NIKI FLORICA

So, I could write an entire post on the ups and downs of 2020 and its multiple dimensions of weird/difficult/sobering/painful/illuminating, but I think we've got that topic pretty much covered, haven't we? The trials of 2020 aren't over, and we must continue to be in prayer for those who are suffering, grieving, struggling to make ends meet, or physically/mentally/spiritually burdened as a result of those ongoing trials. But, though the difficulties may be ongoing, one thing

A day or so ago, I entreated heaven for clarity. I've struggled for a long time with the desire to use my passions for the Lord, but my preconceived notions of what that should look like have been and are getting in the way. I prayed for God to speak to me, to show and tell me the path I should be following and how I should move forward—if I'm to move forward at all, or else wait on more specific direction. Clarity can come in a single overwhelming downpour. Other times, it c

The past couple years have been hard for me. I'm sure they've been hard for you, too. We're all going through something, hiding it behind "o

When we travel, we tend to plan. That's just good old-fashioned thinking ahead. We may not know exactly what each leg of the journey will look like, but it's important to know that at Copperfield Street we'll take a left, then a right past Fred's Furniture, then another right and a left at the old apple tree outside the city limits, and so on. We're planners. It's a human trait, and a part of it resonates with all of us, even those of us who may not view ourselves that way. W

Well, I don't know where the first three and a half months of this year have gone, but it's probably time to check in on those spiritual goals for 2020 . . . Yeah. Remember those? I'm not usually one to make solid or specific New Year's Resolutions, but in January I found there was something on my mind that I truly hoped to improve this year. The desire of my heart was to reach a new depth in my communication with Christ. I was finding my interactions with Jesus compartmental

The Bible tells us that if anyone is in Christ, he or she is a new creature—that through him, our old selves pass away and we are made new. (II Corinthians 5:17) I remember how I used to think of it as a little kid, the word "creature" conjuring an image of a hideous monster that went down into the baptismal waters and came out as something reborn. That Beauty and the Beast image made an impact on me as a kid, but one thing I've had to learn since giving my life to Christ is

Sometimes answers come slowly, through doubt, like an ice-blurred windowpane that melts into clarity one steady droplet at a time. We don't tend to think in those terms, especially when it's our prayers soaring to heaven for relief. We tend to want the answers now, this minute—instant healing, instant direction, instant results—forgetting that sometimes we need to endure a time of doubt before the answers are made clear. Jesus healed a blind man in Mark 8 in a way that may se