Faith

Check out all of YMI’s content pieces tagged under Faith. We hope you’d benefit from the written and visual content we have under this topic: Faith.

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ODJ: a long way


In trying to sell our house by owner (not using an estate agent), my husband made sure to ask each of our neighbours for permission to place a directional sign at a junction near our home. One particular homeowner seemed surprised that Scott had bothered to ask. As he gave his assent, he admitted that his usual response was to pull up any signs left by others who had not asked his permission. So w

ODJ: experiencing community


Respondents to a recent survey listed the following as key elements of their church life: connecting with God, experiencing transformation, gaining new insights and feeling cared for. All of those things happen as individual believers come together and use their gifts to bless and edify one another.
So often the idea of a ‘personal relationship with God’ is emphasised in our experience wit

ODJ: the world and I


I didn’t realise how far I was removed from reality until I read The Hunger Games. It jolted me into doing some research. According to the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organisation estimates for 2010, there are about 925 million hungry people in the world. That means 13.6 percent of the world population, or almost 1 in 7 people regularly experience hunger.
With so many modern comforts w

ODJ: suffering with God


Pain. We take pills to ease it, hold prayer meetings to heal it, develop strategies to avoid it and think up philosophies to explain it. We rarely, however, consider suffering as part of God’s plan for our lives.
Classic spiritual authors take a different approach to suffering. Take the 17th century monk Brother Lawrence, for example. Lame in one leg and acquainted with illness, in The Practi

ODJ: counting the cost


Jesus’ good friend Lazarus had died (John 11:14,17). And so He performed an amazing miracle by raising Lazarus from the dead (vv.43-44)—leading many who came to the funeral to believe in Him (v.45). But the Pharisees and priests responded differently. From that time on, they began to plot Jesus’ death (v.53). 
News of the spectacular miracle spread throughout the thousands of Jewish pilgri

ODJ: lawn libraries


Nancy Johnson went for a walk and discovered a little library in a neighbour’s garden. It’s estimated that there are now between 300 to 400 small libraries lodged in people’s lawns around the world. Each has a take a book/leave a book policy. Nancy commented, “What a nifty idea . . . I like the sense of community.”
Many of us are looking for a way to connect with people who share our i

ODJ: the God who suffered


People tell me that you can turn any smoothie or milkshake into a snack loaded with vitamins and antioxidants. The idea is to sneak vegetables (spinach, cauliflower, beetroot or other healthy veggies) into the beverages of unsuspecting drinkers. They think they’re only imbibing their mango and honey treat, but they’re also downing green veggies. The beverage may be in the form of a smoothie, b

ODJ: pray for them


In his book Life Together, Dietrich Bonhoeffer states: “A Christian fellowship lives and exists by the intercession of its members for one another, or it collapses. I can no longer condemn or hate a brother for whom I pray, no matter how much trouble he causes me. His face, that hitherto may have been strange and intolerable to me, is transformed in intercession into the countenance of a brother

ODJ: justice and faith


As a friend and I watched our children play in the pool, I had no idea that I would soon be swimming in my clothes. But when I saw our kids struggling to stay above the water, I jumped in. My instinct to separate the boys and help my friend’s child may have seemed strange at first, and even a cold response to my own son. I knew, however, that Micah had been underwater only because he had tried t