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Trisha Keehn

Writer

Trisha Keehn is a creative writer fueled by a lifetime of faith. She is part of the Life.Church and YouVersion Bible App creative writing team, and uses her broadcast news background to help companies choose their words wisely. Trisha is a wife, mom, coffee connoisseur, lover of libraries, and a savvy traveler.

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Where Is Your Focus?

Jesus, we love you.

focus on God, where is your focus, trishakeehn.comI don’t know how you’re feeling, what you’re facing or how you’ve stumbled across this post, but when we make the decision to focus our attention on Jesus with all the adoration of our heart, it’s amazing how the things of the earth grow strangely dim in the light of His glory and grace.

It’s just like the captivating rays of the sun. When your eyes look into the brilliant spectrum of light, everything else on this earth fades in comparison to this glorious light.

A glimpse of His greatness, His grace and His great love for us can consume every heartache and disappointment. There’s something incredibly powerful when we’re magnifying Him in our mind and with our emotions. All the things of this world become small and insignificant in the light of His majesty.

What are you glorifying today; your schedule, your problems, the setbacks or something bigger than them all?

Where’s your praise today? Jesus is here. His presence is alive and He’s asking for your focus today.

We thank You Jesus for your grace, your love, your goodness, and your favor. We thank you that we can stand here in your grace and live in your free unmerited favor that you have bestowed on us.

Heavenly Father, we come here confident as your children, your sons and daughters. We know you are a good Father, who is for us and on our side. We thank you that You think of us. That your plans are for a future filled with hope and that you have plans to prosper us. We thank you that You are with us right now. We thank you that You are our present help in time of need. We thank you that You are our refuge. You are our strong tower. We thank you  that even now, in this season and moment of life, You are with us. We thank you for your goodness, your love and your grace, Jesus. Amen.

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Do You Believe In Soulmates?

Loving hard with our hearts and hands, and then even harder with our feet,

Asking, caring and wildly serving each other when the world wants our time,

Understanding when the words still bring tears,

Forgiving when the pain is yet fresh,

Humbly accepting failures, even if it’s out of empathy,

Adjusting the words and the way we walk because we have compassion,

relationship, trishakeehn, God made life to be about relationshipLeaning in to the difficult conversations when it’s easier to pull back…

These are character attributes of commitment that simple chemistry and compatibility can’t execute.

No amount of charisma can put Christ in the center or keep Him first.

Being comfortable with someone doesn’t mean it won’t get complicated or have tension at times.

“So do you believe in soul mates?” He wanted to know.

“Well, I guess if I did, I wouldn’t believe in what it takes to make marriage work,” I replied.

Life is more than romance. It’s about relationship.

Long-winded answers like this may keep me single but I’m not willing to settle.

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Does Your Story Need A Rewrite

“I love you this much,” He said.

It wasn’t for the sake of being a martyr or making a scene with something so drastic to prove a point. They called it punishment.

Jesus Christ, sacrifice on the cross, symbol of grace, symbol of love, trishakeehn.comHe accepted the pain as a price so you wouldn’t have to know the excruciating death of sin.

The very things that try to tie your mind down to a cross of condemnation and shame have been defeated once and for all. Anything that has you bound to a beam of depression, negativity or addiction, I declare by the blood and unchanging name of our Savior Jesus, these too have been brought to the grave.

He marched up that hill and paid your entrance fee. It’s time to stop making excuses for why you can’t come to this place of freedom.

The end has already been written. This story doesn’t have a rewrite.

What was once a symbol of pain became a story of grace that day His love covered the ground we stand on. What symbol of pain are you still clinging to?

Reaching down from Heaven, the Lord is handing you a quill, filled with the crimson ink of Christ. It’s time to edit your story. And when you return to Him one day, my prayer is that your chapters have corrections marked in mercy and strength. That your page in His book will be packed with new paragraphs of peace, and extra spaces replaced with great purpose.

“Therefore, since we have been made right in God’s sight by faith, we have peace with God because of what Jesus Christ our Lord has done for us. Because of our faith, Christ has brought us into this place of undeserved privilege where we now stand, and we confidently and joyfully look forward to sharing God’s glory. We can rejoice, too, when we run into problems and trials, for we know that they help us develop endurance. And endurance develops strength of character, and character strengthens our confident hope of salvation. And this hope will not lead to disappointment. For we know how dearly God loves us, because he has given us the Holy Spirit to fill our hearts with his love. When we were utterly helpless, Christ came at just the right time and died for us sinners.” – Romans 5:1-6

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When You Want To Give Up

Isaiah 45:5-6, rising sun, the Lord is the Author, trishakeehn.comHe’s the Author and the Finisher of our Faith. He’s all about finishing what He began in your life. He’s more passionate about your purpose than you are.
 
When you look at what you’ve accomplished as your own doing, you must also accept your own unraveling. May I encourage you with this reminder that what He started, He will finish.
 
When doors don’t fly open in your timing, remember His timing is perfect and your time is coming! It’s easy to get overwhelmed by discouragement from “no’s”. Remind the enemy of your faith that the Author is the Finisher. God has a plan here. You can rest in the confidence of knowing that God is going to provide your “yes”.
 
The Lord will finish what He began. It might not look the way you want it to look, but He’s going to get the work done whether the people you had in mind want to be a part of it or not. Nothing can prohibit God’s purpose through you. No lack of support is going to move you out of the position of your purpose.
 
Believe God has your best in mind.
 
“…looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith, who for the joy that was set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.” Hebrews 12:2
 
“I am the Lord, and there is no other, besides me there is no God; I equip you, though you do not know me, that people may know, from the rising of the sun and from the west, that there is none besides me; I am the Lord, and there is no other.” Isaiah 45:5-6
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When Life Is Difficult

Life may have you competing for better positioning, or standing at the edge of your patience right now. Maybe it has you on the floor with fear or drowning in your own tears. I can’t take away the pain or turmoil, but as your sister in Christ, I want to point you to the One on the throne who is listening even now, standing ready and willing to encourage you today.
encouragement of the cross, the cross sits is at the center, look the crossWhen the day intersects with difficulties, may you land on the fresh encouragement of the cross there at the center of your decisions. Refocus. The cross is always at the center when you shift your gaze. May you be empowered to rise above the rough places to see the perspective here; the Lord has already paved a straight path to victory for you. It’s covered in grace and certainty. Be expectant when it doesn’t look the way you thought it would; He’s a God of surprises and delights to bring even better things than you can comprehend.

There is power in your stance. So pull your shoulders back, feel the strength in your body and lift that head up knowing whose we are. He is the Author and Finisher, and He’s penned your story with the good things. (Proverbs 28:10)

Jesus, we’re thankful for your grace. It means there’s no amount of human effort that can change the ending. We are covered by a love that paid the price with the blood of Jesus, once and for all. Signed, sealed and delivered for the freedom of God’s children. The chains of addiction, shame, and depression have been broken. The strongholds of negativity, anger and negativity have no power over the Lord’s purpose and plan for your life.

Grace has put us in the winner’s circle. Our strength comes from the Lord who has already overcome anything and everything that should come against us today. Breathe new life into us, Lord. Restore hope and purpose in us. Help us to be quick to resist temptation and make decisions that honor you. Thank you, Lord for the wisdom to make great decisions in life. Thank you for going before us and making our path straight.

Lord, we ask that you open the right doors and close the wrong doors. Bring the right people and weed out those who should not be there. Help our spiritual ears and eyes to be open and sensitive to your voice so we can clearly hear what the Spirit is saying.

You are the true and living God and we thank you that you are bigger than anything we are facing. You are fighting for us, Almighty God, and all those against us will fail by the power of your strong arm. I thank you Lord that every force of darkness is broken in the name of Jesus. And we thank you for bringing healing, peace and joy to your children.

Help us to let this light of yours shine brighter in us this week, Lord. Help us to restore the broken and lift the fallen. Lord, you said you would be a friend who sticks closer than a brother. So I pray that anyone experiencing loss or unfair situations may feel the comfort from your arms wrapped around them today.

Thank you Lord, for joy that comes in the morning. Thank you for a new day of victory and hope that is springing up inside. Thank you for restoring a vision of new beginnings. We thank you for restoring health physically, spiritually and emotionally.

We declare we are strong in the Lord and the power of Your might, Jesus! Amen.

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Your Best Days Are Ahead

best days are ahead, trishakeehn.comThose who live by the law also live in the land of ‘what if’. It’s time to stop rewinding the reel of your broken dreams.
 
The law says, ‘look at what I did’. Grace says, ‘look at what Jesus did.’
 
The devil can’t stand to see you free. He might be surrounding you with discouragement and disappointment now. Hang on, Friend. Wait on the Lord. You shall have your strength renewed soon and mount up on eagle’s wings.
 
Trust the Father with your future. Your best days are not behind you, they are still out in front of you.
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What Complaining Really Says

complaining, your problems are under God's palm, God's power is bigger than your problemThe most powerful words in the world are the ones you use to talk about yourself and your situation. When you choose those words to be praise first, you put your problem in its proper position; under the palm of the Lord.

Enter his gates with thanksgiving and his courts with praise. (Psalm 100:4)

And if it’s that kind of day and you don’t know where to begin praising Him, Psalm 104 will give you a good start.

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Grace Was Meant For Us

grace, love of God, Jesus gave us graceWe celebrate Love today. Love that woke you up this morning even after…
 
Some of you are still standing at the cross with your hands full of shame; the enemy has you holding onto the pain of your wretchedness. It was really bad what you said, what you did.
 
But Love. Love reached down from the Heavens and asked for everything in your hands and said, ‘it is covered’.
 
The enemy’s primary weapon against you is shame. If he can get you to walk in shame, you won’t come to the altar and ask God for forgiveness. Accepting the high gift of grace draws you closer to the Father and that’s exactly what the devil doesn’t want you to do. The enemy wants you walking around expecting punishment.
 
Here’s what I want you to know: Jesus already went to the cross for that. You can come boldly to His throne with the tears and the pain and leave it there and He’ll be glad you came. His love and grace was meant for you and me.
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Respect Yourself

respect yourselfRespect yourself enough to walk away from anything that no longer improves this better version you are becoming.

It’s a disaster to stay miserable because it’s familiar.

Fear will have you curling up to yourself. I’m asking you to reject the lure; it’s a trap to keep you fixated on the troubles.

If you know Jesus, then tap that reserve to the unfailing spring buried within. It’s time to show the natural life some supernatural power.

Let us then with confidence draw near to the throne of grace, that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need. Hebrews 4:16

 

 

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Now More Than Ever He Loves You

‘Not this time.’

Yes, this time.

‘You don’t know what I’ve done.’

It doesn’t matter.

‘But it was really bad. I knew better.’

It is covered.

‘How? Why?’

His love spreads wider and sinks deeper than anything you’ve ever thought about doing.

His compassion is the kind that chases you down with aging roots of longing.

God's love, Jesus's love, God loves you, Jesus loves you, His devoted affection has been waiting forever for you. Yes, you.

His ferocious, fiery passion is to shower you in favor; He has forgiven it all.

His gut-wrenching yearning for you paid a price in blood so that you could come home to be with Him.

His arms remain open with kindness. His friendship anticipates holding you closer.

His mercy desires the ashes you have to offer. Bring your brokenness and mistakes. Hand over your battles and the hurt. The grace of God intends to trade them all for abounding beauty and joy. He breathes resurrection into your life.

His unfailing love chose you before you could ever choose Him. His entire existence is made to love you. He longs to lavish and bathe you in a spring of all-consuming peace.

Leave behind your regrets. Don’t try fixing it yourself. Just come as you are.

He loves you now more than ever. The Father’s arms are open wide and waiting…