Posts with the tag “alina-sato”

Go On Living Together
September 11th, 2023
You’ve walked courageously with me through some painfully honest processing of what it’s like to get a cancer diagnosis. Sometimes our prayers for optimal outcomes are not answered the way we want. He...  Read More
by Alina Sato
Reckoning With Illness and Death
September 4th, 2023
In the first post of this series, I shared the story about how I received a breast cancer diagnosis just a few minutes before my friend Susan announced her benign results from her own recent biopsy. I...  Read More
by Alina Sato
When God Says No
August 28th, 2023
My friend Susan and I both had biopsies to investigate ‘suspicious findings’ on our mammograms and ultrasounds within a week of each other. As a result, we and our concerned circle of friends were awa...  Read More
by Alina Sato
The Ministry of Embodiment in a Chaotic World
December 7th, 2022
In a perfect storm of circumstantial stressors, our own sin and pride in wanting to please everyone, a real spiritual enemy who comes hard after our souls, and trudging through a world that is not kin...  Read More
by Cornerstone West Los Angeles
Lent is a Time for Gentle Fury
March 31st, 2022
This season of Lent, reflecting Jesus’s 40 days in the desert, allows us to consider who he is and what exactly he came to do....  Read More
by Cornerstone West Los Angeles
The Tender Mercy of the Light of Christ
December 14th, 2021
We live in a world where we’ve gotten used to being the ones in control of light – flip a switch on, put a fake fire up on the TV. Because of this, when I think of God as our light in the darkness, I’...  Read More
by Cornerstone West Los Angeles
Hold Loose Your Calling, Hold Fast to Christ
September 3rd, 2020
It has been a season of enduring significant hardships and experiencing very real losses. We are learning some deep lessons around key factors shaping our life and identity that we may not have chosen...  Read More
by Cornerstone West Los Angeles
A Biblical Response to “You Do You”
May 27th, 2020
One of the most curious effects that traveling to another country can have on us is the illumination the time away brings to deeply embedded cultural mindsets we’ve developed in our current country of...  Read More
by Cornerstone West Los Angeles
Am I This Personality Type?
October 3rd, 2019
About a decade ago, I read up on the descriptions of introverts and extroverts and exhaled a big sigh of relief. I finally had some concrete understanding and descriptions of why I as an introvert wou...  Read More
by Cornerstone West Los Angeles
The Temptation of Quick Fixes for Suffering
July 11th, 2019
Life is showing me I have a much stronger desire for quick fixes to my suffering than I typically care to admit. For example, as a mother, I struggle a great deal with joy in parenthood on a daily bas...  Read More
by Cornerstone West Los Angeles
God’s Perspective on Failure
April 10th, 2019
I’m afraid of failing.I imagine most of you can resonate with me to some degree. There are a lot of emotions tied into the experience of failing – embarrassment, shame, disappointment, anger, discoura...  Read More
by Cornerstone West Los Angeles
A Call to Honor Our Pastors
October 9th, 2018
As the season has turned from Summer to Fall, aggressive marketing strategies are sometimes too quick to remind us of fast-approaching holidays: Halloween, Thanksgiving, Christmas. Many of us may not ...  Read More
by Cornerstone West Los Angeles
I Thought I Was a Good god
April 11th, 2018
In his book “12 Ways Your Phone is Changing You,” Tony Reinke adeptly explores spiritual struggles that use of our smart phones can potentially reveal and exacerbate in us if we are not careful. As I ...  Read More
by Cornerstone West Los Angeles
Passion for Justice, Plea for Mercy
February 15th, 2018
“Moving through necessary justice towards a spirit of compassion, mercy and forgiveness, even for the most vile of perpetrators, is what allows us...to display the scandalous, beautiful, life-changing...  Read More
by Cornerstone West Los Angeles
When You Don't Know How to Pray
October 17th, 2017
“We don’t always have the presence of mind to figure out what to say to the Lord when we are spinning.”It was a beautiful Friday evening at sundown, and I was out walking my dog, reflecting on all tha...  Read More
by Cornerstone West Los Angeles
Trusting the Gospel in Times of Prosperity
September 7th, 2017
“...in many ways, prosperity actually highlights my need for Christ even more.”In recent months, I have experienced the curious adventure of dreams coming true. In my growing passion to give voice to ...  Read More
by Cornerstone West Los Angeles
The Ministry of Questions
March 8th, 2017
I was out to dinner with a group of non-Christian friends one evening when I was suddenly and unexpectedly put on the spot.“Alina, if an atheist is really, really good his whole life, can he go to Hea...  Read More
by Cornerstone West Los Angeles
The Challenge and Blessing of Community
April 29th, 2015
"Celebrating [God] by loving my imperfect child who made an inconvenient mistake was just as important as celebrating Him with my words and songs about grace at church."    I am, by nature, so many th...  Read More
by Cornerstone West Los Angeles