Misc
A Battle
A Battle By Angela Mackey They. People I trust and love People I hide from If THEY knew… If they knew what I thought If they realized what I have experienced THEY would call me names… Heretic. Foolish. Liar Progressive. Conservative. Wrong. Or would they? I do not know because I hide.
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Complexity
Complexity By Angela Mackey Yes or No? It isn’t that simple Yes or No? Nuance matters Yes or No? Is it really a dichotomy? Yes or No? Maybe both… Yes or No? There is so much more Yes or No? Can’t there be shades? Greys and beiges maybe even…
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Culpable?
Culpable? by Angela Mackey It happened before A leaving, a void, a rift I see it. How it happened. Where we have been. Will they listen? Decisions tabled Waiting, flailing, languishing I see it. The coming storm. Will they listen? Do I dare? Bitterness whispers Tearing, ripping, wounding I see it. The anger roiling.…
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Will the Dawn Bring Light?
Will the Dawn Bring Light? By Angela Mackey What violence done? What beauty trampled? …in the darkness …repeated in the dark Hope had bloomed But darkness brought violence Night snuffed the light Would day return? What would be left shame? destruction? Would the light make them see? Could they see …the violence? …the brokenness? …the…
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Is It Just Noise?
Is it Just Noise? by Angela Mackey Go home! Jezebel! Heretic! False Teacher! Liberal! Conservative! Progressive! Fundamentalist! Words echo through glowing screens. Communication that bites and stings and clings. When I express my thoughts will flesh and blood echo the world of glowing screens? Will I be greeted…
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EnJOYing Election Season: Cultivating Joy in the Chaos
“Evangelicals for Harris” are all CHINOS — Christians In Name Only. God is not fooled. Neither should we be fooled. My Social Media feeds are full of vitriol…from both sides of the political divide. “How can any Christian vote for a convicted criminal, rapist, insurrectionist, etc.” And it grieves me. The Bible says that all…
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Art and Beauty: How to Embrace Beauty to Change Culture
“I found I could say things with color and shapes that I couldn’t say any other way… things I had no words for.” ― Georgia O’Keeffe Sometimes we forget that God created beauty. At least we evangelicals who value utilitarianism above beauty and art do. We forget that God is the original artist. He paints on canvases…
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A Reason to Go to Church: God’s Presence and Joy
“Silence is the perfectest herald of joy. I were but little happy if I could say how much.” Claudio, Much Ado About Nothing, Shakespeare God does something special when His people come together as a congregation. When we sing, take communion, baptize people, listen to the preaching of God’s Word, His presence comes to us in a special…
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Joy and Presence
Just a note…I have missed sharing this space with you all. So through prayer and planning, my goal is to post here twice a month. I hope you are blessed. Where Joy is Found You [the LORD] reveal the path of life to me;in your presence is abundant joy;at your right hand are eternal pleasures. Psalm…
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Obedience, Running, and Calling
“So don’t throw away your confidence, which has great reward. For you need endurance, so that after you have done God’s will, you may receive what was promised…But we are not those who draw back and are destroyed, but those who have faith and are saved.” Hebrews 10:35-36 and 39 CSB I’ve been silent for…
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A Season of Silence: Experiencing God’s Peace
“Silence is the perfectest herald of joy: I were but little happy, if I could say how much.” -William Shakespeare Much Ado About Nothing Words have been hard for me lately. Silence is easier. I wasn’t so full of joy I could not share like Claudio in the above quote. The big emotions – all of…
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What to Think: How to Boss Around Your Mind
“Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is commendable, if there is any excellence, if there is anything worthy of praise, think about these things.” Philippians 4:8 ESV God cares about what we think. In fact, He gives us a list of the types…
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Patience: Growing in the Waiting Times
But if we hope for what we do not see, we wait for it with patience. Romans 8:25 ESV No one likes to wait, but many things in life take time. Sometimes we have to wait for test results, the call back from an interview, or a response to a text. Other times God has us…
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Self Control: How to Cling to God When Life Hurts
But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control; against such things there is no law. Galatians 5:22-23 ESV When life sucker punches me, my first reaction is to drop everything and tend to the throbbing place. I don’t feel like “adulting” because my soul is aching. All I want to do is find a…
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Defining Success in God’s Upside-Down Kingdom
Do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy and where thieves break in and steal, but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys and where thieves do not break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also. Matthew 6:19-21 ESV My husband…
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Self Talk: How to Extend Grace to Yourself
There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. Romans 8:1 ESV Stupid, Angela, that was just plain stupid. You know better than that. Why can’t you get it right? I accidentally left a block of cheese out all night and it was hard and nasty the next morning. I had…
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What to Do When God Can, But Isn’t
Now to him who is able to do far more abundantly than all that we ask or think, according to the power at work within us… Ephesians 3:20 ESV I prayed for a miracle. One that would shock the medical professionals and offer me an opportunity to share the gospel with a few folks. That the baby I…
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Giving Grace through Words
Let no corrupting talk come out of your mouths, but only such as is good for building up, as fits the occasion, that it may give grace to those who hear. Ephesians 4:29 ESV My throat stung as my ears rang from the words that just flew out of my mouth. Then my cheeks flamed hot…
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Steadfast Minds: How to Find Peace in Chaos
You [the LORD] keep him in perfect peace whose mind is stayed on you, because he trusts in you. Isaiah 26:3 ESV A mind stayed on the LORD is what it takes to trust and live in peace. But often I let my heart boss around my mind. It tells me that I feel left-out,…
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Delight: The Mark of a Godly Life
So when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was a delight to the eyes, and that the tree was to be desired to make one wise, she took of its fruit and ate, and she also gave some to her husband who was with her, and he ate. Genesis 3:6 ESV…
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Searching for Light in Darkness
Growing up I was afraid of the dark. I forced my parents to leave the hall light on outside my bedroom so I could settle down and sleep. And if I ever woke up in the middle of the night my eyes would long for light. We lived on the corner of a busy street and…
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Fighting Fear
When I am afraid, I put my trust in you. In God, whose word I praise, in God I trust; I shall not be afraid. What can flesh do to me? Psalm 56:3-4 ESV It’s like a black hole that crawls inside my soul. This illogical fear short circuits my brain as my heartbeat runs wild. The…
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