Last fall a friend gave me the devotional Jesus Calling by Sarah Young. Simple, yet from the heart Sarah writes in the first person of Christ, as He shows her wisdom in her daily life.
Common threads throughout the devotional are
- Seeking His face
- Choosing not to worry
- Trust
- Resting in His presence
- Issues of the heart like fear and anxiety
- The Peace of God
For example, yesterday’s short reading was about the peace of God in the storms of life – when we know God in control we can “rejoice in the face of hardship for I (Christ) have overcome the world.”
Following the short reading there is a series of Scriptures that can be read along with Sarah’s writing.
In the past I have sometimes viewed devotionals that have such short readings as “not deep enough” for me, but through the months that I have been reading Jesus Calling each day there has been a poignant teaching that God has been trying to show me.
Head on Sarah addresses issues like being thankful for any hardship because as we find peace in it we have the ability to experience God’s peace rising in us. One day she wrote about the struggles that we face daily, how often we review in our mind things that worry us – things that we think might be difficult – as we play the scenario through in our mind over and over it is like going through the difficulty many times over, while God only intends for us to go through the difficulty once in the present and with Him by our side. There is no point of reviewing it in our minds over and over because in so doing we are leaving Him out of the situation – denying His power and His peace!
- Mask Waiver - April 2, 2020
- Volunteer Application - March 24, 2020
- Lord Are You Willing? - October 3, 2019