Mari-Anna Frangén Stålnacke, Th.D.

The Missing Piece of the Puzzle of our Hearts

October 7, 2010 Mari-Anna Stålnacke @flowingfaith Comments 0 Comment

You’re addicted to thrills? What an empty life! The pursuit of pleasure is never satisfied. (Proverbs 21:17, MSG) “There is a God-shaped vacuum in every heart” says Blaise Pascal. Viktor Frankl talks about “existential vacuum”. According to him meaninglessness in our lives is a hole, an emptiness, in our lives. Whenever there is a vacuum we rush to fill it with things. We keep on trying one thing after another -shopping, money, work, sex, drugs, entertainment, relationships, hobbies- but nothing fills…

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A Clean Sweep – Healing from the Inside Out

October 5, 2010 Mari-Anna Stålnacke @flowingfaith Comments 4 comments

I know many of us are in great need of physical healing (Right now I have several people on my prayer list). But let’s not forget the even greater need for spiritual healing. Because through spiritual healing we are not given just life in this world but also life after death. If we don’t have spiritual cleansing from inside out it does not matter how healthy we otherwise are. Because then we are walking in the land of death. We…

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Something Holy

October 4, 2010 Mari-Anna Stålnacke @flowingfaith Comments 0 Comment

It’s Melodic Monday! Today’s song is Something Holy by Stellar Kart . A wonderfully encouraging song to remind us that life’s not just about what we can see. We are part of something holy, something bigger than all our lives! It’s only Jesus that gives our lives meaning & purpose, only in him we can find peace, only in him we can find something to fill the hole in our hearts. (This is the theme we will be discussing at…

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All You Need Is God

September 30, 2010 Mari-Anna Stålnacke @flowingfaith Comments 6 comments

I recently read an interview with a retiring bishop. He was asked what he would like to be remembered by. He said that it’s not important that he would be remembered. But he hopes people would remember that God is good. Amen to that! It’s not really about us, it’s about God! Because God is good – all the time! God is all mercy and grace— not quick to anger, is rich in love. God is good to one…

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Let’s Not Waste Our Lives!

September 28, 2010 Mari-Anna Stålnacke @flowingfaith Comments 1 comment

I posted this Eugene H. Peterson quote yesterday on the Flowing Faith Facebook page and have not been able to forget it ever since: “What a waste it would be to take these short, precious, eternity-charged years that we are given and squander them in cocktail chatter when we can be, like Jeremiah, vehemently human and passionate with God.” I think all human beings are afraid of wasting their lives. We crave for meaning and purpose for our lives. It’d…

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Healing Begins

September 27, 2010 Mari-Anna Stålnacke @flowingfaith Comments 0 Comment

It’s Melodic Monday! Today’s song is Healing Begins by Tenth Avenue North. The first video is a video journal by lead singer Mike Donohey & the second video is the actual song. We all need healing, we all need saving. The healing begins at Jesus’ feet. Let’s meet there! So you thought you had to keep this upAll the work that you doSo we think that you’re goodAnd you can’t believe it’s not enoughAll the walls you built upAre just…

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Be Yourself! & Other Stuff God Has Been Teaching Me

September 24, 2010 Mari-Anna Stålnacke @flowingfaith Comments 2 comments

I had a perfect plan what I was going to write about today. But God had other plans. It all started yesterday when I felt God telling me “Be yourself, Mari-Anna! Be boldly yourself!” That felt good but I didn’t know what I was supposed to do/think about it. Last night I had this strangest dream. I was meeting with an agent at a pre-conference event and the discussion was going well. I was almost having a deal when my…

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Beauty in Brokenness?

September 21, 2010 Mari-Anna Stålnacke @flowingfaith Comments 8 comments

Have you ever been so broken, shattered into zillion little pieces, that you were sure there was no hope for you? Or are you heart-broken right now? There’s good news for broken people! In Jesus all the broken and dislocated pieces of the universe get properly fixed and fit together in vibrant harmonies! There’s hope because of Jesus’ blood that poured down from the cross! He [Jesus] was supreme in the beginning and—leading the resurrection parade—he is supreme in the…

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Your Grace Still Amazes Me

September 20, 2010 Mari-Anna Stålnacke @flowingfaith Comments 7 comments

It’s Melodic Monday! Today’s song is Your Grace Still Amazes Me by Phillips, Craig & Dean. This song captures so well the awe I feel in the presence of God. There is no way we can repay to God what he has done and is doing for us. But we can love and praise God. Join me and Phillips, Craig & Dean to praise God and live our lives in awe of God and his amazing grace!My faithful Father, enduring…

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Christianity Is Not About Being Good & Doing Good

September 16, 2010 Mari-Anna Stålnacke @flowingfaith Comments 4 comments

Christianity is not about being good & doing good like too many people, even Christians, think. How did this happen? How did we end up to this? What has happened in churches if young Christians don’t know what Christianity is all about. Do you know? This CNN article talks about how more teens are embracing “moralistic therapeutic deism” meaning it’s watered-down faith that portrays God as a “divine therapist” whose chief goal is to boost people’s self-esteem. I’d say that…

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