Bloom!

Teens Interceding for Orphans (TIO) Over the past month or so, the TIO blog has posted a series based off of Matthew 6:21, " For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also."  This series is well worth checking out, slowly perusing and praying through as you consider if you heart - and treasure - is where God would have it. Deeper Christian Even though the Christmas season has come and gone, we found this article, Death in the Midst of a Christmas Birth , by Pastor Nathan Johnson to be a good read, sharing Scriptural truth and pointing to Christ.  May the Lord bless you in 2015 as you seek Him! Joanna, Megan, Krista, Emily & Victoria

Today we're happy to share with you an interview we did recently with Monica, team member with the Teens Interceding for Orphans (TIO) website.  Join in the conversation as we get to know Monica a bit and talk about her passion for adoption and orphans and how we can join in on that. Tell us a little about yourself and how you came to know Christ. I'm a recent college grad and newlywed.  My husband and I live in South Florida, where I teach music lessons, blog, and freelance edit.  I grew up in a Christian family and accepted Christ at an early age, but it wasn't until I was a teenager that I began to think about what that really meant and how being a Christian should affect my life, my attitudes, and my actions.  I went to a Christian college and struggled through some tough issues regarding my faith there, but I came out stronger as a result.  Today, even though I still have doubts and fears, I am daily learning to lean on Christ and ...

Some of the most important life lessons that God has taught me have been ones gleaned from the mission field and being involved in missions over the past decade.   Whether big or small, joyful or pain-filled, I wouldn’t change them for anything, because God delights in bringing good out of circumstances that seem to the human eye to be “bad.”   In fact, it’s often the hardest, most painful lessons that turn out to be blessings in disguise!   So whether I viewed them as “good” or “bad”, I’ve come to cherish them, especially in the ways that they brought me closer to Jesus Christ.   Here are a few of these lessons: There’s more to the world than me and the sooner I learn that, the better! At 13, I took my first trip out of the country.   It was my first mission trip and my first glimpse outside of the “American bubble” that I had grown up in.   God used this trip to pop my bubble, so to speak, and open my eyes to the hurting, needy and lost of ...

2015 is just a few days in and I find myself wondering what it holds.   What will God call me to next?   Where will I travel, who will I meet, what will I experience?   What exciting adventures await?   What hard trials will I endure? As I contemplate all these things for the new year, I realize that while it’s fun and kind of exciting to daydream about the future and what’s in store, what’s more important in 2015 is who I have my eyes on.   Will I choose to focus on myself, on my needs, on my wants, on my dreams and happiness as the Disney movies show?   Will I pour my energy, my time, my resources, my heart into fulfilling what I want?   Will I ignore the lady begging on the street corner, the victims of a natural disaster, or the girl my age who needs a listening ear?    Or will I choose to lift my eyes off of myself and focus on my Savior?   Will I seek Him through prayer and His Word, choosing the “narrow gate” ( Matthew 7...