God’s presence
Remember the Enemy
If you haven’t read The Hunger Games trilogy but plan to, you may wish to skip over this post. But if you’ve already read through book two, or don’t mind reading it after a spoiler, then come along. I think you’ll find this interesting. The Hunger Games is a young adult series set in the…
More Blogs are Coming!
Hi everyone! I hope you have been enjoying the last few blog-free weeks. I am gearing up for another whole year of blogs, but in the meantime, I wanted to share this verse I was reading the other night. It occurred during the Exodus from Egypt to the Holy Land. Then Moses said to [God], “If…
Doubt
Sometimes I doubt it all very much. If Christianity were real, why don’t we act more like Christians? If there is only one faith, why are there so many factions? If there is only one truth, why aren’t even the most fundamentals agreed upon? Yet even as I lash out in angry questions, an irony…
Self Encouragement
I was having a frazzled kind of day. Not anything in particular was going badly, I just felt somehow entirely discombobulated. You know those days where too little sleep and too many racing thoughts start taking their toll? I felt a bit as though a piece of me was going in one direction, and another…
Going Through
I had a screen saver on my computer in college that rotated through inspirational quotes. I don’t recall exactly where I got it. I think my roommate received it from someplace; maybe it came with a bookstore promotion. That part doesn’t really matter. What matters is there was one particular quote that always resonated with…
Cracking, Part III
Click to read Part I or Part II. Paul literally wrote the book on human weakness and God’s strength – or at least one of them (2 Corinthians). But he is certainly not the only example we have. Nor, you will be happy to know, is weakness necessarily synonymous with suffering. The “cracks” that allow God…
Emotional Trust
Sometimes I wonder: If I have faith in God, why do I still feel afraid or angry or overwhelmed… or all three? Shouldn’t faith mitigate all these negative emotions? My impulse is to think of such emotions as bad, as though my faith must be weak if I am scared or sad. But when I look…
Mystery Rental
Don’t you hate it when you’re walking across a giant parking lot and suddenly realize you have no idea what your rental car looks like? Or does that just happen to me? Ironically enough, I was just listening to a story on the radio about the world memory champion who secured his second straight title…
Cracking, Part II
Click to read Part I. It paints an interesting word picture to think of ourselves as shells of dust with the Spirit of God shining through the cracks. But what does this actually mean? What does this look like in the tangible? As I think about this image, I think about Paul, who suffered a…
I Am
Sometimes I have trouble believing in God. It can happen suddenly, in one of those horrendous moments that leave me questioning: if God is in control of everything, then why did he let this happen? If he is a loving and personal God, then how could he let this happen? But more often than not,…
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Meet Janet!
Janet Beagle, PhD is the founder of The Mustard Patch. She divides her time between the Midwest and New England, and if she’s not writing, she’s probably out hiking with her 2-and 4-footed friends.