Reset with Bonnie Sala

Jesus was clear as to His mission on earth, reaching back to a 400-year-old prophecy saying: "…the LORD has anointed me to preach good news to the poor. He has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim freedom for the captives and release from darkness for the prisoners" (Isaiah 61:1).

Try dropping the Name of Jesus at your next work social event.  And I don't mean as a cuss word.  Because you can talk about "God," or say that you're a "person of faith" or that you're "spiritual," without offending many people.  But please, keep Jesus to yourself.

I will never forget the day I was sitting in the bleachers at my son's lacrosse game, chatting with several of the parents.  I'd become friends with one of the moms, who was Jewish.  Somehow the conversation turned to church and faith.  My friend knew that I was a Christian, and she asked me, rather loudly: "But what about Jesus ?"  Would you tell me that if I don't believe in Jesus , I'm going to...

Meg wanted to go to hear the popular surfer turned evangelist who was speaking at a summer crusade.  She listened intently and made the decision to repent and begin a relationship with Jesus.  Her friend, Amy, was excited!  A follower of Jesus, Amy encouraged Meg to find a community to worship with and offered to do Bible study with her.  After a few weeks had passed, however, Amy got a message fr...

Can we ever talk too much about forgiveness?  The Bible uses four different words to describe forgiveness. Three words are Hebrew and one is Greek. The first is translated as, "to cover," as in throwing a blanket over a pile of laundry. The second word means "to lift and take away," as if removing a stain from your best shirt. Third, "to pardon" or "to wipe clean" is a weightier term, reminiscent...

Right before her wedding day, Laura was struggling with doubt – she dearly loved her fiancée, but forever is one long commitment! How could she be certain of the future? A friend gently reminded her that we actually can't be certain of what hasn't happened yet. Some doubt is healthy because it's a sign of honesty.

When ancient Greeks formalized the adoption of a child in court, an adopted child received a new name. If the young person had committed any crimes against the state, their record was expunged at the time of adoption into their new family.

Have you ever seen an incredibly beautiful person pass by, or artwork that stopped you in your tracks, or heard someone speak with such clarity that your mouth dropped open? You think to yourself, I want to be like THAT! When Jesus' followers heard Him pray, they thought, "we want to learn to pray like THAT!" So they asked Jesus to teach them.

Many of us discover early on in life that it's easy to deceive people we perceive as naïve or generous. Watch your kids at play:  one child will deliberately praise the beauty of a doll she's uninterested in so that her sister will want it and exchange dolls with her, getting her the toy she secretly wanted. Or here's a more serious one:  A man named Laban in the Bible actually switched up the dau...

I had to rise very early one morning to catch a flight. There were a lot of important things happening at home and I'd be gone for a whole week. I felt anxious!  My old pattern of coping has been to try to control everything and everyone. But I didn't want to go back to that; I'd worked hard to move away from this unhealthy way of handling life without Jesus. 

In the Bible book of Acts 5, there's a story about a couple named Ananias and Sapphira. They sold a piece of their land so that they could give the funds to the church. But they decided to keep some of the money for themselves and lied to the church about it. Almost as soon as the lies left their mouths, they fell down, dead!

It's devastating to stumble just before you reach the finish line of a race. Others rush past you as you sit in the dirt and the prize slips away. Yet what we experience as defeat can still serve God's purpose.

I was preparing to go a mission trip in a developing country.  The trip was going to involve a lot of outdoor work, so I was careful to select clothing that wasn't the "best" of my wardrobe.  In fact, let me be honest:  I packed my old clothes .  As the trip concluded, I washed the clothes as best I could and left them in my hotel room for the woman who would clean after I checked out.  I felt sel...

There once was a farmer who told his son to be home at a certain hour but one Saturday night the son failed to come home.  At midnight the father got out of bed and turned the lock on the front door.  He was still awake when he heard his son come home and try the door, without success.

If you read Bible stories as a kid, it's interesting to revisit them as an adult.  The story of the children of Israel escaping Egypt, Red Sea parting and all, was always a favorite of mine. What strikes me now is the evidence God gave His people that He was with them.

Have you heard of Marie Kondo?  Kondo is a popular guru known for helping people simplify and tidy up their lives.  She asks people to really think about why they own the things that they do. Many around the world have been inspired to take critical stock of what has use or importance in their homes.

Mae's husband was mad again.  She crouched in the bathroom, his breath hot on her neck as he yelled, "Stop crying like a baby! You're crazy!  No one else would put up with you!"  The fact of the matter was, that no one but Mae would put up with her angry, abusive husband.  Beaten down for many years, Mae continued to pray that God would change her husband. Unfortunately, Mae's church gave her bad...

Have the words, "You make me so mad!" ever come out of your mouth?  If so, you're not alone.  It's easy to think that someone else's wrong or thoughtless behavior is causing you to be out of control and angry !  If that were true--and many people live their lives as if it is, we would constantly be angry and bitter!  We're surrounded by a world of imperfect people who will always irritate, wrong a...

I met a friend in person for the first time; she's a vibrant woman who exudes Jesus' love.  Patricia has been a nurse and educator for over 50 years in New York City.  As she shared her story with me, I was struck by the way racism had affected her life as a black woman—like the time a patient kicked her, screaming "Get away from me!" when she tried to care for the woman. I would have never seen t...

What is heaven like? Heaven already exists, but it's not in its final form, according to scripture. The Bible refers to a place where God is and where Jesus returned to when He ascended from earth. This place is a realm where followers of Jesus are fully alive in completely perfect bodies, having shed the broken-down versions we lived in on earth.  The Apostle Paul wrote, "we know that the one who...

Let's play a word association game:  what comes to mind when you hear the word, "obedience?"  My friend, Luisa, comes back with "blessing."  I, on the other hand, think, "coercion, followed by…spanking."  I recall a Christian parenting program that instructed parents to insist on first-time obedience from their children, or else !

Jesus is one person, but in Scripture and in our relationships with Him, we see so much of our own humanity.  First, each of us sees Jesus as He relates to us, and us to Him. Because Jesus was fully God and fully man, we all can each see ways that "Jesus was just like me."

It used to be popular to put adhesive stickers on the bumper of your car, endorsing a politician or bragging that your kid was an honor student at the local elementary school.  One especially irritating bumper sticker read, "Christians aren't perfect, just forgiven."  It was infuriating when the driver of a car with this sticker on it cut you off in traffic. Jesus, himself, showed open anger for r...

My son once took part in a discipleship program that involved mountaineering activities.  One night was spent deep down in a cave, with this restriction:  no light of any kind was allowed.  Some found it difficult to sleep, panicking, unable to discern up, down or even the passing of time. 

Old Testament law of the Bible dictated that farmers should cut grain in a circular pattern.  This left the corners of a field untouched, so that poor people and immigrants could harvest there for free. Few of us own fields today, so how can we interpret this? Yes, you can give money to people who help the poor, but you're passing helping to the hands of others. There's something exciting about gi...