Tag: Craig Barnes
Christmas Changes Everything
The story of our lives has more to do with what God is doing than our ability to manage it. Gail Johnsen This is my all-time favorite quote about Christmas: “God has interrupted our ordinary expectations, as cherished as they were, to conceive something. We cannot manage it. We can’t even understand it. All we ...
Releasing the Old
In his book, When God Interrupts: Finding New Life Through Unwanted Change, Craig Barnes writes, “It is impossible to follow Jesus and not be led away from something. That journey away from the former place and toward the new place is what converts us. Conversion is not simply the acceptance of a theological formula for ...
Desert Places
Often we go through difficult periods or circumstances in our lives. These kinds of places have been described as “desert” places. The desert is the place where you think you will die. Yet even the desert serves a divine purpose. Consider Craig Barnes thoughts on going through the desert from his book, Sacred Thirst: “Perhaps ...
The Good Work of God
Receiving the abundant life Jesus wants to give us rarely looks like we think it should. Often it means abandoning the life into which we have settled. One of my favorite quotes, in speaking about Mary the mother of Jesus, Craig Barnes writes, “God has interrupted our ordinary expectations, as cherished as they were, to ...
Stay Close to the Stream
In his book, Extravagant Mercy, (one of my favorite devotionals) Craig Barnes explains: “The Bible often portrays the grace of God as a thin stream of refreshing water that perseveres in a desert land. The only way our parched souls can survive in a spiritually desolate society is to stay close to the stream. That ...
An Interrupted Life
God’s grace comes often in severe ways to open our eyes to a greater reality that we have yet experienced. Our part is to be open to it and let it transform us. In speaking about Mary the mother of Jesus, Craig Barnes writes, “God has interrupted our ordinary expectations, as cherished as they were, ...
Winter in Our Soul
Last night we witnessed a total eclipse and today is the winter solstice for the Northern Hemisphere…the shortest day of the year. We often live in similar moments, even seasons, when the darkness seems to overtake the light. Darkness that has settled in our souls can overshadow any glimmer of hope. Living by faith ...
Gail Johnsen 