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Dec 16, 2020Accept Jesus’ Invitation for True Rest
Dear downhearted, I have been thinking about you… how Christmas is normally your favorite time of the year and how much you love the hustle and bustle of the season. However, the uncertainty and stress of this year have contributed to you feeling tired, stressed, and worn out. So many areas of life seem hard […]
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Dec 15, 2020God is Near
Dear Downhearted, I’m sorry that you’re experiencing discontentment in this season. I’m sorry as well for the potentially accompanying disappointments, unmet hopes, or even grief. I’d like to encourage you today with some truth from Psalm 73:21-26. Psalm 73 describes one of Asaph’s bouts with discontentment. The psalmist had become envious of the evildoers around […]
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Dec 14, 2020God Is With Us In Our Loneliness
Dear downhearted, I remember that one very difficult period of loneliness in my life came as I was graduating seminary and transitioning into the work world. I had grown really close to a small group of friends in my program after spending three years together. We became like a little family. As graduation came near, […]
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Dec 13, 2020In Jesus There is Certainty
Dear Downhearted, How do we continue to hope in the midst of uncertainty? This is a lesson the Lord has continued to teach me the past several years as my wife and I have pursued adoption. Perhaps most poignantly, it was a little over a year ago that we found ourselves once again asking, “Will […]
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Dec 12, 2020Comfort from the Psalms
Dear Downhearted, You are not alone in feeling weariness in this season. This year has been uniquely challenging, and the holidays have a way of bringing this pain to the surface. Thank you for persevering, for pressing on, and for seeking encouragement. I want to encourage you that, when you feel crushed, fatigued, reluctant to […]
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Dec 11, 2020God Grieves Too
Dear Downhearted, You’re experiencing grief in this season. The holidays can make this experience more poignant. If you’ve recently lost a loved one, maybe this is the first Christmas season you have gone through without them. However you’re experiencing it, grief is a complex process. In light of that, I do not want to take […]
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Dec 10, 2020What Does God’s Word Say Is True?
Dear Downhearted, There are times and seasons in life that make you feel the burden of your humanness. Often there seems to be more questions than there are answers, more worries than there are joys, and more uncertainties than there are assurances. Fear and uncertainty come natural to us. I recall a certain season not […]
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Dec 09, 2020Jesus Was Weary Too
Dear downhearted, Jesus was weary too. For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but one who in every respect has been tempted as we are, yet without sin. Let us then with confidence draw near to the throne of grace, that we may receive mercy and […]
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Dec 08, 2020A Cure for Discontentment
Dear downhearted, A lot of us are feeling discontent this year. As I think about it, the feeling of discontentment, as common as it is to our human experience, is actually intimately connected to who we are as people created in the image of God. The reason we are discontent, at bottom, is because we […]
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Dec 07, 2020What is Loneliness?
At Citylight Church, we strive to be a culture shaped by the gospel. As a gospel culture, we look to the gospel for solutions to our problems and one of the most significant and common problems we face today is loneliness. What is loneliness? Dr. Stephanie Cacioppo, director of the Brain Dynamics Laboratory at […]