WHAT TO EXPECT ON THE THISTLEBEND BLOOM BLOG
Bloom! is a personal look into a few women’s lives as they participate in Thistlebend studies and follow the Lord as He tills their hearts. May you be encouraged as you experience the tilling, the Lord is doing in your own heart!
Lord, Change What I Yearn For
Oh, Christmas time! There are many parts of this season I love! Decorating. Putting up the Christmas tree. Visiting and sharing meals with family. Enjoying festive lights. Receiving Christmas cards and hearing from friends and family. Giving gifts. Singing and listening to Christmas music. Celebrating Jesus’ birth. This Christmas, as I thought about Advent — a […]
Feeling the (Spiritual) Burn
I just recently started my workout routine again. I used to be pretty disciplined in this, but taking a six week break after my baby and then having a totally new schedule altogether threw me for a loop. I’m starting with just quick 20 minute workouts I find on YouTube. Twenty minutes is not that […]
Where Is My Hope?
Our study for the fall of 2016, Falling in Love Again with Your Lord, has come to an end. I have taken this study before, but honestly, the study felt new to me this time. Life changes, but the Word of God does not. It meets us where we are. On our last day of […]
Faithfulness in Barrenness
For the very first time I sat in a church service that would intentionally gear the sermons for the rest of December for Advent. Growing up I was not familiar with the idea of Advent. It was actually not until I came to Thistlebend that I first heard the word. The sermon on this particular […]
What Do You Cling To?
While I hate to say it because I KNOW the truth, I still cling to my feelings, which keeps me from clinging to the Lord. Everything I shared in my Taking the Truth to Heart each week during the Falling in Love Again with Your Lord study all boiled down to the fact that I’m […]
God’s Love > My Sin
Someone recently said to me, “God isn’t surprised by our sin.” Throughout the day that phrase just stuck with me for some reason. He isn’t surprised when I chose sleep over time in His Word? He isn’t surprised when I gossip with a friend and don’t even feel convicted until days later? He isn’t surprised […]
Faith Like Abraham
This morning in my Falling in Love Again with Your Lord study we were prompted to read the story of Abraham. The Scriptures took us through Abram becoming Abraham and how he time and time again heard from the Lord. Even though most of what God said seemed a total impossibility, Abraham continued to believe […]
From Hiding Away to Singing for Joy
“…for You have been my help, and in the shadow of Your wings I will sing for joy” (Psa. 63:7). When I am hurting, I find I want to hide. I want to retreat. I think many people are like this. Maybe that’s why we self-medicate. We can “hide” in drugs, alcohol, food, TV, shopping, […]
What Voice Do You Listen To?
When my daughter was around 5 years old, she told me that there was a voice that lived inside her head. My daughter is highly creative, so instead of thinking, “OH NO!” I asked her tell me more. It turned out that my daughter had given this voice a name: Mind-y (like the word “mind” […]