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Slightly Obsessed #183: He Knows Your Name
To him the doorkeeper opens, and the sheep hear his voice, and he calls his own sheep by name and leads them out. – John 10 All sheep look alike to me. Defenseless, timid, and nondescript creatures, they tend to wander and get into trouble. When one falls, it needs help to get back on…
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Slightly Obsessed #182: When Speaking the Truth Makes You the Enemy
So have I become your enemy by telling you the truth? – Galatians 4:16 The apostle Paul loved the people of God. After his conversion to Christ, he spent his life not only establishing churches, but also ministering to their needs. He often had the unpleasant duty of confronting issues that threatened the fledgling church,…
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Slightly Obsessed #181: The Moment before the Moment of Revelation
God called to him from the midst of the bush and said, ‘Moses, Moses!’ And he said, ‘Here I am.’ Then He said, ‘Do not come near here; remove your sandals from your feet, for the place on which you are standing is holy ground.’ He said also, ‘I am the God of your father, the…
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Slightly Obsessed #180: At the Brink
Now the LORD said to Abram, Go forth from your country, And from your relatives And from your father’s house, To the land which I will show you. – Genesis 12:1 Today, the ancient Biblical town of Haran sits in ruins. But in the time of Abram, later given the new name of Abraham, it…
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Slightly Obsessed #179: He’s Alive!
I am the Living One; I was dead, and now look, I am alive for ever and ever! And I hold the keys of death and Hades. -Revelation 1:18 Israel prayed for a Messiah, but God arrived. They yearned for freedom from Rome, but He offered them deliverance from themselves. They looked for a…
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Slightly Obsessed #178: The Nuclear Option
If you loved Me, you would have rejoiced because I go to the Father, for the Father is greater than I. – John 14:28 Nuclear reaction: A process, such as fission, fusion, or radioactive decay, in which the structure of an atomic nucleus is altered through release of energy or mass or by being broken…
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Slightly Obsessed #177: Feet of Clay: When Your Best Isn’t Enough
Now faith is the reality of what is hoped for, the proof of what is not seen. For our ancestors won God’s approval by it. – Hebrews 11:1 (HCSB) Ever feel like a failure? I do, and often. My desk overflows with a never-ending pile of unfinished work. My job as a fulltime caregiver is…
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Slightly Obsessed #176: Why Noah Should Matter to Us
Thus Noah did; according to all that God had commanded him, so he did. – Genesis 6:22 Noah had already lived much of his life when God called him to build the ark. He was not a young man when the fate of humanity was placed upon his shoulders. It was a fearful…
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Slightly Obsessed #175: The Scarlet Thread
How much more will the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered Himself without blemish to God, cleanse your conscience from dead works to serve the living God? – Hebrews 9:14 Two spies lay hidden in darkness as the king’s men searched for them in the night. Word of their presence in…
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Slightly Obsessed #174 Your Lord Is Coming: Like the Days of Noah, Part 4
Then the LORD said to Noah, ‘Enter the ark, you and all your household, for you alone I have seen to be righteous before Me in this time.’ – Genesis 7:1 The Bible paints a picture of the days prior to Noah’s flood as one of a generation lost. In a world filled with…
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Slightly Obsessed #173: Your Lord Is Coming: Like the Days of Noah, Part 3
By faith Enoch was taken up so that he did not see death. He could not be found, because God had taken him away. For before he was taken, he was commended as one who pleased God. – Hebrews 11:5 (Berean Study Bible) The Enoch Generation A discussion of Noah’s flood as it speaks to…
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Slightly Obsessed #172: Your Lord Is Coming: Like the Days of Noah, Part 2
Then the LORD saw that the wickedness of man was great on the earth, and that every intent of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually. – Genesis 6:5 Theories abound on the timing and manner of the return of Jesus Christ. It’s not hard to find Scriptures to support opposing viewpoints, and…
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Slightly Obsessed #171: Your Lord Is Coming: Like the Days of Noah
[In the coming weeks, Slightly Obsessed will explore the Scriptures regarding end-time events and what Jesus meant when He said the coming of the Son of Man will be “just like the days of Noah.”] Therefore be on the alert, for you do not know which day your Lord is coming. – Matthew 24:42…
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Slightly Obsessed #170: Fully Possessed
But you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for God’s own possession, to proclaim the virtues of Him who called you out of darkness into His marvelous light. – Peter 2:9 (Berean Study Bible) They march. They curse, rant, and riot. They spew their rage all over social…
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Slightly Obsessed #169: Shut Out the Lies
The LORD will fight for you while you keep silent. – Exodus 14:14 I sat on the bed, heart in shreds. An accusation had been hurled at me on social media, again, by the same person. Everything in me fought to defend myself against the lies. Deep inside, though, I knew it was…
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Slightly Obsessed #168: White-Out
Your Word is a lamp to my feet And a light to my path. – Psalm 119:105 The sky hung heavy and gray as I drove my daughter down the long river road to town for her piano lesson. Our valley rarely sees much snow most winters, so I didn’t worry about the…
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Slightly Obsessed #167: The Year I Broke Christmas
And He who sits on the throne said, ‘Behold, I am making all things new.’ – Revelation 21:5 It’s all a blur in my head, the snippet of a memory more than fifty years back. I couldn’t have been more than five and my little brother was two or three. Christmas came late…
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Slightly Obsessed #166: Take Courage
Matthew 9:20-22; Mark 5:25-34; Luke 8:43-48 Daughter, take courage; your faith has made you well. – Matthew 9:22 The twelve-year-old daughter of an important synagogue ruler named Jairus lay dying. Jairus entreated Jesus to come and heal her. As Jesus walked to the man’s house, the crowds pressed against him on every side. The…
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Slightly Obsessed #165: We Need Each Other
“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 4:20 It’s happened to me. It’s probably happened to you. Something is said on social media. Somebody…
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Slightly Obsessed #164 An Army of One
For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the powers, against the world forces of this darkness, against the spiritual forces of wickedness in the heavenly places. – Ephesians 6:12 He was armed only with a sword purchased from a home-shopping network, a dagger, a pistol, and a pair of night-vision goggles. He imagined God ordained him…
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Slightly Obsessed #163 God and the Ballot Box
“Every person is to be in subjection to the governing authorities. For there is no authority except from God, and those which exist are established by God.” -Romans 13:1 To vote or not to vote. That is the question for millions of Americans saddled in November with the task of choosing between two distasteful…
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Slightly Obsessed #162: Are You Spreading Epignosis?
I pray that the fellowship of your faith may become effective through the knowledge of every good thing which is in you for Christ’s sake. – Philemon 1:6 Can you catch epignosis from your friends? It depends on who your friends are. It sounds like the name of a disease you might pick up in…
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Slightly Obsessed #161: A Breath Away from Betrayal
But as for me, my feet came close to stumbling, My steps had almost slipped. – Psalm 73:2 My youngest son was born this week in 1981. We nearly lost him at birth, and I was ill for a very long time afterward. The physical crash precipitated a spiritual crisis of faith. In the…
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Slightly Obsessed #160 Is It Real or Just Raw?
Let no unwholesome word proceed from your mouth, but only such a word as is good for edification according to the need of the moment, so that it will give grace to those who hear. – Ephesians 4:29 According to the Urban Dictionary, the term “keeping it real” means “Do not be fake. Be…
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Slightly Obsessed #159: Volcano
The LORD spoke to you face to face at the mountain from the midst of the fire. – Deuteronomy 5:4 Our youngest son was married in a beautiful ceremony last weekend. For us, it was the culmination of months of harried activity not only preparing for the wedding, but restoring our tired-looking yard for…
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Slightly Obsessed #158: Like a Bride, Waiting
And I saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, made ready as a bride adorned for her husband. -Revelation 21:2 She stands on the church stage with the other members of the worship team, singing the chorus to a Chris Tomlin song in her clear soprano. Like a bride…
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Slightly Obsessed #157: Eyes Wide Open
And He came to the disciples and found them sleeping, and said to Peter, ‘So, you men could not keep watch with Me for one hour?’ – Matthew 26:40 Again He came and found them sleeping, for their eyes were heavy. – Matthew 26:43 Then He came to the disciples and said to them, ‘Are…
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Slightly Obsessed #156: The Promise
This is the promise which He Himself made to us: eternal life. – 1 John 2:25 January, not July, is traditionally the month for resolutions. It’s the symbolic equivalent of a new beginning, when we make all kinds of promises to ourselves and others. But New Year’s promises are notorious for not surviving past…
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Slightly Obsessed #155: Armed and Dangerous
For the weapons of our warfare are not of the flesh, but divinely powerful for the destruction of fortresses. – 2 Cor. 10:4 Never bring a knife to a gunfight. – Original source unknown The United States is embroiled in a battle over national security in the wake of recent shootings. A 2015 poll…
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Slightly Obsessed #154: Outcry
I will go down now, and see if they have done entirely according to its outcry, which has come to Me; and if not, I will know. – Genesis 18:21 Our children love telling their stories of growing up in a log cabin. Now that they’re all adults and have their own lives,…
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Slightly Obsessed #153: Why 2 Chronicles 7:14 May not Mean What You Think
If… My people who are called by My name humble themselves and pray and seek My face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, will forgive their sin and will heal their land. – Chronicles 7:14 King David longed to build the Temple of God for his people. But…
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Slightly Obsessed #152: He Is; We Are
And God said to Moses, “I AM WHO I AM”; and He said, “This is what you shall say to the sons of Israel: ‘I AM has sent me to you.’” – Exodus 3:14 The car snakes past the other drivers as we jockey for position in the fast lane. We accelerate as…
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Slightly Obsessed #151: Why Do We Hide from God?
Then Jesus said, ‘Come to Me….’ – Matthew 11:28 We couldn’t find her all day. P.T. has always been an independent little kitty. She’s a senior citizen in cat years, a streetwise old lady. She loves living outdoors, although she usually comes up every night to be locked safely into the large kitty kennel. Last…
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Slightly Obsessed #150: Between Hope and the Harvest
And hope does not disappoint. – Romans 5:5 Hope lives in my yard. It spills from baskets. It nestles in pots and peeks out from a layer of red mulch. It even inches around the rocks that line the pond at the end of the yard. At my house, hope is the thing with…
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Slightly Obsessed #149: The Mystery Revealed
Now to Him who is able to establish you according to my gospel and the preaching of Jesus Christ, according to the revelation of the mystery which has been kept secret for long ages past… – Romans 16:25 There is nothing more delicious than a good mystery. My bookshelf is lined with Agatha Christie…
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Slightly Obsessed #148 Ambushed By Fear
Yet You are holy, O You who are enthroned upon the praises of Israel. – Psalm 22:3 Praise Is the golden elixir of the soul. It oils our rusty relationship with God. It reaches beyond our fears to the Deliverer. Praise conquers kingdoms, hearts, and attitudes. Praise destroys our enemies. When it looked as…
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Slightly Obsessed #147: Declare War on Your Self
He who is slow to anger is better than the mighty, And he who rules his spirit, than he who captures a city. – Proverbs 16:32 A guy pulls a gun on another customer during a dispute at a fast-food restaurant. A teenager shoots his parents over a video game. A father kills his…
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Slightly Obsessed #146: Is It Possible to Fall from Grace?
You have fallen from grace. – Galatians 5:4 He stands sweating in the spotlight, fending off a crush of media circling the podium at the scent of blood in the water. His wife stands stoically behind him. A tight smile is frozen on her face, but her eyes tell the real story of betrayal:…
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Slightly Obsessed #145: Are You Smarter than Your Enemy?
Behold, I send you out as sheep in the midst of wolves; so be shrewd as serpents and innocent as doves. -Matthew 10:16 My witty, irreverent aunt lived her entire life in the deep South. She worked for many years as a registered nurse and taught nursing until her death from cancer at an…
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Slightly Obsessed #144: Do Miracles Still Happen?
You are the God who performs miracles. – Psalm 77:14 (God’s Word Translation) For the last couple of years, our family has been hit with a series of losses. We said a last goodbye to several beloved family members and friends. Gains in other areas of our lives were reversed; our days loaded…
Author Profile
Pamela Thorson
Believer, wife, mom, grandma, nurse. Contributor at cmaddict.com. Homeschooling vet. Daughter of the American Revolution. Charred but still standing.