, when my husband and I were new Christians, a series of small and incidental “signs” convinced us a windfall was coming our way. We…
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Slightly Obsessed #205: A Portrait of Faith: The Courage to Trust
And those who know Your name trust in You, For You, O LORD, have not forsaken those who seek You. – Psalm 9:10 A frigid cold descended in the night upon the river valley. The next morning, a deceptively innocent breath of frost kissed the new deck outside the front door. A toddler and his…
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Slightly Obsessed #204 A Portrait of Faith: The Obedient Heart
Has the LORD as much delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices As in obeying the voice of the LORD? Behold, to obey is better than sacrifice…. – 1 Samuel 15:22 The Old Testament prophet Samuel visited King Saul soon after he was set into power as king of Israel. Samuel arrived to deliver a command…
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Slightly Obsessed #203: God Doesn’t Need Our Thanks
It is good to give thanks to the LORD, And to sing praises to Thy name, O Most High – Psalm 92:1 God doesn’t need our thanks. If we were to walk through an open door to heaven as the apostle John did in a vision during his imprisonment on Patmos, we wouldn’t find a…
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Slightly Obsessed #202 A Portrait of Faith: Living to Please God
If I were still trying to please men, I would not be a bond-servant of Christ. – Galatians 1:10 The Scriptures tell us it is impossible to please God without faith. But how does pleasing God present evidence of our faith to a dying world? In Hebrews 11, the “faith chapter” describes acts of faith…
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Slightly Obsessed #201 A Portrait of Faith: Thirsty
Jesus said, Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be satisfied. – Matthew 5:6 Ask a Christian what the word “faith” means, and you’re likely to hear a quote from the Bible. Most of us know at least part of the King James version of Hebrews 11:1, which tells…
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Slightly Obsessed #200: God Sees Your Despair
God said, ‘Because he has loved Me, therefore I will deliver him.’ – Psalm 91:14 She was well-dressed, beautiful, and accomplished. She had just flown across the country to teach at a conference and looked fully the part. Sharp. Witty. Color-coordinated. And she may have left with that image safely in place, except that she…
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Slightly Obsessed #199: Let No One Take Your Song
Praise the LORD! Sing to the LORD a new song, And His praise in the congregation of the godly ones. – Psalm 149:1 An Age under Judgment A 2014 Fox News poll reported fifty-eight percent of voters polled in the U. S. believe the world is, in their words, “going to hell in a handbasket.”*…
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Slightly Obsessed 198: When There is No Way Forward
Jesus said, ‘If you have faith the size of a mustard seed, you will say to this mountain, ‘Move from here to there,’ and it will move; and nothing will be impossible to you.’ – Matthew 17:20 All I remember is a small room filled with people and a sour-faced doctor. I can’t tell you…
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Slightly Obsessed #197: The Thief at Your Door
Jesus said, ‘The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I came that they may have life, and have it abundantly.’ – John 10:10 Trouble comes in waves, hitting you when you least expect it. The dog gets sick, the transmission falls out of the car, an unexpected doctor bill comes due, and…
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Slightly Obsessed #196: Is Your God Too Small?
Behold, I am the LORD, the God of all flesh; is anything too difficult for Me? – Jeremiah 32:27 Across the United States, nature has been on a rampage. A series of earthquakes, fires, hurricanes, and tornadoes have wreaked havoc on many communities this summer. In August, the sky briefly turned to dusk as the…
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Slightly Obsessed #195: What Is the Apocalypse?
So it will be on the day when the Son of Man is revealed. – Luke 17:30 (English Standard Version) Add -pocalypse or -mageddon to any event and create your own disaster. The Long Range Weather Forecast published by The Old Farmer’s Almanac 2017 accurately predicted a bitter winter last year, which dumped so much…
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Slightly Obsessed #194 Heaven Is Calling: More than an Angel
For to which of the angels did God ever say: ‘You are my Son; today I have become Your Father’? Or again: ‘I will be His Father, and He will be My Son’? – Hebrews 1:5 (Berean Study Bible) God couldn’t have said it much plainer than in Hebrews 1:5. The question is rhetorical, with…
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Slightly Obsessed #193: The Day America Looked Up
The sun will be turned to darkness and the moon to blood before the great and remarkable Day of the Lord comes. – Acts 2:20 (Holman Christian Standard Bible) They came from around the world, transfixed by the spectacle. They filled motels, jammed the highways, and staked their claim on a piece of history as…
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Slightly Obsessed #192: Heaven Is Calling: Consider Jesus
Therefore, holy brethren, partakers of a heavenly calling, consider Jesus, the Apostle and High Priest of our confession. – Hebrews 3:1 Some days we can barely hear it. Other days it drives us to our knees. But it’s always there, a persistent tug in our souls. Whether we trudge through our days or chase the…
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Slightly Obsessed #191: Give the Gift of Courage
Therefore encourage one another and build up one another, just as you also are doing. – 1 Thessalonians 5:11 My father lay propped up in the hospital bed, his face ashen against the white sheets. My stepmother and I huddled around him in the cramped space of the progressive care unit in which he recuperated. He had…
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Slightly Obsessed #190: A Warbird’s Lesson
Surely I will uphold you with My righteous right hand. – Isaiah 41:10 On a recent hot July day, we took in an air show in our town. Vintage planes, including a couple of impressive old warbirds, sat majestically on the tarmac for inspection as we darted from wing to wing to find relief from…
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Slightly Obsessed #189: The Calling
Do not fear, for I have redeemed you; I have called you by name; you are Mine! – Isaiah 43:1 It must have been a haunting reminder. For three days his faith lay in the grave with the Savior’s body, tormented by the rooster’s crow mocking his proclamation of loyalty and public desertion. After the…
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Slightly Obsessed #188: Freedom
So if the Son makes you free, you will be free indeed. – John 8:36 He shouted, “Freedom!” as he plowed his car at twenty-one miles an hour into the granite monument engraved with the Ten Commandments. A video posted on the suspect’s Facebook page depicted the man in his car facing the monument as…
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Slightly Obsessed #187: He Reigns
The LORD reigns, let the earth rejoice. – Psalm 97:1 He reigns. Has a more beautiful declaration ever been written? Without that truth, we would have been forever lost to life after Eden. But because all authority belongs to God, Satan has no chance of wresting the universe from Him. Because God reigns, Jesus could…
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Slightly Obsessed #186: When the Path Ahead Is Fearsome
Listen to this article: Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I fear no evil, for You are with me. – Psalm 23:4 The room lay in shadows, the only sound within its walls the rhythmic whoosh of the ventilator beside my son’s bed. I sat on an uncomfortable chair…
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Slightly Obsessed #185: Clean
Christ also loved the church, and gave Himself for it; That He might sanctify and cleanse it with the washing of water by the word. – Ephesians 5:25-26 They were just turning down the lights in the sanctuary as I slid into a seat near the back of the church. I was tired and…
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Slightly Obsessed #184: The Mark of Maturity
I gave you milk to drink, not solid food, for you were not yet able to receive it. – I Corinthians 3:2 The infant finishes his bottle and smiles contentedly. A trickle of milk courses down from the corner of his mouth. It’s a sweet scene because it’s what babies do. They are born with…
Author Profile
Pamela Thorson
Believer, wife, mom, grandma, nurse. Contributor at cmaddict.com. Homeschooling vet. Daughter of the American Revolution. Charred but still standing.