Posts by Ryan Seow (Page 6)

It’s great to be back at Lifespring! As many of you know, I took a leave of absence from my duties on staff at the church from May to August in order to work on finishing my dissertation (read about that here: https://www.life-spring.org/making-every-effort/). I can gladly say that I now have just over 175 pages of my dissertation written, out of a total of around 225 pages. I’ll be sending a more detailed update and thank-you to the church family…

As many of you have heard, from May to August I’ll be taking a leave of absence from my staff position at Lifespring to finish my PhD program (watch the announcement here: https://youtu.be/PhduQxbe9bw?t=2503). I’m glad for the leadership team being willing to let me take this time off to finish what God had put on my heart years ago, and I’m encouraged by the support of people in the Lifespring family who are praying for me and even taking some…

April already! As the weather warms up and flowers and trees start blooming, we are without a doubt entering a new season. This time of year marks a nice transition as we start putting away winter gear and put on our fall jackets, in anticipation for warmer weather ahead. Along with the seasons changing, April is also the time of Easter this year. Easter weekend shares a lot of similarities with this idea of the seasons changing. Easter is about…

Luke 15: 22-24–“But the father said to his servants, ‘Quickly, bring out the best robe and put it on him! Put a ring on his finger and sandals on his feet! Fetch the fattened calf and slaughter it. We must celebrate with feasting because this son of mine was dead and has come back to life! He was lost and is found!’ And they began to celebrate.” Last Sunday we were blessed to have Donna speak and share some of…

1 John 3: 16-18: “This is how we know what love is: Jesus Christ laid down his life for us. And we ought to lay down our lives for our brothers and sisters. If anyone has material possessions and sees a brother or sister in need but has no pity on them, how can the love of God be in that person? Dear children, let us not love with words or speech but with actions and in truth.” Since 2019,…

Earlier this week, my school (Fuller) put out a call to prayer for Ukraine. This call to prayer helped to guide and inspire my own prayers, and hopefully you find it helpful as well as you pray for the ongoing crisis. Here are some parts: “Tragically, human beings are inclined toward war. We see it again vividly and tragically unfolding in Ukraine with Russia’s invasion. We remember all in our community whose own lives, or those of family and friends,…

1 Chronicles 16:34: “Give thanks to the Lord because he is good, because his faithful love endures forever.” Since the beginning of the year, we’ve been hearing testimonies from our speakers at church. Personally, I’ve really enjoyed hearing the stories of how God has worked in the lives of people at Life-Spring, and the different places we come from. I think everyone in Life-Spring has a testimony to share, no matter what your background is. We all have a story…

Ephesians 4:1, “Therefore, as a prisoner for the Lord, I encourage you to live as people worthy of the call you received from God.” When I was thinking about the season we’re in at Life-Spring, having just ended our fast and settling in to a new year, a topic came to mind that I spoke about some time ago. The idea of a fixed mindset vs. growth mindset is from the field of education, but I think many of the…

When I’m fasting, I feel like hearing God becomes a little easier. I’m wondering if you’ve had the same experience. For some reason, during my fasts I feel like listening prayer comes more easily, and I’m able to hear God better. For this January fast, we encouraged the Life-Spring family to give up something that gets in the way of God in our lives. Making an effort to put aside those things opens us up to God’s voice even more.…

It’s no stretch of the imagination to say that we’re living in a bit of a storm right now. We exited last summer with hopefulness around the pandemic, only to be faced with another variant of the coronavirus and another round of restrictions. What’s God’s heart for his people during times like these? What does it mean to have faith when the pressure is on? I think during moments like this, God’s heart is that we would have peace. When…

When you search for me, yes, search for me with all your heart, you will find me. Jeremiah 29:13 This weekend we close the book on what has been a tumultuous 2021, and open a new chapter in 2022. In my mind, 2021 was a year full of unexpected twists and turns. Just as quickly as things settled down with the pandemic and life, things were stirred back up just as fast. There was a lot of adaptation to the…

John 15:1-2 “I am the true vine, and my Father is the vineyard keeper. He removes any of my branches that don’t produce fruit, and he trims any branch that produces fruit so that it will produce even more fruit.” This past Wednesday, we had our last prayer meeting and intercession for 2021. It’s amazing to see how the prayer ministry has grown at Life-Spring, even during the pandemic. We often divide into smaller breakout rooms during intercession, and last…