Luana Ehrlich's Blog, page 8

A Day of Hope

[image error]Goodbye, 2018. Hello, 2019.

January 1st is a day of promise. To many, it holds the enticing thought of a brand new start, a day to wipe the slate clean, to begin anew.

January 1st could rightly be renamed The Day of Hope.

We hope to lose weight, get more sleep, eat healthy. We hope to be more productive, not procrastinate, get organized. We hope to get a better job, earn more money, buy a new house.

But, so much of what we hope for tomorrow will just be wishful thinking.

There’s a different...

I’m Not A Messy Person

[image error]I’m not a messy person.  Seeing things in disarray and disorganized makes me uneasy.  For my own peace of mind, I like to have things organized and in order. The only exception to this rule took place a few years ago when I made Christmas cookies with one of my grandsons.

After getting flour out of my hair, sweeping away the sugary sprinkles from the table and scrubbing icing off the kitchen floor, I asked myself what felt so right about the “messiness” of this activity.

I realized it was the...

Seeing Light in Light

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Could I Have Your Attention, Please?

[image error]Voices! We hear voices each and every day. They tell us to order this, pay attention to that, go there, come here.

Other voices post on our Facebook page, our Twitter feed, our social media sites, wanting us to sign this, like that, watch that, play this.

Who merits our attention? Whose voice is the worthy voice?

A crippled old man appears in the gospel of John to answer these questions. (John 5:1-17).

He doesn’t have a name in the gospel, but everyone at the pool of Bethesda knew him. He’d b...

Getting A Little Personal

[image error]There are so many ways to read the Bible. You can read it like great literature, read it for academic purposes, read it to understand a culture, read it to gain a sense of morality, or, of course, read it for a myriad of spiritual reasons—to know GOD, to know His Son to know the working of His Spirit.

I’ve discovered the best way to read the Bible is to make it personal, to view the message of God’s Word as personal, and to understand the words as written for me—personally. How’s that for per...

Don’t Miss A Blessing

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I was running late when I arrived at our church for the worship service last Sunday, so I quietly slipped in the back door and chose the first seat available.

It was on the other side of the auditorium from where my husband and I usually sit. This location on the “outer fringes” would not have suited him, but since I was alone and trying not to disturb others with my late arrival, I scooted into an empty row of seats just as the worship leader began leading the congregation in a praise song....

Who I Am NOT

[image error]During an interview about Titus Ray, the main character in my Christian fiction series, I was asked to describe some of his personality traits. Instead, I explained what Titus is NOT.

He is NOT an extrovert. He is NOT a gun guy. He is NOT a family man.

By pinpointing what a person is NOT, a picture emerges about what a person is.

The apostle John does this in the Gospel of John. He says, “There was a man sent from God, whose name was John. He came as a witness, to bear witness about the light...

What Does God Know About Worry?

[image error]Everything, of course. That’s way we should follow his instructions about living a worry-free life. “Therefore I tell you, do not be anxious about your life.” Matthew 6:25.

Even though it’s worded a little differently each time, the command not to worry appears in all of the gospels, including a double warning in the gospel of John. “Let not your hearts be troubled, neither let them be afraid.” John 14:27.

Paul also teaches the worry-free life in his letters. “Do not be anxious about anything...

Is it possible to know God?

[image error]I was talking with a young lady who’d been a believer for several years, but who’d recently signed up for a weekly Bible study. She said, “I want to know God. I know that won’t happen if I don’t study my Bible.”

Without realizing it, this young lady had made a profound statement. There’s no way anyone can know God except through the study of Scriptures, the revelation He’s given us about Himself. The best way to learn about God is to read, study, and meditate on the love letter He’s written t...

Waiting for the Blue Bar

[image error]If you would have asked me the moment I made my commitment to Christ if I loved the Lord, I would have said yes.

Now though, as I look back on it, it’s hard to measure that kind of love.

That’s because I know more about Him now, so I feel I love Him more. My relationship with Him now, as compared to when I first came into a relationship with Him, makes that initial claim of loving him seem as nothing.

I was thinking about this one day as I sat in front of my computer watching a new program ge...