When it comes to your words, what’s your go to? Is it gentle encouragement, crass humor, rude sarcasm, loving kindness or intellectual harassment? As people, we typically have a “go to” when it comes to our words. So, what’s yours?

One of the things I don’t like about myself is the amount of words I have to say. All the words, oh, all the words. There are just so many words that leave my lips. I can waiver between gentle encouragement and loving kindness with a dash or five of rude sarcasm on any given day. I like the me that says nice, helpful things but I dislike the me that does the opposite.

Weigh what you say for you can build up or tear down.

How do we keep ourselves from tearing down with our words? I believe it’s about staying connected to the Vine, Jesus Christ. Sounds like a tall order, doesn’t it? John 15 is a beautiful chapter about how we are do to this and not only how, but that it is possible. According to verse six, if we “remain in Him, we will bear much fruit.” I want to bear the fruit that brings glory to Jesus not only in what I do but also what I say.

One way to stay connected to Christ throughout our day is to have an ongoing dialogue with Him. Talking to or asking questions of Him just like I would a friend. And in regard to our words, maybe we consider the following questions:

• Am I going to regret saying this?
• Is there a better way to say this?
• Are these words going to encourage or discourage?
• Will what I say help or harm?

You will not get this right 100% of the time. How do I know? Because you’re a human being. But don’t let partial success in this keep you from making a daily effort to be a life-bringer to all whom you encounter.

Weigh what you say for you can build up or tear down.

Today’s Reading
Prov. 15:4
John 15:1-17
Eph. 4:29

One of the most difficult things for a Christ Follower to do is to step out into the unknown when you are unsure what the outcome will be.

I remember hearing God clearly in March, 2002, when He led me to stay in my devastated marriage. I could not trust my husband, Chris, farther than I could throw him yet God, in His mysterious way, assured me that He had a plan and that it was trustworthy. So, I stepped out.

Jehovah Jireh. This name of God says he will provide according to Genesis 22:14. The scripture doesn’t say He has provided, although He certainly has. It doesn’t say He is providing, although He absolutely is. It says He will provide – and that takes faith on our parts to step toward His provision. Did you know that without faith it is absolutely impossible to please God? We are simultaneously growing and pleasing God when we step out in faith. So, let’s step.

When you step out in faith, it pleases God and develops you.

I don’t know what burden you are carrying right now. The worry about provision, the concern about a loved one, the issue that imprisons you. We’ve all had our fair share of sorrows in life. So, while I can’t tell you the outcome of your story, I can tell you that our God will carry you, comfort you and provide for you. Pinky promise.

Today, take some time to look back over your life. Think about the concerns in the past and how God brought you through them. Consider the personal growth in your life and how God made you a better version of yourself. Remember the financial strains and how God provided for you. I mean, you are far more valuable than the birds of the air and if He feeds them, won’t he care for you?

You will not be able to see the future, but you can 100% trust His hand.

When you step out in faith, it pleases God and develops you.

Today’s Reading
Genesis 22:1-14
Matthew 6:25-34
Philippians 4:19
Hebrews 11:6

*Most of the content from this is from a post I recently wrote for Life.Church.

We all have habits. Some propel us toward positive outcomes, and others do the exact opposite. The bad habits get our focus because, well, they’re bad habits and we need to eradicate them from our lives. So, we make the effort to not only stop the bad habit but also to construct a new habit simultaneously. Yet when we mess up on a good, new habit we’re trying to establish, so often we give up and say, “I’ll never change.” And with that lie running through our heads, we never will.

What is it for you? Maybe you snap at your kids too much or you ignore the alarm and don’t make it to the gym. Perhaps you set a goal to read your Bible every day, but after you miss a few days you figure missing a few more isn’t a big deal. Before you know it, these new habits aren’t habits at all, and you’re no longer making an effort.

Lamentations 3:22-23 tells us that God’s compassions never fail and that they’re new every morning. Here’s a thought: What if when we mess up on a goal —instead of throwing in the towel—we choose to begin again? We could literally say, “Okay, messed that up. Starting over now.” Even if we have to say this to ourselves every day, let’s do it.

When you mess up on your goals, simply begin again.

So you ate something you probably shouldn’t have. Begin again at the very next meal with your goal. Perhaps you missed a workout—or five. Begin again the next day by getting to the gym. You got behind on that Bible Plan in the Bible App. Begin again the next day and catch up. There are plenty of scenarios we could list that show us to be people who can’t stay on track. But failing is not failure. Just because you’ve failed before doesn’t mean you’ll fail forever. Begin again.

Look around you. There are people everywhere who are living content, healthy lives that are full of good habits. How do they do it? Are they perfect? No. They begin again when they mess up. They’ve resolved to live out Galatians 6:9 which says, “Let us not become weary in doing good for at the proper time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up.” 

We will struggle. We will fail. But we can’t give up or we won’t succeed.

When you mess up on your goals, simply begin again.

I desperately want to rely on God and His faithfulness. When my life is not going according to some ideal I have constructed in my mind, sometimes I wonder what God is up to. And then I get frustrated with myself for not trusting Him in a certain situation when I’ve trusted Him and seen Him come through before.

To trust God with my present, I will remember His faithfulness in my past.

As I was processing through this recently, a verse literally lept off the page at me. Psalm 86:11 says, “Teach me your way, Lord, that I may rely on your faithfulness; give me an undivided heart, that I may fear your name.”

While I am on this earth, I must learn and know God’s ways to the best of my ability so that I will be able to rely on God’s faithfulness. His ways reveal His character and when I know His ways, I tend to trust and rely on Him, who He is, and what He’ll do.

When that, then or if are a part of a verse, we get some real direction and revelation for our lives. These small and seemingly insignificant words are vital as we move forward in our walk with Jesus. For example, we see in Romans 12:2 that if we want to be able to test and approve God’s will, we must not conform to the pattern of this world. If we want to overflow with hope by the power of His Spirit, we have to trust in Him according to Romans 15:13. And if we want to reap the harvest that Galatians 6:9 says we can have, we cannot give up. Relying on God’s faithfulness comes when I learn His ways.

To trust God with my present, I will remember His faithfulness in my past.

When we don’t understand the plan unfolding before us, we can glance back at His past faithfulness and be encouraged. If he was faithful in the past, He will be faithful in the future. He can’t not be faithful. He is the same yesterday, today and forever!

No matter the direction of your life or how circumstances are unfolding before you, choose to rest in God’s character and ways. He is for you, not against you. He has good plans for you, not bad ones. And He sent His son to spare you of eternal separation from Him.

To trust God with my present, I will remember His faithfulness in my past.

Today’s reading
Psalm 86:11
Romans 12:2
Romans 15:13
Galatians 6:9
Hebrews 13:8

I have an immune system like a fortress, which means I rarely get sick. When a stomach bug or virus tends to land on those around me, I don’t usually fall prey to it.

Except a cold. I usually catch one cold each winter season. Oftentimes this turns into a sinus infection and even bronchitis. And I throw a fit about it. Sometimes I even pout.

Because I want God to just take it away. To just zap my body and wah-lah, I’m healed. But that doesn’t happen. Instead, I have to do what only I can do. I have to do my part. Diffuse the right oils, rest, take plenty of Vitamin C and Elderberry, rest, treat the symptoms, rest, run the humidifier, you know, all the healthy , non-prescription things.

We must do our part and let God do His.

In 2 Kings, chapter 5, we read about Naaman, who is was the commander of King Aram’s army. He had leprosy, and nobody wants to have leprosy. He hears about a potential cure and makes his way to Samaria. Things get a little touchy with the King of Israel and that’s when Elisha steps in. Elisha summoned Naaman and then directed him to wash himself in the Jordan River seven times so that his skin would be restored. Here is Naaman’s surprising response:

But Naaman went away angry and said, “I thought that he would surely come out to me and stand and call on the name of the Lord his God, wave his hand over the spot and cure me of my leprosy.” (2 Kings 5:11)

Naaman wanted his leprosy gone with the wave of a hand. I wanted my cold gone. But it didn’t work that way for Naaman and it didn’t work that way for me. And chances are, it isn’t working that way for you either.

Are you struggling with an addiction that you long for God to just zap away?
Do you have a strained relationship that you wish God would just mend?
Is there uneasiness in your heart about your future?

Make no mistake about it, our God is the ultimate addiction-breaker, disease-healer, and heart mender. He can alleviate your struggle with one snap of His majestic hand. Yet, more often than not, He wants us to interact with Him, working it out with Him so that we can grow through our trials with Him. Our faith must not be a sideline faith. It must be an active faith.

We must do our part and let God do His.

Today’s Reading
2 Kings 5

Growing weary. Losing heart. Giving up.

Seems to be something that a majority of the world will do at some point in their lives, doesn’t it? It could be something small like ditching a new diet plan on the second day or something not so small like choosing to walk away from a marriage. Big or small, we give up on things more often and way too quickly than we should.

So, how do we stop giving up? Hebrews 12:3 is an outstanding verse and begs us to “consider him (Jesus) who endured such opposition from sinners, so that we will not grow weary and lose heart.”

Consider Jesus, and you won’t lose heart.

Consider that He left the majesty of Heaven right next to His Father, the Creator, for you.
Consider that He “made himself nothing by taking the very nature of a servant” (Phil. 2:7).
Consider that He “humbled Himself” and became “obedient to death” on a cross (Phil. 2:8).

For when we consider Jesus, that is what will keep us from growing weary and losing heart. Why? Because we have not experienced what He endured. In fact, the very next verse says, “In your struggle against sin, you have not yet resisted to the point of shedding your blood” (Heb. 12:4).

I have not struggled so much that my blood was shed (Heb. 12:4).
I have not struggled so much that I have been publicly humiliated and mocked (Matt. 27:28-31).
I have not struggled so much that God turned His face against me (Matt. 27:46)

We will confront adversity in our relationships. We will face obstacles that appear insurmountable. We will encounter affliction in our lives. But when we keep Jesus in mind, when we set our gaze directly on Him, when we remember what He endured and overcame, we will have a renewed heart and spirit that will prevent us from giving up. And if we don’t give up, that is when we will “reap a harvest” (Gal. 6:9).

Consider Jesus, and you won’t lose heart.

Today’s reading
Matthew 27, Philippians 2 + Hebrews 12

Praying for our children is instinctual as parents. We are constantly praying for their health, well being and happiness. All of those are great, but let’s go deeper

Make your day great!

This was a first for us.

Chris and I were called into full-time vocational ministry together. We had served heavily in a volunteer role the moment we started dating and this lasted a couple of years until Chris received his first offer for a pastoral role. Because of the nature of our work, learning to rest and vacation well has been paramount.

We are blessed that our leaders at Life.Church encourage regular time off. Our role is not harder than someone else who has a job in a workplace outside the church. Many roles are can be challenging despite the environment. I just know that for us, as pastors and leaders, we have had to learn to navigate the ins and outs of serving the people of our church and staff. 

To make the most of your time off, I’d like to share three things that we did and four things we learned:

What We Did

1. Solitude. Chris went away alone on day 1 of our sabbatical. This was a game changer for him. Sometimes on vacations it can take a few days to relax and disconnect. But, when you are on a motorcycle riding through the mountains in Colorado, it’s not hard at all. (I stayed home with our sons and met up with him on day 7 in Colorado and we spent the next 8 days there.) If getting away alone does not work for your marriage or family, at least encourage some alone time even if it’s just for 3-4 hours each day for a period of time. I also found ways to get alone myself during our time off even when I was still home with our sons.
2. Disconnect. Chris had no access to email or social media during this time. He removed it from his phone. He even downloaded a texting app for just our family to use so that he wouldn’t see other text messages arriving on his phone. I also chose to stay off social media during this time. And you know what? Neither of us cared one bit that we could not engage on it. We did not miss it AT ALL.
3. Travel. Take a family trip, a staycation and a vacation during an extended time off. Family trips are with the kids – go someplace where they would enjoy. A staycation is just being at home – find your rhythm and enjoy it. Make sure you have a vacation with just your spouse. Make this a 7-day trip at least. Chris and I did not do a vacation during this time because as I said, our kids are older. So, our staycation was like a vacation as well. (However, we do vacation together every year – HIGHLY VALUABLE!)

What We Learned

1. Leave things unplanned. We did not plan our entire 4 weeks away. Two of the weeks for Chris were spent away and two were at home. We felt like planning every bit of it would defeat the purpose of a sabbatical. But trust me, as a planner, I had plans and they were good! However, very few of them came to fruition. So, we encourage you not to plan every bit of yours either.
2. Welcome boredom. Be okay with being bored. Now, I know you may not think you will get bored on your time off. Maybe you won’t. But just welcome it if you can. The biggest decision we had on any given day was whether we were going to eat out at a restaurant or eat at home. Tough life, huh?
3. Take naps. When you get sleepy, sleep. We did this a lot – which many people saw on our oldest son’s Instagram account. Thank you, Noah.
4. Rest deeply. Be still and sit with your Heavenly Father. Listen for his voice. Share your concerns but also just talk to him as you would your spouse or a friend. Even if you don’t sense Him revealing anything new or fresh to you, just stay there. Embrace the quiet.

So, can I describe what we received from this sabbatical in one word or one phrase? I’d say we had a deep soul rest. It was life giving and life rejuvenating. It’s hard to explain but if you’ve read 5 Gears by Jeremie Kubicek and Steve Cockram then you’ll understand this: we were in gear 1 for 98% of our sabbatical. 

Chris and I were not in an unhealthy place at the beginning of this four weeks. Were we tired? Uh-huh. Were we ready to disconnect? Absolutely. Were we ready to rest? For sure. Were we excited to spend time in Colorado with our sons? Strong yes. But the reason we were not in dire need of this time to “fix” us was because of two things:

We spend time in God’s Word every morning
and we have learned to rest well.

We have made it a priority to begin our days in God’s Word. It is our guidebook, our source of all truth. It is strength for the soul, wisdom for the mind and food for the body. In addition to that, we honor the Sabbath each week. And when we do that, we find that we do not get to a place of burnout. 

Wherever you are in your life, full-time vocational ministry or ministry in your own workplace, know that you must stay connected to the Vine through His Word and rest well if you want to be able to say…

I have fought the good fight. I have finished the race. I have kept the faith. 2 Timothy 4:7