Devotionals
"Jesus immediately reached out his hand and took hold of him, saying to him, “O you of little faith, why did you doubt?” Matthew 14:31
Combating
Doubt
06/08/2022
I left OC a few weeks ago, and man was it hard. I have felt super weird since then because I have left what became my home for 8 months --- a place full of joy, a place that represented hope for me, a place where God blessed me with people who remind me of His love and sweet sweet goodness, a place full of happiness and growth and excitement for what’s to come not only in my life, but in the lives of those around me and going from that to transitioning straight back into life at home has left me feeling uncertain but also so excited for whats to come. This summer I am going to be pushed so much in my faith and in my beliefs —— I know that the Lord has been so intentional in blessing me with opportunities like that this summer and that He is preparing my heart for so much growth and I am so excited about that.
Change is so hard and it’s something that has caused me to doubt what’s to come and what God has in store for me. It’s hard when change is so good but it’s so sad and difficult at the same time, it’s such a weird feeling, but something I’ve learned in these past few weeks while getting used to being away from college, is that God truly wants us to feel all of our emotions and to process them all, not just the good stuff. I think that it makes Him really happy to see us work through all that we’re dealing with, because those moments are so crucial to our faith being formed in such a beautiful way and gives so much opportunity for us to cling to Him.
Growth cannot come without discomfort and that has just been such a key part of my life these past few months. It is such a gift that we are given the opportunity to grow and change and become the people the Lord has called us to be. We don’t have to do this, we can just stay where we are, but it is the coolest thing that we are given the chance to mature more into who we are and become better versions of ourselves. This is what I’m learning in this season and I’m so excited to learn how to fully process that and to accept that as I go into this summer of SO much growth.
My prayer for myself and for you guys this summer is that you recognize the change going on in your life as a gift and an opportunity to be molded in a way you couldn't be before. Take advantage of the hard uncertainties that come to the surface when seasons change, it can be such a cool opportunity for God to move in your heart more uniquely. He will use you so much if you're willing to be pushed in challenged in your faith, especially when things aren't familiar -- He is not limited in how He can use you, cling to that hope when uncertainties start to overwhelm you.
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"Jesus immediately reached out his hand and took hold of him, saying to him, “O you of little faith, why did you doubt?” Matthew 14:31 -- such a reminder that His hand is in each and every single thing and uncertainty we have, lean into that truth even when change seems discouraging.
Overflowing
Grace
05/10/2022
Grace is such an interesting thing. It is something that I have never been able to wrap my head around, God is so good at reminding us of how consistent the grace He gives us is. He reminds us by picking us up time and time again and not allowing us to be defined by the mistakes we make or the life we have. He is such a giving and gracious God. I have been learning more about this grace that the Lord provides and it has truly helped me remember that I'm defined by Him and nothing else. This has paved a way for me to have more hope that I can accomplish and do more than I could ever imagine because of the goodness He wants for me.
So how can we be reminded of this overflowing grace from the Lord?
We can do this by reflecting on our lives and seeing how, in each season, God has been there in some way to remind us that we are forgiven and free because of the sacrifice His son made on the cross. If we live our lives in fear that our mistakes and sins define us, Jesus' death was wasted. We have to remember that we are not worthy of the love and grace He gives us, BUT He still does and that is something we need to fully soak in. He gives us this grace every single day because we mess up every single day, that is just what we do that is why we need the Lord.
My prayer is that we never fully understand the depth of God's grace, I think that is what makes it so beautiful, that we don't understand why He gives it to us but He loves us so so much and looks at each of us and says "my sweet child, I love you and I want your anxious heart to be at peace. I want you to not feel defined by sin and your mistakes, my Son took this away from you so that you may be free. You are defined by Me and nothing else."
A few affirmations for when you feel defeated:
God sees and loves you where you are, He doesn't need you to be anything else in order to love you. There may have been people in your life who have made you feel like you need to earn their love, but man, God loves you so much without you doing anything at all. You cannot earn the love He has for you, so take that pressure off of your anxious heart.
You were sent here, to this earth, for a purpose. You are such a crucial part of God's plan for the world. You are important, loved, seen, and cared for by God and He is going to use your trials for so much good, just wait.
Your anxiety, fears, sadness, mistakes, and sin do NOT define you. Once you remember this you can feel so free and able to be the person God has created you to be. Let God into your heart, He is right there whenever you're ready.
My prayer for each of you:
that as you enter this summer and the next season of your life that you let yourself feel God's grace. Do this so that you are in a place where you become the person you want to be and the person God has called you to be, do this so you don't feel scared of your future anymore, do this so that you are free from all the unknowns of life, do this so that you can have full confidence in how God will work in your life and that He knows exactly what He's doing even if it doesn't make sense to you. You don't have to live your life in fear, He takes that all away from us, let Him into your heart. I pray for God to bless you with the courage to do so.
Amen.
Seeking His
Goodness
04/15/2022
Life in its entirety has always been the most fascinating thing to me. I look around constantly and think about all the different things people have walked through and it amazes me. I sit and look at my life and how it has gone -- I am so grateful for how it has gone, I am so grateful for moments where I wasn’t happy and how the Lord showed up and continues to show up. I love how those moments pushed me to see the joy in the hardest moments and seasons of my life. I remember seasons where all I thought about was the season I’m in right now — to be at college, to meet new people, have new experiences and beautiful opportunities to become more of who I want to be, and to finally be bold and break what was expected of me.
Now that I am in that season I so eagerly awaited, I feel immense joy: joy because it hasn’t been what I ever expected or could have expected it to be, joy because I have watched myself grow in wonderful ways and I am starting to become the woman the Lord has created me to be.
Each day I am taken aback at how God has worked in my heart and how He has gotten me to where I am now — without Him I would have been in a million different places and the peace I feel about being here in this season is a peace that I cannot describe, a peace that inspires and encourages me to be myself and to seek the goodness of life even when it doesn't make any sense.
I am inspired by the hard seasons people walk through and how they get through them — every conversation I have with people about how they overcame some of the hardest things they’ve experienced, are almost every time because of how they reached out to the Lord and fully surrendered all the uncertainty and hardships that they were facing. This is such a powerful testament to His goodness and how evident it can be even on the most difficult days. He is the most consistent, loving, caring, gracious, forgiving, dependable, wonderful, unfathomable thing and His goodness is shown in every single moment. That is so worth celebrating and this alone can inspire us to appreciate even the unexpected ways He moves in our lives.
Once we begin to appreciate all of what the Lord is, we create room for seeking out how He is working and how His goodness is displayed in our every day. When I intentionally seek out goodness it almost always gives me the motivation and extra push to love others well and care for them better. Seeking out the good just makes life so much more beautiful and can seriously get us through some of the most difficult moments, it doesn’t make those moments any less difficult but it reminds us that just because we are experiencing hard things, the good is still there but we just may need to look a little harder and remember how wonderful our God still is.
Ways I’ve seen His goodness today:
In conversations
In laughter
In clarity
In patience
In nature
In love
In prayer
In diversity
In His sacrifice
In His character
In flowers
In beautiful blue skies
In community
In music
& in the people that He works through
HE IS SO GOOD. SEEK OUT HIS GOODNESS.