unequally yoked
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Belief vs. Unbelief: A Final Thought
Hi SUM family, Ann here. It’s been fun this past week thinking about the different factors that go into belief vs unbelief. Thanks for reading along, and for your comments — Reading what you had to say was like iron-sharpening-iron! I know theologians write about deep matters like predestination and free will. But for us…
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Belief vs Unbelief: The Father’s Grand Clock
Ann here! We’ve been talking about the ingredients that go into belief vs. unbelief. In part one we talked about the power of free will. Then, in part two we talked about the influence of the demonic. Well, today I want to talk about the Father's Grand Clock. That is, the fact that God might have…
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Belief vs Unbelief: The Enemy’s Influence
Dear friends, Ann here. We’re in a series about what goes into belief vs. unbelief. Part one was about free will, and I loved reading your comments. Today I want to talk about another factor: The influence of the demonic. One of the earliest questions I had for God was, “Is Satan really real?” It…
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Belief vs Unbelief: The Power of Free Will
Hi friends, Ann here! I've been thinking lately about the topic of belief vs. unbelief, and all the different spiritual ingredients that go into that. Like many of you, I have a mixture of believers and unbelievers in my life, and often look at those who don't believe and wonder what is going on there. …
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Pray This Prayer For Your Family and Marriage
There are times we need to lean on other’s prayers. And today, I have a prayer that God gave me recently to pray for my home and family. Lean on it. Pray it aloud in your prayer time. Pray it often. It truly is from the Lord. Save it in your notes on your phone.…
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How Do We Linger Long with the Lord?
Dear friends, Ann here. Last week I shared a story about a shift in my home. A good shift. If you missed that post, you can read it here. Essentially, a peace came and settled between me and my hubby, and we stopped having disagreements about faith or church. Wonderful! Perhaps at some point in…
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A Letter From Jesus. You Need This Today!
SUMites, This post is for the weary. This post is for those who have been in the trenches and can’t feel their toes, their nose, and struggle at times to think clearly. This post is for those who feel hope draining from their future, and dreams appear dashed. This post is for all the warriors…
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One Big Shift In My Home
Hello friends, Ann here. Last week, I mentioned that things had shifted in my home — Quite a lot, in fact. Well, I want to tell you more about that. This photo here is of Bryce and me, on a recent holiday. You wouldn't think we'd had such drama, looking at that peaceful photo! We…
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SUM Community 2021 – Marching Forward!
Dear SUM family, Ann here. I hope you are relishing the moments from last week's community fast. I’m still smiling at it all. And now we turn our minds towards 2021 in earnest. As you know, I’ve been praying about this coming year for us. But somewhat surprisingly, it seems that the word God wanted…
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Fast Day Four: Which Bible Character Captures Your Journey?
Ann here today, on Thursday morning, day four of our fast. How are you all doing? So far, I’ve had no food since Monday sunrise and am feeling doddery. Time with the Lord at this point is simply about ‘being’. I don’t have mental sharpness so am floating around the house, popping on a bit…
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Fast Day Two: The Tenderness of the Father
Ann here! It’s the morning of day two here, and so far so good. Amazingly, my family are talking about ‘Mum’s fast’ and encouraging me along, which has been a new feature this year and it captures how things have shifted in my home. I have a little more to share on that shift below.…
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Fast Day One: What is the Story God Has Written?
Dear SUMites, here we are on day one of our SUM corporate fast! It's Ann here and I can’t help but think that this particular fast is going to be meaningful. There is so much for us to inquire from God about. Our world is literally groaning for healing, and so are we. So we…
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Prepping for Our Fast
Ann here! With Christmas festivities behind us, and hopefully some happy memories made, it’s time to turn our minds to our annual SUM Community Fast. The fast will start in a week’s time, on Monday 4th January. If you haven't already, check out my video from last week. Personally, I’m so in need of this…
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May We Cling Tenaciously to Jesus
Dear friends, Ann here. With only a couple of days until Christmas I wanted to wish you a special time with your loved ones. And I know I speak on behalf of the rest of the team — Lynn, Ian, and Tiffany — in saying a heartfelt 'Merry Christmas' from us! Here is a beautiful…
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Oh, the Sweetness of a Friend!
Hi everyone — Ann here, and a happy Advent season to you all! In the spirit of Christmas, I'd wanted to pick one of the stories from the Gospels to talk about today, but which one to choose? These stories are all so full of wonder. After some thought, I finally landed on a favorite…
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The Soul Redeemer – A Note From Dineen Miller
Hello SUMITES! I’m thrilled to be here today! I’ve missed you dearly and it’s been so wonderful to continue to watch this community grow under Ann’s wonderful leadership. When Lynn asked me to share my newest book release, I was overjoyed, because it’s the conclusion to Lexie and Hugh’s story. When I wrote The Soul…
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When a Spouse Leaves the Faith — Part 3
Hi friends, Ann here! When a spouse leaves the faith — part 1 When spouse leaves the faith – part 2 I’d like to thank those SUMites whose stories have helped inform the last two posts on this topic. It is an intensely difficult path. The grief of a lost shared faith in marriage is…
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When a Spouse Leaves the Faith — Part 2
Ann here again! When a spouse leaves the faith, Part 1 Today we're going to continue with the above topic, and I thought I would start with a little story: Last year, I attended a ministry conference. We were a small group, perhaps 100 in the room, and Auckland is a small place so we…
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When A Spouse Leaves Their Faith — Part 1
Ann here! Today I want to talk about a path that is walked by so many here, and it's a really difficult one: ‘When a Spouse Leaves the Faith’. In our community we have many a story to tell about how we found ourselves in a SUM. In my case, for example, I was far…
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Church, We Are Crossing Over!
Dear friends, Ann here! I had a different post planned today, but that can wait until next week. Instead, I thought I'd share a few impromptu thoughts given the present events. We're watching wide-eyed as the US election plays out, and then across the Atlantic many Europeans are entering their second lockdown. It's all pretty…
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On Shedding the ‘Unequally Yoked’ Badge
Hello friends, Ann here! It's been a couple of weeks since I last wrote, but in my last post I shared a story from our archives where the Holy Spirit had given us a caution about using the ‘unequally yoked’ label too much. To catch up, you can read that post here. Today I'm interested…