Hope with God... with Andrew and Wendy Palau

What’s on your to-do list today? Maybe you’re going to the market, preparing food, and caring for your family. Maybe you’re just studying or working late into the night. I wonder if spending time with God is on your list. With the pace of modern life, it can seem almost impossible to find time to pray. I get it. But, a small amount of time spent with God can make a huge difference to the stress le...

What is anxiety? The word is used a lot these days. I read a statistic that over 31% of American adults experience an anxiety disorder at some point in their lives. That's a lot of people. The word itself means distress or uneasiness of mind caused by fear or danger, or misfortune. This is a real thing. Anxiety is something that can be debilitating. But there is someone who is bigger than your anx...

Doesn’t it feel like the pace of life is getting faster and faster? Does the fear of missing out drive you to pack your life so full that it’s just bursting at the seams? And on top of all that, the daily weight of challenging life circumstances and the suffering of this world can feel dizzying. Have you ever wondered—is it a sin to feel stressed? Mark 14 tells us that when Jesus was about to go t...

What does God think about dating? What popular culture deems acceptable or forbidden in terms of dating seems to change all the time. The answers are rarely simple. But here’s what is clear—when you choose to follow God, you give Him access to guide and direct ALL of your life. That includes choices about relationships. If you read the Bible, you’ll get a picture of how God wants us to treat one a...

Who loves you unconditionally? Do you have someone in your life that you believe loves you, no matter what you do? Unconditional love is an impossible type of love. It's hard to give, and it's sometimes hard to receive. This type of love isn't human; it is divine. And it truly is the type of love God has for you. Do you believe this? Psalm 130 says this… Put your hope in the Lord, for with the Lor...

What if I never get married? Has that question ever haunted you? Marriage is a beautiful thing—a blessing from God. But it’s not the only path to a wonderful life. We can get stuck in the quest to find our “soulmate” and be tricked into believing that having a romantic partner is what makes us complete . But the Bible teaches that, while marriage is good, it’s not for everyone. The apostle Paul kn...

Living in a family is hard. It's the hardest relationships we'll ever navigate in life. The people closest to us, who know us the best, can sometimes be the hardest to love, and where we can feel the most defeated. You might be in a situation today where your family feels like it's falling apart. I want to encourage you today. The family is God's idea and He wants to help you. Call out to Him. Ask...

Do you ever struggle with how to love all the people in your life? We’re hardwired for connection and community—it’s how God made us! It can be so joyful, and yet so painful. Relationships take work, emotional investment, and the risk, always, of heartbreak. We have the power to strengthen each other, bringing encouragement in the hardest times, and because of our fallen, sinful state…we can also...

Our lives don’t unfold in straight lines. God takes us on winding journeys that sometimes make no sense in the moment. Storms come through. They threaten to destroy us. But one thing’s for certain—God is with us through it all, and He is always faithful. Hebrews 6:19 describes the hope we have in Christ. It says, This hope is a strong and trustworthy anchor for our souls. It leads us through the c...

I worry. Do you? I worry a lot. I worry about time. I worry about my children, about money. Sometimes I feel like I worry about everything. And some worrying is normal. I suppose there are certain things I wouldn't get done if I didn't worry. Sometimes it feels impossible not to worry. But there's only one way for me to get past this constant sense of worrying about things.  I remember, and I beli...

Have you ever had to hide the real you? Who can you trust to know your problems, your shortcomings—your most difficult emotions? Most of the time, fear of judgment, abandonment, and betrayal cause us to put on a mask. But, you know what? There's one person we can all trust with all the deepest parts of ourselves—and that’s God.  Psalm 139 says that God saw you before you were born. Every day of yo...

As humans, we're always working and striving to change our lives to become better, stronger, more efficient, more productive, and this is good. This is in us. But at times striving can be a huge burden. This constant need to change, achieve, produce.  Think of a seed planted in the ground. It needs water and air and sunlight, and with all the right things, it grows. It produces. It feels miraculou...

10 tricks to achieve the body of your dreams. 5 steps to reach your potential. 3 hacks to quit wasting your life. These are just a few of the articles that popped up with a quick internet search. The world is jam-packed full of voices offering fake shortcuts to meaning. Have you felt pulled from one thing to the next, trying to find your purpose? Are you overwhelmed by the sea of phony answers to...

What if you lost your job? What if you had to move across the country unexpectedly? We all worry about these “what ifs.” We all have our own—stressful things that we worry about, and we want to avoid. We trick ourselves into believing that if we have enough money, nothing bad could ever happen. But you know what? It’s not true. Troubles come to us all—no exceptions. What’s worse—becoming enslaved...

People have opinions, lots of opinions, right? And unfortunately, we launch them off into the world so easily and quickly, and frequently. And we can become diverted and swayed and so impacted by what other people think. There is only one opinion that should matter to each of us. And sometimes we just need to be quiet to hear it—the whisper of the Spirit of Truth, giving us hope, reminding us that...

Have you ever tried to buy happiness? The Bible tells us an amazing story about a son who asks for his inheritance early. He left his home and family and wasted all his money on wild living. It wasn’t too long before he found himself working for a pig farmer, so poor—starving—he longed to eat the slop intended for the pigs! In desperation, he swallowed his pride and headed home to beg for his dad’...

From the youngest of ages, I had a never-ending discontent. This led to a longing to figure out who I was. I ended up going to art school. I thought maybe this was the place I could immerse myself in self-expression. So I devoted myself to figuring myself out. But this was a dead end for me. The more I looked in, I saw darkness. Out of this place, I began to cry out to God, begging Him for help. I...

The famous Bob Dylan song, “serve somebody”, reminds us of this essential truth—that no matter who you are, rich or poor, weak or powerful…“You’re gonna have to serve somebody.” Who do you serve? God? Yourself? Who we serve has consequences. Most masters take more than they give. There’s only One who will give back to us exponentially more than we could ask, think, or imagine. His name is Jesus. J...

Have you ever heard the saying, “There is no change without loss”? We can’t usually move forward in life without giving up something that no longer works for us. When we think about turning our lives in a different direction, the real question we often face is, “Is it worth the cost?” Listen to this story Jesus told about His kingdom: The Kingdom of Heaven is like a treasure hidden in a field. Whe...

What is the most precious thing you have? Your husband or your wife? Your parents, brother, sister? Your child, your health? Most of us would answer one of these things. The sad thing is that every one of these things and these people can be lost. How tragic that the most precious things we have, we can lose. Is it possible for your most precious possession to be eternal? Something that could neve...

Thinking about the future can be terrifying. What if we lose all we’ve worked for? What if there’s a war, a flood, an earthquake? The list goes on and on, and it’s true—our best-laid plans can fail and everything can change in the blink of an eye. But here’s an offer you can depend on… If you choose to give your life to Jesus, you get a room in the Father’s house. Jesus made us this promise in Joh...

God has treasure for you—precious things that no one and no circumstance can ever take away. Did you know that diamonds originate deep inside the earth? In the base of the thickest and oldest and darkest parts of the continents? What makes a diamond? Pressure! Lots and lots of pressure! And isn't it the same with us—with our lives? God says to us, I will give you the treasures of darkness, riches...

What is your most treasured possession? A favorite piece of jewelry? A drawing by your child or a heartfelt letter from a dear friend? All that we treasure here on earth will one day turn back into dust. There’s only one person that will not—the greatest treasure in the world—Jesus. The same Creator God who said, “Let there be light,” chose to put His light in us—in you and in me! The Bible calls...

When you were a kid, did you ever imagine yourself as a superhero? I think we all wish for the power to do amazing things. Just imagine the security you’d feel if you knew that nothing could ever hurt you. Of course, we will never have the power to protect ourselves and our loved ones the way superheroes do. But we can have a different kind of strength that comes from following Jesus. Ephesians 6:...

I saw a video of my husband and I when we were engaged. So many years ago, so young, just beginning our life together. We never could have imagined the things that would come our way. The heartache and the loss that we would face. The tears that we would cry together. Everyone feels pain in life—disappointment—we cannot escape it. The truth is that we can face it with hope, or without. With hope,...