Love (agape) Archives | All The More: Collective Blog

God Hasn’t Left Us

August 27, 2021 Sarah Steinmann 3 min read

person wearing silver ring on ring finger on bible

I stayed in Charleston for 10 days straight this summer, working from a hotel, exploring the town in the evenings and weekends. At the hotel, I made a friend named Greg. We ran into each other over a continental breakfast of muffins, granola bars, and microwavable waffles. We’d see each other in passing – the elevators dinging open to a chance greeting and bringing a sense of community in a new place. Greg was being treated at the hospital around the corner for cancer. He just finished a bone marrow transplant, and the staff was monitoring its success. This was his third bout with cancer – it hit him in his early twenties, and then again a few years ago, and now again in his fifties. His family lives several hours away, so he’d been at the hotel alone for three weeks – isolated and with an uncertain future. Greg […]

Intimacy Over Everything

July 3, 2020 TaKasha Smith 3 min read

2020 has had a ROUGH go of it thus far. There is a lot to say about the suffering happening around the planet, but I don’t want to say any of it. Not today and not in this medium. Instead, I thought I would share the only realization that is getting me through this time. God (the creator of the universe, the Everlasting, the I AM) calls me His child and wants intimacy with me. The longer I have walked with Jesus, the more and more I have realized there is nothing as important than intimacy with Jesus. It is a simple truth but one we effectively overlook every day. When we struggle to “make time” to read His Word, when we neglect to pray until we have exhausted all other options, when we treat the people God loves like burdens instead of the beloved… Here we admit that we […]

O Love That Will Not Let Me Go

December 6, 2019 Jenny McCarty 3 min read

I used to think that this hymn was a just a children’s song and often referred to it as the “rainbow hymn” because the only word I could remember from it was “rainbow.” Recently, I came across the story behind this hymn, different versions of the melody, and upon taking a closer look at the lyrics, I realized how deeply beautiful the words to be. George Matheson wrote this hymn in 1882. During schooling to become a minister, he started to become blind. When he told his fiance of his diagnosis, she left him. In order to make it through school, his sister learned several languages and helped write his papers. Eventually she would be the one to help him write his Sunday sermons to over 1500 church members. They were a team, but their work together would come to an end with his sister leaving him to be married. […]

Infinite Chances

May 4, 2018 Jenny McCarty 3 min read

I’ve heard it said that God is a God of second chances. If God gave me a second chance every time I made a mistake, I would be out of second chances. So I disagree. He is a God of infinite chances.

Praying for the Enemy

March 9, 2018 Kathryn Pesyna 4 min read

Jesus is really good at taking an issue to the extreme, am I right? Did that guy take your coat? Well, give him your shirt too! (Luke 6:29) Did you think about that woman with anger? You just killed her in your heart! (Matthew 5:21-22) You think you are following the Law? YOU CAN’T HANDLE THE LAW! (pretty much the whole first four books of the New Testament)

Do you love me?

October 13, 2017 Shelby Kieffer 3 min read

My husband and I are seminary students, working our way through graduate school with a myriad of side jobs with odd hours to fit around our class schedules. This past March, we became parents and joined the community of crazy people attempting to juggle seminary, work, marriage, parenthood, friendships, individual interests, and sanity.

Positions and Promises

March 31, 2017 Anonymous 3 min read

A few weeks ago, I sat across my friend at lunch and shared with her how weary I’ve been feeling and that I’m struggling to bring that before The Lord. She then asked, “How do you think the Lord is viewing you?” I started crying, knowing that even though I know in my head how He views me, in my heart I believed that He was annoyed with me for always coming to Him with the same struggles. For that reason, I didn’t feel the freedom or desire to come before Him.

Losing the Forest for the Trees

February 10, 2017 Kathryn Pesyna 3 min read

Have you ever been so caught up in the details of a thing that you miss the big picture? Have you been so focused on checking things off a list that you miss why you have the list to begin with? Do you feel overwhelmed with the “to do” and forget what “is finished?” If so, you’re probably losing the forest for the trees.

Jesus Wants to Flip the Tables In Our Hearts

January 27, 2017 Katie Bajorek 4 min read

With Valentine’s Day just around the corner, I can’t help but pause and remember one year in my college bible study when we made each other valentines with bible verses. At the time the popular verse rang so dear to me since I was so new in my faith. But now that I’ve grown in my relationship with God, I feel like they limit Jesus’ expression of love for us. I’m challenged to think about the moments when He convicted His disciples. What about the times when He was angry with them? What about the time He flipped tables in the temple?

Is your branch connected to the vine?

January 6, 2017 Kelly Nicole 4 min read

First and foremost, I want to say a Happy New Year from all of the writers here at All The More! We are so thankful for each and every one of you! As I ring in 2017, sitting at home watching the ball drop, I can’t help but to process and pick apart all that 2016 was for me. And if I’m being honest, it wasn’t really all that great. It wasn’t horrible, (I’m sure others had a much more trying year than I had), but it wasn’t exactly great either. I was unemployed for majority of the summer. I lost my last grandparent and a very close family friend. The stress of an ongoing complicated living situation was emotionally draining. Add in all of the commitments I agreed to; from leading a small group, serving on the board of an academic honor society, and being involved in a young […]

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