Encouragement grounded in Scripture
Rooted in truth. Anchored in Christ.
New reflections weekly.
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Through You They May Know Him
I didn’t know if I could do it. Yet again. Have another conversation with another grieving relative. The fourth in less than two weeks. Countless in the last couple years. The number of people who had lost loved ones due to various reasons over this pandemic is astounding. The number of times I have processed grief the same, while shutting off my own emotions on the topic.
I was hesitant to make the call. To check-in. To offer “condolences,” and all those words that are supposed to sound so pleasant and helpful but end up just sounding so flat. My heart was heavy, and I didn’t know how many more conversations I could have like this one. The phone interrupted my thoughts. Interrupted me as I dialed the number.
Yes, this is Ms. January. Sure, I have time to talk.
“She talks so much about you. She mentions Ms. January all the time, so I had to call to see if you could help.”
I didn’t get it. I hadn’t seen her in weeks. She had likely been avoiding me. Teens often do when adults hold them accountable, and I am the kind that well, holds them accountable.
This didn’t make sense to me.
Until it did.
In the same way, let your good deeds shine out for all to see. Matthew 5:16
Christ. He lives in me. Once accepted, he made me new. He placed a spirit within me that meant I also possess a certain light-the light of His love. His mercy. His grace. Sometimes it doesn’t require I say anything. Or that when I do, I do so in love. Still holding accountable for choices that are not the best, but always with the purpose of moving someone to a place of growth. Never condemnation or shame.
I may never speak the name of Jesus in the places I walk into. In the office spaces I occupy. In the halls in which I walk.
But…I can be certain of this: They will encounter Him though my actions. My words. My love.
If they never see a church pew. If they never sing a hymn, they will at least have encountered Him. They will see His grace and His light through me.
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Just Be Still, Already
We heard it as kids. We likely say it as adults now: “Be still. Sit down and just be still.” An instruction often given from parent to child. One that comes after too much moving and less just being.
You know we are commanded by God to do the same: “Be still?” Yet, even for us, the adults, who demand this over and over from our children…we don’t know how to practice this.
As I finished reading the devotion relating to this very thing…just sitting and waiting on God, I audibly heard the verse from Psalm 46:10 repeated to me: “Be still and know that I am God.” I have this verse in various places around my house. A reminder to sit, pray and let God do His thing. But as I heard that verse I had read over and over, I reflected on its meaning. The message version states it this way: “Step out of the traffic! Take a long loving look at me, your High God.”
Step out of the traffic. Essentially…get out of God’s way so He can BE God.
For a number of years, I was in the traffic. Ready to assist at the sign of any jam. Any accident. Any crisis. I was there. Running to save as if I was God. Until it took a toll and I needed saving. There is a time to run into traffic, but God’s command to be still, is a command to let God do His thing. However, we don’t do this. We move. We move because we don’t like His timing, thinking ours is better. We move before we are ready. We move outside of His will.
We move and play God, when He simply asks us to be still.
You. You pray. Be still and pray. Sometimes that’s all you can do. Maybe for this season, that’s all God is calling you to do. Because God is the one who saves. God does crisis intervention, and He takes care of traffic jams. You. You just need to get out of His way. Pray and let Him do His thing. Because when you pray…He WILL do His thing.
Get out of the traffic today. Get out of His way, and you? You just simply be still and pray.
I don’t own the rights to the music or video.
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Let There Be Light: Faith in the Unknown
And Abram believed the Lord, and the Lord counted him as righteous because of his faith. Genesis 15:6
Abram. Deemed righteous by God because of his faith. What does that even mean? First, to answer that-we must know what we are referring to when we discuss faith. According to Hebrews 11:1 and 3, “faith shows the reality of what we hope for, it is the evidence of things we cannot see (v1).” Or…”by faith we understand that the entire universe was formed at God’s command; that what we now see did not come from anything that can be seen” (v3).
We didn’t see God form the earth, but we believe. That’s faith. We don’t get our prayers answered right away, but we believe God will answer, even if we don’t actually see it. That’s faith.
As far as the Christmas season? Well, what does faith have to do with it?
Let’s get back to Abraham. He is not only known as one of the “Faith Hall of Famers” (Hebrews 11), but he is also known as the “father of many nations.” A title given to him by God after he had left his homeland, moved wherever God said to move, obeyed His commands, and didn’t hesitate.
When Abram was ninety-nine years old, the Lord appeared to him and said, “I am El-Shaddai—‘God Almighty.’ Serve me faithfully and live a blameless life. I will make a covenant with you, by which I will guarantee to give you countless descendants.” At this, Abram fell face down on the ground. Then God said to him, “This is my covenant with you: I will make you the father of a multitude of nations! What’s more, I am changing your name. It will no longer be Abram. Instead, you will be called Abraham, for you will be the father of many nations. Genesis 17:1-5, NLT
And God did what He promised, providing a descendant that would provide rescue.
Jesus. Yes, Jesus is one of these many descendants. It’s why the family tree we may skip in the first part of Matthew is so important.
God keeps His promises, and we must believe this even if we cannot see it. That’s faith.
Faith and righteousness is how a young virgin was chosen to give birth to a Messiah on that long ago night. Her trust in God is how Mary dealt with the rejection, and the realization of what was to come. Was she scared? She had to be. Did she reject God’s plan due to fear? Doubt His promise because it seemed ridiculous? No. Her response to Him was simply this: “I am the Lord’s servant,” Mary answered. “May your word to me be fulfilled.” Luke 1:38
As it was, that word. Fulfilled through the birth of a Messiah that was sent to save the world. Save you and me. Through the simple faith of his ancestor Abraham, and a young virgin Mary.
So the question to be asked is this: If that kind of faith can birth a nation, and a Messiah, then can’t it birth God’s purpose in us? What doubts do we need to leave at His feet so we can place our trust in His plan and promises, even if we can’t see the end goal? So we can be like Abraham and Mary-counted as righteous because of our faith?
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Let There Be Light: Hope in the Darkness
Advent.
I’ll be real with you. I didn’t grow up in church, attending services all through the Christmas season as a kid. So as an adult, when I began attending in my late 20’s, advent appeared ritualistic in nature to me. Hear me out…I understand the meaning of Christmas. But the lighting of all the candles, the Scriptures read? I never understood their purpose or place in the whole celebration. I guess it was expected that I should. However, I didn’t know what these practices and rituals had to do with Christ and his birth. Even more confusing, was what I was supposed to do with the candle-lighting, and those verses. How did they apply?
As I dive deeper into His Word, searching it daily for where He is leading me-I discovered something as I started to read the “ritual” advent devotionals. I discovered that just like Thanksgiving, advent isn’t just a season, it’s a way of life.
The whole reason we focus on advent this time of year is, yes, to celebrate the birth of our Savior, but more importantly to remember and reflect on what that means to us, for us today, and how we are to respond.
Essentially, the word “advent” means “coming.” Sure. It is a season of remembrance for the day Christ came into the world, to reflect on how he lives in the world today, and a reminder to be living in expectation of his return. His second coming.
But shouldn’t we live in this expectancy every day? He could come back at ANY time. Certainly we should live daily as if we are ready.
The first candle lit traditionally on the advent wreath is the candle of hope. Hope in a Messiah who will save from sins. Hope in His return. It’s also known as the “prophecy candle,” the hope that God will fulfill His promises. A promise that there is light and hope in darkness.
Yet, even during Christmas evil doesn’t rest. It may even seem that during the long, cold days of winter that stretch on and on, things become darker. Add the holiday season, its feelings of loneliness and sorrow that can come along, and light can be hard to see. Greed abounds due to the hustle and bustle to shop, shop, shop; and statistically even crime often soars, as the desperate attempt to meet the demands of the secular “season” become too much for some to bear.
If there is anything we need now more than ever, especially as we continue to fight a virus we hoped would be gone by now-it is light. Hope. The hope that in all this darkness and despair, a light would appear.
Paul tells us in 1 Timothy 1:15 of the source and assurance of this hope and light: This is a trustworthy saying, and everyone should accept it: “Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners,” and I am the worst of them all.
In terms of hope and overcoming darkness, our hope lies in the promise of a saving grace. Salvation through the birth, and later death of Christ that returns us to the “good” God originally intended for us. Because our story of hope actually begins where “good” began-at creation. God created man and woman; humans as good, in His image, and without blemish. The Garden of Eden was intended to be a place of light, of His security, until evil entered in, and was not only accepted, but grasped ahold of, and sunk its teeth into goodness and light.
Evil exists because of the free will of humans. The choice made by Satan’s temptation, and God was forthcoming in what would occur as a result, stating the consequences in Genesis 3:16-19:
He told the Woman:
“I’ll multiply your pains in childbirth;
you’ll give birth to your babies in pain.
You’ll want to please your husband,
but he’ll lord it over you.”He told the Man:
“Because you listened to your wife
and ate from the tree
That I commanded you not to eat from,
‘Don’t eat from this tree,’
The very ground is cursed because of you;
getting food from the ground
Will be as painful as having babies is for your wife;
you’ll be working in pain all your life long.
The ground will sprout thorns and weeds,
you’ll get your food the hard way,
Planting and tilling and harvesting,
sweating in the fields from dawn to dusk (MSG)Conflict. Between man and woman. Parent and child. Pain. Suffering. Struggle. Life, essentially, would NOT be easy.
But God made another promise as well: Satan would be crushed, and He would provide restoration for our brokenness.
“For this is how God loved the world: He gave his one and only Son, so that everyone who believes in him will not perish but have eternal life. God sent his Son into the world not to judge the world, but to save the world through him.” John 3:16-17, NLT
This is our hope. Our light in the darkness. It’s how God intends to overcome evil, and we get to choose if we are going to let the light in, or continue to be consumed by the darkness.
What do you choose? Do you want the light of the world? The hope that resides in knowing a Savior? You can…simply choose Him today.
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You Never Know Who’s Talking to Jesus About You
It’s not a conversation I was expecting. After preaching my first “main worship” sermon in what turned out to be a rough couple of years, I should have expected most anything at this point.
I had just spoken about the power of prayer. The call to pray for those who had hurt us. Even if we never get an apology. Even if we never see them again. To always answer the call to pray through the anger. To pray for God to forgive anything we did, and forgive them, too.
I expected a comment on how prayer had worked in this person’s life. I knew we had drifted in our own relationship. Through the years we weren’t as close. Ministry priorities had taken us in different places, but I never expected to hear this:
“You know I prayed for you, too. I prayed for you everyday.”
I hide many things. I must not have been hiding some. They knew I needed prayer. Because there were times in my dark periods I didn’t think God was listening to me, but maybe He wasn’t…because He was listening and answering their prayers for me.
It was just what I needed to hear to confirm my belief that prayer is powerful, even if we can’t see the fruit of what we pray for right away. Even if we don’t know exactly why God may be asking us to pray for someone, we do it anyway. Because He knows we will, and He knows what they need. He will provide it at just the right time. We don’t give up the asking. Even if we don’t feel like it-we pray anyway.
We never know exactly who may be praying for us. It may just surprise you.
I heard this song a couple months ago, and I stopped to play it over and over as I headed to work. It speaks to the legacy that I want to leave-of a woman who people knew talked to Jesus. I want people to see it. To see and know its power and be inspired to do the same.
You may find yourself, after preaching your heart out on a Sunday morning, finding that without you knowing for sometime…someone was praying for you.
I do not own the rights to this video or music.
About Me
I am January! Wife, mother, meemaw, pastor, and mental health provider who makes it through the day with my coffee, my journal, and my God. A simple human, navigating life through the messy and sometimes chaotic. All focused on Him.
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Grace 'n Grounds 