believer Archives | All The More: Collective Blog

We cannot hate those He loves

March 26, 2021 TaKasha Smith 4 min read

All mine are yours and yours are mine, and I am glorified in them. And I am no longer in the world, but they are in the world, and I am coming to you. Holy Father, keep them in your name, which you have given me, that they may be one, even as we are one. John 17:10-11 Many years ago, a friend of mine (father of 3 and long-time friend who I’d worked and done life within many different capacities) told me it meant a lot to him that I loved his children so well. He is not an incredibly emotional man so the strong feeling behind his statement struck me, and I never forgot the importance of the moment. I don’t have children, but I think I’m beginning to see the depth of what he felt. In recent years, I’ve seen a lot of […]

Be Still and Know

March 12, 2021 Brittney Elizabeth 4 min read

He says, “Be still, and know that I am God; I will be exalted among the nations, I will be exalted in the earth.” Psalm 46: 10 (NIV) The word stillness is not my favorite word by any means. At some point in my life, I completely removed it from my vocabulary. Utterly resolved to venture into a life of productivity, and perfect it, I was prepared to ring in the new year with this mentality. Excitedly writing my hopes, dreams, and things I wanted to accomplish in 2021, I vowed not to hold back—to be proactive and watch the blessing flow. Then December 31st happened. You know that poem we love to quote? Psalm 23. “The Lord is my shepherd, I lack nothing. He makes me lie down in green pastures.” In theory, it sounds great. In reality, it’s far from it. The keyword here is makes. This situation […]

Struggling to be thankful? Know the Story of God.

November 20, 2020 Natalie Mayo 3 min read

Give thanks to the LORD, for he is good, for his steadfast love endures forever. — Give thanks to the God of gods, for his steadfast love endures forever. — To him who alone does great wonders, for his steadfast love endures forever. Psalm 136:1-2, 4 At our family Thanksgiving dinner, we go around the table and share something from the past year that we’re grateful for (I know, creative, right?!). There’s something beautiful about a holiday built into our calendars to encourage us to take the time to stop, remember, and respond in gratitude to our God. And it helps to have friends, family, and some good Thanksgiving sides around, too. But thankfulness may be hard to come by this year. How can we be grateful in this season of what may feel like chaos or confusion? How can we be thankful in sorrows, hardship, or anger? How do […]

Living on Mission: What is it anyway?

September 25, 2020 Kathryn Pesyna 3 min read

In the middle of a pandemic, when your every day to day is suddenly flipped on its head, it’s pretty easy to start contemplating life and its purpose – specifically your own. Who am I? What am I doing? Why am I here? If you are a believer, the answer is simple. Your mission is Christ’s mission. “Come, follow me,” Jesus said, “and I will make you fishers of men.” Matthew 4:19 During a recent sermon by Calvary Church’s Steve Dang, he said, “When we place our faith in Christ, we don’t go into ministry, we are in ministry.” In other words, when you accept Christ, you accept the mission of God. And God is in the ministry of reconciliation (2 Corinthians 5:18-21). From the time of the The Fall in Genesis 3, God has been working to win us back to Him. He did this through Christ, and […]