This week, God has been dealing with me on the inside — shining a light on some areas that are dark and ugly and need to change.   I pray daily for Him to help me be “less of me” and more like Him.  My thorny heart has been touched by so many stories shared on the web these past few days.  So, here in no particular order are the top 10 things I learned this week:

1.  Mrs P at “Be Still This Hearth” taught me about the “most insidious sin.”  Ouch!

2.  I was deeply saddened to read this post by Jen where she shared that 80% of those raised in church will be disengaged by age 29.  This breaks my heart.  As a church, we need to talk about how to turn this around.

3.  Lisa taught me about “Centering Prayer.”  This ties into some of the ideas I read in Richard Foster’s book Prayer. 

4. Passionate mommas have a lot of wisdom to share.  If you are a parent, you will not regret reading these words by Ann, Kristen, and Emily.  If like me, you read news articles last week about the rape case in Steubenville, Ohio, these three posts will give you hope in the midst of the darkness.

5.  As a help meet, I am called to by a fighter.  The word in Hebrew is “ezer.”   (Love this post by Terry for Missional Women!)

6.  I am so excited about Easter!  John Piper’s church put together a Lenten Devotional for next week.  You may download it here.

7.  I know I am a little late to the party, but I finally downloaded Kari Jobe’s latest album, “Where I Find You.”    Tuesday morning, I had it playing while I was getting dressed for work.  I was thinking about a friend who is going through a difficult time, and the song “Steady My Heart” came on.  I was so encouraged by these lyrics:

“Even when it hurts
Even when it’s hard
Even when it all just falls apart
I will run to You
Cause I know that You are
Lover of my soul
Healer of my scars
You steady my heart”

8.  I ran across an old post by Jon Acuff this week that truly captured the heart of God.  Check out “I wish every church said what this church said in their bulletin.”

9.  Building community is so important!  This week, I jumped into leading a small group for The Soli Deo Sisterhood.  I am love, love, loving the girls in my group.  If you are looking for an online community that will encourage you and connect you with some prayer partners, please head on over here.

10.  Our God is a Healer.  (Love this post from Barbara titled “The Bruised Soul.”  It filled me with such hope.)

Q4U:  What did you learn this week?

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I am joining Jessie and friends over at Vanderbilt Wife for “Saturday Linky Love.”