Mustard Seeds

For a little background on how God sparked this idea in me, I am doing a bible study right now through the book of Esther.  It is called Esther: Reflections from an Unexpected Life by Jennifer Spivey.   I love how God brings things into your life (or back up in your life) at the perfect moment when you need it.  This book has been sitting on my shelf for probably 3-4 years, if not longer.  I had never read it before I started it seven weeks ago. But it is fitting into my life exactly where it needs to.  I guess you could call it....PROVIDENCE. You see, that is the whole idea that the author puts forth in the book, about how God works through His providence in our lives.  And I just love it. I put this "devotion" together for a ladies card making class that we had at my church this past weekend. I will preface it by saying that many of these ideas are straight out of the book, but some of them are my own.  So, while things in quotations might n...

A couple months ago I was wearing a t-shirt that my mom got me at a Beth Moore conference we attended last year.  If you are not familiar with Beth Moore, her ministry is called Living Proof Ministries.  The t-shirt said, "I'm living proof." I had someone come up to me and ask what it said.  Then she asked what I was living proof of. Her question threw me off guard. What am I living proof of? I stammered out an answer.  Something along the lines of, "I'm living proof of God working in my life." That answer was not necessarily wrong. But as a mature Christian, why did I not have an answered prepared?  I knew what the shirt said.  I should have been ready to answer such a question.   As Christians, we wear certain things, such as our "Christian" t-shirts, or we act certain ways or do certain things, like praying before we eat.  We should be ready to give a reason for any of these things at any moment. The bible tells us to, " p...

Hey there, readers! I was studying my lesson for church yesterday when God showed me something I've read tons of times in such a fresh light that I thought I would share. I have a dear friend that is really going through a hard time right now.  As I was studying, God laid it on my heart to share this passage and what He showed me with her. So here's what I texted her: "I was studying my lesson today and came across this scripture: 'As soon as Jesus heard the word that was spoken, He saith unto the ruler of the synagogue, Be not afraid, only believe.' Mark 5:36.  This is in the passage about Jarius' daughter dying.  [My husband's] commentary in his bible said that the words "only believe" are a present tense imperative, "keep believing".  I just thought that was such an encouragement to keep going, to keep pressing on.  Just keep believing in Jesus.  God's got this!" My friend that I texted is in school to become a high...

So it's been awhile since I've blogged. Like over two and a half years.  I can't believe that.  So much has happened in my life since then.  I feel all grown up now.  I've been married for a little under two years.  I now have a full time job that I love (most of the time).  There are so many other parts of life that I just love right now. One of those things is that I am leading a women's bible study night once a month at church.  The last two months, I have felt the Holy Spirit leading me to certain lessons.  This blog post comes from the lesson from this month.   So here it is:  The Art of Treasuring the Moment: What We Can Learn from the Life of Mary ·       I find it fascinating that God provided so much for us in His Word to read.   There are so many stories that we tell our children and hope that they learn from.   Why can we not expect the same for ourselves?   Why...

I just started reading Tony Evan's The Power of God's Names  the other day. Learning more about the names that God has given Himself is very enlightening for me to know more about who God is. The second name that is discussed in the book is Jehovah - "I Am who I Am" (Exodus 3:13). Evans said, "When [Yahweh] was translated into English, it became the name which most of us today know it as - Jehovah . So when you hear the name Jehovah , keep in ming that this is the Hebrew name YHWH, meaning 'I am the existing one.'" (page 44) "I am the existing one" This is in the present tense. God has always existed and will always exist. There is no beginning or end to God. God did not have a creator, but He is the Creator. As Evans points out in the book, each of us could not be here without our parents. It's not possible. Not only is our existence dependent on our parents, but also on things we might not think about, like oxygen, food, w...

I was reading about a missionary in Guatemala earlier. This missionary was telling a story about a time when they were building a church in the town they were working in. The building was set to start at nine in the morning. When the missionary arrived at 10, she asked the pastor if he was there working alone. Listen to the pastor's reply: "'Oh no,' he replied with a laugh, 'the Lord is here with me.'" How profound. How simple. How true. Thanks for reading. In God, Emily

This morning as I spent time in God's Words, God convicted my heart of my expectations that I have been holding God to. Who am I to hold God to anything? Or to expect Him to do what I want Him to do?  Anyway, as I was reading my bible and using my devotional Philippians 1:20: "According to my earnest expectation and my hope, that in nothing I shall be ashamed, but that with all boldness, as always, so now also Christ shall be magnified in my body, whether it be by life, or by death." According to this and what God spoke into my heart, the only thing we have the right to be expecting to be used by God to glorify His name.  We have no right to expect God to do anything for us. He has already done so much more than we ever deserved anyway. Sending His Son to die on the cross for our sins is more than we could ever deserved and yet He did it anyway. We should be grateful and thankful, not expectant for more. Just a thought. Thanks for reading....