Communication
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The Power of Prayer
Image courtesy of thepathtraveler at FreeDigitalPhotos.net We’re a praying SUMite army, aren’t we, dear friends? Ian from freezing cold Sydney here. I trust those of you in the northern hemisphere are enjoying the warmer temperatures and having fun on summer vacations. Prayer. It’s one of those little words that we’re all familiar with, it’s a…
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Slay The Marriage Killers – The In-Laws
Marriage Killers. How do we slay them?Today, I want to talk about …The in-laws. Every marriage brings with it an extended family. My experience with in-laws was a good one. They weren’t intrusive. At the time I married Mike, he had lived on his own for years. He had a health relationship with his parents,…
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The Destroyer Has Arrived. Do You Know Its Name?
Love vs. Fear Choose wisely. SUMites, I’ve been in a new classroom with Jesus. Wow has it been interesting. ….. and timely. And since the beginning of this blog in 2006 the Lord instructed me to share what I’m learning. So, in the next few weeks we are going to look as several aspects of…
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Men Stuff … Part 2
mage courtesy of David Castillo Dominici at FreeDigitalPhotos.net Ian here again. Firstly, thank you for your engagement in the first of this occasional series of posts. I loved seeing the discussion and responding to the comments that were made. I hadn’t planned on writing another such post so soon but the universe conspired (ie the…
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Choosing to Remember
Image courtesy of Supertrooper at FreeDigitalPhotos.net I’m fascinated by how often we allow sweeping generalizations to satisfy us. One area we often use them is in comparing the sexes. How often do we hear the statements of the ilk, “Women are more relational,” and “Men need time in their caves”? I know I’ve been guilty…
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Change of Seasons
Image courtesy of graur codrin at FreeDigitalPhotos.net We hit winter last week. Here in Australia, winter officially starts 1 June. We've had a mild autumn (or 'fall' for you North American folks) and it's only in the last two weeks when the temperature at night has fallen below ten degrees celsius. I typically enjoy winter…
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Broadening our Horizons
Image courtesy of namakuki at FreeDigitalPhotos.net Being a SUMITE is full of interesting conundrums that can at times lead to much discouragement. One of these conundrums is our commitment to various Christian communities. I use the plural here to reflect both the church we attend plus other relationships (one-on-one and group) that we may partake…
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Guest Post: Perceptions by Dee Rusnak
Happy New Year, SUMites! So good to be back with you! Hope you had a wonderful Christmas filled with special moments of delight and love. I'm so glad my daughters and son-in-love were with us this year. Our Christmas was busy and fun! As we walk into 2017 together, my friends, I want to encourage you…
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How do you “hear God? (part 3)
My friends, in light of some of the questions generated by my post yesterday, Lynn and I swapped days so I can address some of those today, specifically the mention of fortune cookies. First, I want you to know that my heart is for every one of you to walk in deep intimacy with God…
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How do you “hear” God?
Over the last several weeks I’ve been following along with the Lenten reading on Margaret Feinberg’s site that Ian shared with us. I feel like I’m taking a walk with Luke through his testimony of his time with Jesus and what happened after the cross. It's a fascinating way to follow the progression of events.…
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Let’s Talk About Lies
Greetings My SUM Family, My heart has received such encouragement and joy from your words and prayers on Monday. God has worked out some amazing things in this difficult time. We are now moving forward. I’m excited to see what the Lord has for my son and our family. I Heart you! Today however, I…
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New Series For July
Hi SUMite Family. Lynn Donovan here. Question: Can you believe half of 2014 is over??? We are jumping into the last half of the year and I still have so much I want to accomplish and even more I’m waiting for many, many prayers to be answered. So as we jump into July Dineen and…
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The Movie: NOAH
Well, I don’t know about you but this past few days I’ve been reading some reviews and reports about the movie, Noah, that opened on Friday. It’s fascinating to me how many differing views there are from the Christian population alone. Honestly, I’ve been disappointed to read some of them. I will state here I…
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Preparing Elevator Speeches
In last Wednesday's post, I opened a dialog about apologetics (the practice of presenting rational explanations for our faith in response to objections against Christianity). Thank you to all to shared comments. There is a lot of wisdom, power and diversity in our SUMite community. I find such value in reading the comments. Let’s…
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Weekend Worship – Jesus Gives Us the Words
Hello my friends! I hope your week has been full of God encounters and sweet moments in His Word. I have a nugget to share with you before we launch into worship. I just looooooooove this one too, because even though Jesus told this to the disciples, explaining the resistance and persecution they would come…
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Special Guest Today! Please Welcome Suzie Eller!
My precious friends, today I want to introduce you to Susanne (Suzie) Eller. She's been a great support to the SUM ministry and now we get to share her with you! Suzie's message of forgiveness in her book, The Unburdened Heart is desperately needed today and by so many. I hope you find answers and…
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Chronicles of the Donovan Clan – Fear
What is bizarre in all this is what happened inside of me. FEAR. After twenty years of asking for his willingness to attend a marriage class and receiving his rejection, I was terrified to say…… YES…… I literally didn’t answer him because I was overwhelmed by all the fears and feelings of rejection that ran…
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Chronicles of the Donovan Clan – Never, say Never – This is NOT about James Bond
Several months ago, I told you that God was working some new things in my husband, in us. At the time, the Lord impressed upon me to hide these things in my heart until they were settled out. Today, all these months later, the changes that began in January and February have reached a stall…
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How Do We Reconnect?
Staying connected with your spouse can be a challenge. I’m finding this to be harder to do as we get older. I shared recently that we’d become empty nesters, but our status is now back to three. Here we are again, adjusting to new and old dynamics. Here I thought my greatest challenge would be…
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Talking Without Words
Part of a presentation I’m giving on Wednesday has a section about romance and romancing your guy. I love this part because I get to give a group of women some facts and tangible ideas of how to romance their husbands. Some of this lands on communication and its vital role in any relationship. And…
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Weekend Devo – Are you listening, dear?
This 1881 engraving appeared in Charles Dickens "Bleak House" and is actually depicting a marriage proposal. What cracks me up is the woman is oblivious to what he's doing. Even the bird on the poor guy's shoulder is more aware of what's going on than she is. Do you do that? Sometimes I do. I'm…