Blazing Fire's Encouraging Blog

Hi everyone! First, I wanted to thank everyone for the kind words and prayers. This is not a goodbye just a see you later! It was truly an honor, and I’m so thankful for the chance to share what God has been teaching me. The topic of anxiety and control is something that feels deeply personal, but also something I know many of us experience in different ways. One of the main things I spoke about was how closely anxiety is often tied to our desire to stay in control. When life feels uncertain or overwhelming, our natural instinct can be to try harder, to plan more, manage outcomes, or hold everything together on our own. But over time, that kind of control becomes exhausting, and it can leave us feeling even more burdened. I’ve been reminded that God never intended for us to carry the weight of life alone. Scripture continually invites us to bring our worries to Him, to release what we cannot control, and to trust that He is present even in the unknown. While anxiety can make us feel li...

Last Saturday night, i felt privileged to facilitate a panel discussion with Elijah Breon, Karena Lout, Susan Fochler, and Diane Jung The panelists shared about their walk with God with vulnerability and pearls of life wisdom. Here is a taste of what you’ll find on the video: Elijah shared about things he set his heart on.  The kinds of things he hoped would give him a strong sense of identity and purpose. Karena shared about how deep grief surprised and overwhelmed her and how Jesus lovingly comforted her. Susan had longed all her life for emotionally healthy, life giving conversations with her mom.  And God helped her grieve this in a way that brought more wholeness for Susan while her mom was still alive. Diane realized she needed God to comfort her her after her father’s death - she intentionally chose to open her heart to God’s comfort from loving friends. With gratitude and affection, Russ P.S. I warmly encourage you to watch what was shared. Find the video for our Febru...

We’ve been slowly working our way through the beatitudes found in Matthew 5:3-14 for the past few months. We have a ways to go, but I was inspired to write down an artistic overview of this passage. This is not done phrase by phrase, but rather pulls in themes from the entire passage and communicates them in a seamless way: Jesus reveals that, much to our surprise, we’re blessed when we come to the end of ourselves—when we have nothing left and know how desperately we need to depend on him for everything. As we embrace our deep need for Jesus as well as when we mourn when crushed by loss and pain yet turn to him for comfort, a genuine humility arises and we develop a hunger and thirst for what is right. With this renewed heart and spirit, we discover the mercy, purity and deep peace of Jesus within us—evidence that we belong solely to him. Jesus assures us we will be his grace-filled seasoning and his love-light in this world, yet because light clashes with darkness, there will be time...