Author: lswrites

This author has written 205 articles

Karen Whiting Helps you Release Creative Power

by Karen Whiting in Leading Hearts Magazine

Scriptures empower us in many ways. For me, Ephesians 3:16 is my life verse that always reminds me that God pours out treasures from His power.

We first encounter God’s power in Genesis 1.

The power to create and be creative is our first glimpse into God’s abilities and unlimited imagination. It is that power I pray for and that power I have received.

Scientists study creativity, trying to find it in the human mind when it really flows from God. So, how do we tap into creativity and use it?

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Dare to Dream Into your Purpose

by Linda Evans Shepherd @lindashepherd in Leading Hearts Magazine

Got a purpose?

Ask God to show you something you could do if fear stepped out of your way.

Queen Esther found herself facing such a challenge. She’d risen above her difficult childhood and won a kingdom-wide beauty pageant to accept the role of a lifetime, a royal marriage to King Xerxes himself. The marriage had been a happy one until her husband fell under the spell of Haman, a nobleman with evil intent.

Haman convinced Xerxes to make a degree that on a certain day, the people of King Xerxes’ kingdom could exterminate and enslave the Jews, Esther’s people.

Esther was heartbroken, but what could she do to stop the slaughter? If Esther tried to speak up, she’d have to waltz uninvited into the king’s court. That was a crime for which she could be executed. But why bother? The King’s decree was irreversible. (more…)

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Read more about the article Reclaim Your Happy Space

Reclaim Your Happy Space

by Beth Duewel and Rhonda Rhea in Leading Hearts Magazine

Does your happy ever need a reno?

All of us can sometimes put our happy spaces in weird places. People get caught up, for instance, in the thread count of their sheets. Thread count. If it’s not Egyptian cotton in a thread count impressive enough to require a greater number of stacks of cash in the bank than the count of the threads in the sheets, suddenly that bed is just not a happy place. It’s all about the thread count. The math is not uncomplicated.

The two of us, Beth and Rhonda, maintain that everyone is getting a little too caught up in the thread count, when shouldn’t the crumb count be a bigger deal? We were talking about it the other day and discovered that we don’t really like the idea of snacking in bed—mostly because we don’t like the idea of sheets that are too…how can we put it…exfoliat-ey. But then later we decided the fact that we’re not bed-snackers might actually be more about the other fact that neither of our husbands are big into exfoliation either.

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Read more about the article Words to Inspire You to Spring Forward in the April/May Edition of Leading Hearts.
Text LEADINGHEARTS to 64600 to get this issue delivered Free to your mobile device.

Words to Inspire You to Spring Forward in the April/May Edition of Leading Hearts.

Get this issue delivered Free to your mobile device, text LEADINGHEARTS to 64600.

We are celebrating the Words that Inspire You to Spring Forward in your Leadership Call in the April/May edition of Leading Hearts. Rhonda Rhea and Beth Duewel will help you RECLAIM Happy (fix-her-upper.com), the “Breakthrough” Movie (breakthroughmovie.com) will inspire YOU to embrace the God of Miracles, and music artist PLUMB (plumbmusic.net) shares her journey to understanding the beauty in brokenness.

You won’t want to miss leadership building articles to help give you perspective on caring for the caregivers in your church and life. Also, get expert tips for releasing your inner creative space, maximizing your online ministry and embracing the rest you need to lead effectively.  You’ll find this plus much, much more in this edition of Leading Hearts Magazine. Text LEADINGHEARTS to 64600 to get this issue delivered free to your mobile device

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Text LEADINGHEARTS to 64600 to get THIS ISSUE
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The NEW ISSUU “Story Mode” Below easy-to-read display is available for every article exclusively on your Mobile Device.

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Breakthrough the Movie: Exclusive Interview with Pastor Jason Noble

with Lisa Burns, profile contributor in Leading Hearts Magazine

Pastor Jason with John and Joyce Smith

“BREAKTHROUGH” the movie is based on The Impossible book, written by Joyce Smith. The story documents the real death experience of her son John and the miracle of God that brought him back to life.

Leading Hearts magazine sat down to learn more of the inspirational story of the Smith Family, through their pastor and friend, Jason Noble.

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Caring for Caregivers

by Kathy Howard in Leading Hearts Magazine

Voices penetrated the heavy shroud of sleep. I checked my phone. Two o’clock in the morning. I could hear the anxiety in Mom and Dad’s conversation, but I couldn’t make out the words.

I threw back the covers and stumbled across the hall to their room. Dad lay on the floor beside the bed. I managed to get him sitting, but no matter how much I tried, I could not get him off the floor and back in the bed.

My husband Wayne was stirring in the other room, so I called for help. Together we got Dad up and settled back in bed. Thankfully, Dad only suffered a few bumps and bruises. But his fall dramatically reminded me I can’t care for my parents without help.

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Read more about the article New Issue Sneak Peek: God Will Restore!

New Issue Sneak Peek: God Will Restore!

by Dr. Saundra Dalton Smith @DrDaltonSmith in Leading Hearts magazine

Over the past month, I’ve witnessed devastation come into the lives of many around me. Tornados stormed through the south leaving a wake of pain and loss. Fire completely consumed the possession of a local family, leaving them clinging to the memories of the past and uncertain about the future. Flood waters swept through, carrying away hope in its path. 

What these situations have in common is a feeling of having portions of your life consumed by circumstances beyond your control. They leave you looking back at all those years invested in building and planning with a longing to get back what has been taken from you. I empathize with those walking through this pain because I have experienced it. The circumstances may not be the same, but the feeling of emptiness, grief, and hopelessness are understood. 

I have stared at areas of my life languishing from the attack of the “creeping locust, the stripping locust, and the gnawing locust” (Joel 2:25, NASB) and wondered how God could ever restore these years. How can He give back what appears to be forever lost?

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EPA Award Winning Article: Sioni Rodriguez—The Freedom of Forgiveness

by Emily Walton in Leading Hearts Magazine 

Congrats Emily for receiving 4th Place from the Evangelical Press Association for Student Writer of the Year

“FORGIVENESS IS A GIFT, AND YOU CAN GIVE IT TO YOURSELF AND GIVE IT TO SOMEONE ELSE,” Sioni says. Sold three times and a survivor of unspeakable horrors, Sioni Rodriguez is a champion of the healing power that God and forgiveness can bring.

Raised in Costa Rica with her younger brother, Sioni’s early years were torturous.

“I was confused and afraid, living in poverty. I was

abused and violated,” Sioni says. “Our mother seemed to hate us so much.”

Her parents were alcoholics who physically, mentally and verbally abused them daily. When she was five she began getting raped nightly by her mother’s lover. “I would sit in my bed [at night], dreading his arrival,” Sioni says.

Sioni was sold for the first time when she was nine. Her mother took her to a brothel in the city and left her there. She accepted Jesus into her heart that day.

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Want to Grow Great Fruit? Get Rid of These Inheritance Spoilers.

by Sharon Elliott in Leading Hearts Magazine

IF YOU’RE ANYTHING LIKE ME, ONE OF MY REASONS FOR BEING A CHRISTIAN IS GOING TO HEAVEN. Some years ago, the singer Evie sang a song with the lyric that said, “If heaven never was promised to me, neither God’s promise to live eternally, it’s been worth just having the Lord in my life.”

That’s true when I’m counting my blessings, but I have to be honest, heaven’s still a big part of the deal for me.

With that in mind, I take very seriously biblical warnings like that of Galatians 5:19-20 which lists the things that will hinder me from inheriting the kingdom of God. 

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Read more about the article Are Your Free to Pray? 10 Myths that Might be Getting in Your Way

Are Your Free to Pray? 10 Myths that Might be Getting in Your Way

by Linda Evans Shepherd @LindaShep in Leading Hearts Magazine

DO YOU HAVE A LIST OF REASONS WHY YOU THINK GOD DOESN’T WANT TO TALK TO YOU? SO DO A LOT OF PEOPLE. Check out our top ten reasons women have skipped out on talking to God today. See which reasons you identify with, and then read our myth busters for a better perspective on what spending time with God is really about

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