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Saint Paul — What a Man!
Read more: Saint Paul — What a Man!Dear friends, Welcome to our Summer Bible Study on the Apostle Paul! It's Ann here, and I can't wait to dive in to some of his stories, taking a leaf or two out of his book. Somewhat ironically, only this past Saturday I had a more difficult time as a Christian than I've had in…
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Invite the Lord into the Ordinariness of Every Day!
Read more: Invite the Lord into the Ordinariness of Every Day!Image courtesy of Stuart Miles at FreeDigitalPhotos.net Hello, everyone. Ian from Sydney here. Last month I wrote a post on the seeking to live in the unforced rhythms of grace by taking on the Lord’s easy yoke. Increasingly, I’m discovering how important it is especially amongst the everyday stresses and strains that we all experience.…
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Perishing vs Being Saved
Read more: Perishing vs Being SavedHi friends. For today's post here’s a little video that I just did live on our Facebook page. Enjoy! Ann
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Lynn Donovan – Where We Are Today
Read more: Lynn Donovan – Where We Are TodaySUM Nation, Lynn Donovan here. Gang, it’s time to catch up with you. I’m going to share a few random thoughts. So grab your coffee, strap in, get ready. LET’S GO! First, I believe that as followers of Jesus, we are amid one of the most challenging seasons of our faith life. This feels especially…
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The Ice Cream Van
Read more: The Ice Cream VanHi again dear SUMites I said in my last post that the Holy Spirit had given us two playful pictures to hold at the moment. The first one I described in the last post. The second one I'm sharing today. We are children to Jesus, and sometimes he will use playful analogies with us. What…
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I see a cloud the size of a man’s hand
Read more: I see a cloud the size of a man’s handHi SUM family, Ann here. Whew, it’s been an exciting week with us hearing about two spouses’ salvations in one week. If you missed those you can catch up here and here. Well, unbelievably, there’s more! No sooner had I uploaded Monday's post about a second salvation than I got a message from another SUM…
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Another Spouse Gets Baptized!
Read more: Another Spouse Gets Baptized!Ann here! Teehee … I bet the title made you eagerly open this one. And, you won't be disappointed with what you read next. God glorifies His name through this community. Sometimes we have to wait a little while between testimonies, but they always come. I remember just before COVID spread through the world I…
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The easy yoke …
Read more: The easy yoke …Image courtesy of hin255 at FreeDigitalPhotos.net Hello, dear friends. Ian from a very chilly Sydney. I’m hoping those of you in the northern hemisphere are having lovely vacation time in warmer climes. We just finished a marvellous series from Ann on slaying giants. I was particularly grabbed by Ann’s idea of taking hold of 5…
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Faith Like a Child Hits Home
Read more: Faith Like a Child Hits HomeHey SUM family, Tiffany here! I want to continue on with my Carter Crew Testimony. Let's begin with Easter 2021. I took my children to Good Friday service at church. I felt the Spirit prompting me to take them to "big church," as my kids call it. I was happily surprised when my son (who…
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The Way We Fight Giants
Read more: The Way We Fight GiantsMy friends, Ann here. I have a problem. Here I am writing a series on how to fight giants using the example of some fear I've been battling … But this week the fear has gone completely! So, that's inconvenient because I'm trying to write about it. Maybe the giant wasn't enjoying the fight and…
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Eyeballing the Giant!
Read more: Eyeballing the Giant!Dear friends, We’re continuing our series on fighting battles. I'm calling these 'spiritual battles', as most of the battles we face in life, as Christians, could be said to be spiritual even if they seem physical. For me, the challenge of my husband’s unbelief used to be a massive spiritual battle. It was a battle…
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The Room Electrified
Read more: The Room ElectrifiedHi Sons and Daughters of God, Lynn Donovan with the end of the story! Let’s pick up the story about my niece. I was attending a wedding in May along with my sister, mom and my sister’s daughter. We returned home and my niece joined us at my mom’s home. Today, you will find us…
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Are You Still Practicing Wicca?
Read more: Are You Still Practicing Wicca?Hi My Family in the Kingdom of God, Lynn Donovan here! I have a story for you today. It’s a story that is 20 years in the making. It begins with my sister’s daughter, my niece, who is 20 years old. It includes my newest book that launches tomorrow. And it is a fantastic ending.…
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Battle Series: We Won’t Start With The Giant!
Read more: Battle Series: We Won’t Start With The Giant!Hi SUMites! Today we’re embarking on our series entitled ‘Fight that Giant!’ If you missed the introduction to this series you can catch up here. I’m rubbing my hands together at the thought of writing these upcoming posts, for 'giants' — That is, spiritually difficult things in our lives — are nasty critters. As we…
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Born to Be Lovers
Read more: Born to Be LoversImage courtesy of SawBear at FreeDigitalPhotos.net Hi! Ian from wintry Down Under. Love! It tends to be something we compartmentalize, don’t we? It’s how we feel about our spouse and children, our parents and there’s this industry around romance, the books and movies. Strangely, or perhaps not so, it’s actually not talked about a lot.…
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What to Do When Facing a Scary Giant
Read more: What to Do When Facing a Scary GiantHello friends, It’s Ann here and, with a smile on my face, I’m introducing a new series which we'll start next Friday: FIGHTING THAT GIANT! In other words, spiritual warfare. We can always do with a fresh look on how to walk victoriously. And I know that many of us are in situations right now…
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A Continued Testimony: My Family and Church
Read more: A Continued Testimony: My Family and ChurchHi SUM family, Ann here. A few weeks ago I shared about how my teenage son Miles is now attending church with me. Amazing, amazing, amazing! If you missed that story, you can catch up here. Today I want to give you an update because I know how encouraging testimonies can be. Specifically, I want…
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Love Suffers Long … And We Celebrate!
Read more: Love Suffers Long … And We Celebrate!Dear friends, hello! It’s Ann here, writing from a sunny Auckland. I’m smiling because this past fortnight was a treat seeing Lynn, Ian, Martha, Tiffany, and Dineen all take trips down memory lane to write about our community. Mirroring that, it was super encouraging to read the comments. Thank you!! We celebrate the work of…
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Celebrating 15 Years of Ministry: It Just Keeps Getting Bigger and Better
Read more: Celebrating 15 Years of Ministry: It Just Keeps Getting Bigger and BetterBy Martha Bush “Mama, you are the Christian in your marriage, but you are not showing respect to Daddy,” my two grown daughters said to me. And with that, they shoved a book in my hands, called Love and Respect, and said, “You need to read this, and get your act together!” In that moment,…
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Where Are You Planted?
Read more: Where Are You Planted?Hello there, Sumites! So great to be with you today to celebrate the 15th year of this beautiful ministry! I mean, community. Because that’s what this is, more than anything. A community. God’s taught me a lot about unity over the years. I still remember when the Holy Spirit significantly shifted our thinking here at…
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Celebrating 15 Years! – God works in mysterious ways!
Read more: Celebrating 15 Years! – God works in mysterious ways!Happy 15 years dear SUMites. Ian here from Sydney, Australia. I thought I’d share how I found this community that is very dear to me. Some of you may be familiar with my story but for all of you newbies you might find it interesting how a man from Down Under stumbled across this safe…
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SUM Community, Let’s Party!
Read more: SUM Community, Let’s Party!By Ann Hutchison My friends, today is an auspicious day: A certain someone turns fifteen. Nope, it's not one of our children, it's this ministry. Fifteen years ago today this blog had its humble beginnings with its very first post! Books emerged. A YouTube channel. Friendships. Testimonies. We've seen salvations of spouses, restorations of marriages,…
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Reflections on Attending Church Alone
Read more: Reflections on Attending Church AloneDear friends, Ann here! Today I want to chat about one of our topics that is an old favorite: Attending church alone. I type this with a smile, but it's a wry smile. Whether or not we've got into a routine, I think most of us would say that Church-plus-SUM is super tricky! I shared…
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Sow Bountifully, Reap Bountifully
Read more: Sow Bountifully, Reap BountifullyAnn here! I have a little thought for us today: “He who sows sparingly will also reap sparingly. And he who sows bountifully will also reap bountifully.” 2 Corinthians 9:6 (NKJV) Sowing. In a spiritually unequal marriage? Perhaps we can pause and think about this for a minute. When we’re in a spiritually unequal marriage,…