Renee Gotcher
Photo image courtesy Renee Gotcher“And this is the confidence that we have toward him, that if we ask anything according to his will, he hears us.” – 1 John 5:14 (ESV)As a child, my experience with prayers for healing involved traveling preachers who called the sick up to the front...
Tricia Thornton
It’s a summer day at the beach. The children are enjoying floating on a raft in the ocean. They laugh as the waves rise and fall. The raft rocks up and down. As a bigger wave comes, they grip the sides as the raft wobbles beneath them. Then, they relax...
Tricia Thornton
Summer often begins with high expectations. We envision family vacations, slower mornings, and a welcome break from the hurried pace of the school year. Yet by July, many parents feel surprisingly tired. Children complain they are bored. Siblings argue. The novelty of summer starts to wear off, and we wonder...
HANANIAH
It is one of the most quoted promises in the Bible, and also one of the most mysterious: a peace that "surpasses all understanding."A peace that does not make sense. A calm that shows up where, by every reasonable measure, there should be panic. People have testified to it in...
HANANIAH
When someone you love dies, words mostly fail — your own, and other people's. What helps in grief is rarely an explanation. It is something quieter: a presence, a hope, a few true words you can hold.The Bible offers exactly that. The short comforting bible verses for death of a...
HANANIAH
It is a phrase you might hear in church and let slide right past — a gentle, churchy greeting. But when Jesus said "peace be with you," he was doing something far weightier than saying hello.The words peace be with you carry the whole weight of the Hebrew blessing shalom,...
HANANIAH
The night has a way of making everything worse. Worries that seemed manageable by day grow teeth at 2 a.m., and the harder you try to sleep, the more awake you become.Sleeplessness is one of the most common and exhausting struggles there is, and Scripture speaks to it more directly...
HANANIAH
Before anything else, one thing needs saying plainly: depression is not a sign of weak faith, and it is not a sin to struggle with.Some of the most faithful people in the Bible walked through seasons of crushing darkness — and Scripture records it without a hint of shame. So...
HANANIAH
Some seasons are not solved; they are survived. And in the surviving, what you need is not advice but comfort.There is a difference. Advice tells you what to do. Comfort sits with you in what you cannot change. When life is genuinely hard — when you are weary, grieving, overwhelmed,...
HANANIAH
"Do not be afraid." It may be the single most repeated instruction in the whole Bible.From angels announcing good news to God reassuring frightened prophets, the words echo across both testaments. And that frequency tells you something important: fear is not a rare problem for unusually weak people. It is...
HANANIAH
There is a specific flavor of fear that hits right before something big — the interview, the diagnosis, the stage, the hard conversation. Your stomach knots, your thoughts sprint, your hands won't quite settle.That jittery, anticipatory nervousness is its own kind of struggle, and the Bible has words for it....
HANANIAH
If you have ever lain awake at 3 a.m. with your heart racing over things you cannot control, you already know that anxiety is not a modern invention.The people of the Bible knew it too — the fear, the dread, the mind that will not stop spinning. And Scripture does...
HANANIAH
The word "peace" gets used so often it has almost lost its meaning. We use it for quiet rooms and quiet minds, for the end of arguments, for a vacation away from it all.The Bible means something deeper and sturdier. When Scripture speaks of peace, it is not describing the...
Tricia Thornton
For many parents, summer arrives like a finish line. We limp toward the last day of school convinced that once the schedules disappear, life will suddenly feel lighter. Easier. Slower.But often, that is not what happens.Instead, many families find themselves oddly unsettled. Parents feel exhausted instead of refreshed. Kids become...
Lisa Wesley "Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God; and the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus. " (Philippians 4:6,7)Lord, how many times have I read this? How...
Renee Gotcher
“Oh, give thanks to the LORD, for He is good! For His mercy endures forever.” – Psalm 136:1This November marks three years since I started my journey to relieve anxiety, restore peace, and revive hope by stepping outside for soul-soothing walks with the Lord during a desperate season of resurfacing...
Nashville-based therapist Tricia Thornton came to the country’s attention in 2023 when she counseled grieving children and their families following the tragic Covenant School shooting.An emerging figure in the world of child and family therapy, Thornton combines psychological and neuroscience research with spiritual guidance to address many of the mental...
It’s amazing to consider that on any given day, literally tens of thousands of thoughts cascade through our brains. Some of these thoughts are spectacular, like that glorious beach vacation you took with your family last year, or remembering the wide-eyed wonder of your children on Christmas morning. Unfortunately, for...
"So do not fear, for I am with you; do not be dismayed, for I am your God. I will strengthen you and help you; I will uphold you with my righteous right hand."—Isaiah 41:10 (NIV)It was a miserable, humid August day, and I broke a sweat while walking to...
Renee Gotcher
“Is anyone among you sick? Let him call for the elders of the church, and let them pray over him, anointing him with oil in the name of the Lord. And the prayer of faith will save the sick, and the Lord will raise him up. And if he has...