jamie y. watkins

Category: Church & Faith

  • Psalm 8: Glory in Smallness

    Psalm 8: Glory in Smallness

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    jywatkins
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    This is the eighth post about the Psalms in a series I started several years ago. It’s taking me a lot of time, but I’m going through each Psalm as a way of coming back to the Bible. Thanks for reading as I pick the series back up again. 1 Lord, our Lord, how majestic…

  • Psalm 7: Decree Justice

    Psalm 7: Decree Justice

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    jywatkins
    in

    This is the seventh post about the Psalms in a series I started several years ago. It’s taking me a lot of time, but I’m going through each Psalm as a way of coming back to the Bible. Thanks for reading as I pick the series back up again. 1 Lord my God, I take…

  • The Red Couch: Dangerous Territory Introduction

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    jywatkins
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    I’m over at SheLoves Magazine today, writing for the Red Couch Book Club. This month, we’re reading Dangerous Territory: My Misguided Quest to Save the World by Amy Peterson. Join us! The appalled look on their faces told me this idea was unwelcome. To my non-Christian friends, the mere mention of “missionaries” conjured images of vulnerable…

  • Without Words

    Without Words

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    jywatkins
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    I’ve been praying for you. Allow me to be honest for a moment. That’s not always a phrase I take well. I’ve heard it too many times, said in condescension or pity or self-righteousness. It’s a phrase people have used when they don’t know what else to say about my doubts and questions, about my…

  • Psalm 5: Should We Wait Expectantly?

    Psalm 5: Should We Wait Expectantly?

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    jywatkins
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    1 Listen to my words, LORD, consider my lament. 2 Hear my cry for help, my King and my God, for to you I pray. 3 In the morning, LORD, you hear my voice; in the morning I lay my requests before you and wait expectantly. 4 For you are not a God who is…

  • Reading Silence

    Reading Silence

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    jywatkins
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    I became a Christian in high school, right around the time of the Columbine High School massacre. One of the stories that came out of the tragedy was of a teenage girl who was shot because she affirmed her belief in God. At fifteen, with my fledgling faith, I remember wondering if I would be…

  • The Virtue of Uncertainty

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    jywatkins
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    I was recently having a conversation with a coworker who described herself as “spiritual, but not religious,” and she said something like, “well everything happens for a reason, right?” I paused, and then I told her that I don’t know if everything happens for a reason. She was shocked because she assumed that because I…

  • I Used to Think Having Faith Meant Having Answers

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    jywatkins
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    I used to think having faith meant having answers, and now I think having faith means living with the questions. When I became a Christian and started attending church and bible study and youth group in high school, it was exciting, like making a new friend. You get to know each other. You play games and go…

  • Oh So Graceful

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    jywatkins
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    The other night, Chad and I went to a minor league baseball game with my parents. When it ended and we were heading back to the cars, Chad stopped to take a picture of the earth on fire (seriously, there was a sculpture of the earth– a hollow globe, iron pieces making up all the…

  • We Do Look Crazy, and Yes, I’m One of Them

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    jywatkins
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    I am the only member of my family who goes to church. And when I started going to church in high school, I kinda went all in… Sunday services, Friday night youth group, Wednesday night Bible study at a friend’s house. And then I chose a Christian college and volunteered with my youth group at home…