Time for Prayer

Posted on June 20, 2012 by Jody Neufeld

[reprinted from April 1, 2010]

– Henry Neufeld

14All of the disciples were devoting themselves to prayer together, along with some women, including Mary the mother of Jesus and with his brothers.          Acts 1:14 (HN)

That’s a pretty unpretentious little bit of scripture! It doesn’t seem like there’s much there to build on.

But think about the situation. It has been a roller-coaster ride for the disciples. First they think Jesus is going to drive out the Romans and restore the kingdom. Then he’s arrested and crucified. Their hopes are dashed. But then again there are rumors he’s been resurrected. Finally they actually see him. So, as they ask in Acts 1:6, is it finally time to restore the kingdom? But no, it’s not, and Jesus goes away from them to heaven and leaves them standing there staring.

One of the critical things here is that they kept following a pretty strict and clear agenda of their own. They wanted to see Israel restored, right then, miraculously by Jesus. Their plan was that Jesus would take care of it. The problem was that they didn’t yet recognize just what the difference was between their agenda and that of Jesus.

But now they’re finally ready to get on the program—the one Jesus planned. So they start together, constantly devoting themselves to prayer, being together. The text suggests unanimity. Notice the different groups. There are the disciples who followed him, his mother who questioned him, and his brothers who had opposed him. There were also some unidentified women who had been following him as well. Luke likes to let us know that there were women involved.

They gather together and agree on one thing at least: Pray! So there they are praying.

How often would we be able to resolve problems in our congregations, families, and other groups if we would simply agree to pray together? Too often we have preconditions even to prayer. We want to figure out who has God’s ear before we go talk to God. But if we would just pray and trust God to do his work, think of the possibilities. Let God change other people. Don’t you try to do it.

How often would we discover the problems in our own agendas if we spent time in prayer and listening to God? The disciples had their agenda problems, and those needed to be solved before Pentecost. How did they do it? They gathered together and prayed.

Too often we want to imagine our way forward several steps before we’re willing to “just pray.” Don’t bother deciding how God has to solve the problem. Don’t ask who has God’s ear. Don’t put time limits on the results or social limits on who can participate.

Just pray. Together.

Medley from the University Ensemble of Eastern Kentucky University (1971)

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Water the Bones

Posted on June 19, 2012 by Jody Neufeld

The hand of the Lord was on me, and He brought me out by His Spirit and set me down in the middle of the valley; it was full of bones. He led me all around them. There were a great many of them on the surface of the valley, and they were very dry. Then He said to me, “Son of man, can these bones live?”

I replied, “Lord God, only You know.”

He said to me, “Prophesy concerning these bones and say to them: Dry bones, hear the word of the Lord!               Ezekiel 37:1-4 (HCSB)

Summer has arrived here on the Gulf Coast. The days are hot and humid. Sun screen, frequent shade and water are essentials. Dehydration can take you out like a sneaky mugger. The balance in your physical health will always demand a price if neglected.

I have had an urgency in my spirit to encourage, even cry out to those who will hear not to let their time with Jesus slip away during these summer months. Relaxation and vacations are wonderful but neglecting your time with the LORD can take you out in spirit, leaving you dry and near death. In our desire to have “fun” we do not pay attention to our spiritual health. The balance in your spiritual health will always demand a price if neglected.

This passage from Ezekiel is often quoted as a picture example of sharing the Good News of God, His love and mercy, that will restore the dry bones to flesh and life. Today it is speaking to me as I recall days when my own spirit felt like “dry bones”. I had so neglected the Living Water and Fresh Bread that comes from my time with God that I was reduced to a “skeleton” of my former self. It was a sneaky thing.

Day 1: I was busy and just didn’t get to my quiet time with God.
Day 2: I’ll get to it later today. Oh, I’m so tired. I’ll do it tomorrow.
Day 3: I’m OK. I’ll spend Sunday afternoon reading my Bible and praying. Well, I’ll do that after my nap.

And before I knew it – a month or two had passed and it was just so easy to keep plowing ahead. I never saw how I was wasting away until “Something BIG” came up in my life and I looked around for God to comfort me or tell me what to do or “fix it” – and He was seemingly pretty far off!

Friends, spouses – they spend time together talking, eating together, relaxing together – that is how a relationship stays fresh and growing. My relationship with God is the same. It is too important to “take a vacation” for two months. Maybe my routine isn’t the same and so I have to be flexible on how and when we spend time together but if I truly want to spend time with Jesus, He will show me how to do that.

So receive this today, as I have, – a caution not to neglect your spiritual health this summer. Keep your spiritual bones alive and healthy! Spend quality time this summer with the Best Friend Forever you will ever have – Jesus, Messiah, Savior and LORD.

I am a Friend of God by Israel Houghton and Michael Gungor (

 

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Got a Giant?

Posted on June 18, 2012 by Jody Neufeld

Working together with Him, we also appeal to you, “Don’t receive God’s grace in vain.” For He says:
I heard you in an acceptable time, and I helped you in the day of salvation.
Look, now is the acceptable time; now is the day of salvation.

We give no opportunity for stumbling to anyone, so that the ministry will not be blamed. But as God’s ministers, we commend ourselves in everything:
by great endurance, by afflictions,
by hardship, by difficulties,
by beatings, by imprisonments,
by riots, by labors,
by sleepless nights, by times of hunger,
by purity, by knowledge,
by patience, by kindness,
by the Holy Spirit, by sincere love,
by the message of truth,
by the power of God;
through weapons of righteousness
on the right hand and the left,
through glory and dishonor,
through slander and good report;
as deceivers yet true;
as unknown yet recognized;
as dying and look—we live;
as being disciplined yet not killed;
as grieving yet always rejoicing;
as poor yet enriching many;
as having nothing yet possessing everything.     2 Corinthians 6:1-13 (HCSB)

Lectionary texts: 1 Samuel 17:1-49, Psalm 9, 2 Corinthians 6:1-13, Mark 4:35-41

The lectionary texts this week are very timely. I hope that those who are given the opportunity to teach or preach will not “wimp out” on this opportunity. That includes me.

The texts are about facing our “giants”. This past week in our Sunday School class we had a question: Are there things about which you do not pray? Are there problems or situations that we think are too “minor” or that “can’t be fixed”?

1 Samuel 17 is the story of David and Goliath. If you haven’t read that story in the past month, take 10-15 minutes and read it. Who was David? The youngest son. No one special. He wasn’t King David yet. He had God inside of him but everyone else still saw him as a kid. Everyone else was afraid of a giant. Goliath was all they could see. God was all David could see and he knew that God was bigger than any giant.

Mark’s passage is the story of Jesus vs the storm. The disciples ask the question that I so often ask: “God, do you not care that I might perish?” Whether I think my life is in jeopardy or whether it is my heart or my ego or my child or my job – all I see is the “giant” of my problem.

Psalm 9 and the 2 Corinthian passage reminds me of who God is in my life. I am reminded of His promised justice. I am reminded that He loves me and always will. He is there in my adversity and suffering. It is His strength that will bring me through whatever comes in my life. Stop now and read over the list again in the 2 Corinthian passage. With Jesus in my life, I truly do possess everything.

Please read over these passages this week and let the words soak into you. If you read newspapers, listen to news broadcasts, read online news – then take the same amount of time to read the truth from our LORD. Yes, there may be “giants” in my life – but I am going to keep my eyes on my LORD. There is nothing impossible with Him!

excerpt from Facing the Giants directed by Alex Kendrick, Sherwood Baptist Church (2006)

 

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Dry? Have the Best Drink on God!

Posted on June 15, 2012 by Jody Neufeld

[reprinted from December 4, 2009]

— Henry Neufeld

8There will be a highway there,
A passage that will be called the Holy Way.
Nothing impure will go up on it.
But it shall be for God’s people.
No traveler, even a fool, will go astray.
9There won’t be any lions there,
Nor will ravenous beasts enter it.
They won’t be found there.
But the redeemed will travel on it.
10And YHWH’s ransomed ones will return
And enter Zion with singing.
Eternal joy will be on their heads.
They will attain gladness and joy.
And sighing and sorrow will flee. — Isaiah 35:8-10 (HN)

Isaiah 35 is one of the most beautiful passages in the Bible. It is a song of longing, but also a song of encouragement and of promise. It can speak to you in the dry places of your life, and it keeps right on speaking when things are going so much better.

This passage was first written for those who would go into exile and then return. It was the promise of return. God speaks of judgment a great deal in the Hebrew scriptures, but he intersperses these judgments with the promise. God doesn’t bring judment on his people to destroy, but to correct and ultimately to restore.

We also needn’t argue about who these scriptures apply to. They were indeed spoken first to Israel, or more specifically to Judah. There is a specific prediction involved. But when we read Bible prophecy in this way, looking for the one time that the prophecy applies, we often miss the major point.

This chapter reveals in a most powerful way who God really is. We look for this text and that to tell us about God’s attributes, and there are some good ones, but what about God’s actions? With people we would say that actions speak louder than words—and I think God sees it that way as well. That’s why so much of the Bible is about his actions.

We also say that the way you’ll truly know a man’s character is by how he behaves when the going gets tough and trouble is all around. Can God get in trouble? Can God suffer hardship? Well, God expresses sorrow over his people’s failures, over their disasters, and hope that they will return to him. Picture Jesus weeping over Jerusalem. Sometimes we forget our trinitarian doctrines, but Jesus is God, and God was there weeping. Why would they not come to him? God feels the sorrow of one who passionately desires a connection, a relationship with another person, and that passion is not returned.

So how does God behave under pressure? He ransoms! He redeems! He recreates!

This passage, one of the greatest songs of God’s redemption, comes out of the most difficult time. From the time of Hezekiah, who heard Isaiah preach, Judah went downhill with only the briefest of blips of reformation. God looked forward, saw that his people would reject him over and over again. He saw that they would reject the work of the prophet Jeremiah and stand up against the Babylonians until Jerusalem was destroyed and they were taken into exile.

If a father were told that his children would reject him, refuse all help and all advice, and finally end up—all of them—on death row, he would be discouraged. God, however, follows the path as far as it will go, and says, “I will make a path back!”

As God’s people, we are the ones who act in God’s world. (Perhaps I’ll mention some of the scriptures on which I base this in future devotionals.) We bring God’s redemptive power to people. We should be the most optimistic people around, because we know that no matter how bad things get, God remains a God who redeems.

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A New Season

Posted on June 14, 2012 by Jody Neufeld

He said to his disciples,“The harvest is great, but the workers are few. So pray to the Lord who is in charge of the harvest; ask him to send more workers into his fields.”               Matthew 9:37-38 (NLT)

What is the season of your life? Do you recognize the season that God has you in so that you are obediently walking and working in that season?

I have a friend who is moving into a new season in his life. He has been a 12-18 hour a day worker in God’s vineyard for many, many years. I mean he has put in some serious sweat equity for the Kingdom! He is now moving away from that season and, frankly, there are those who are upset that he is, in their mind, no longer going to be preaching and teaching the Gospel as he has been doing. They cannot imagine not having him as their leader.

But they are wrong. He is still going to be preaching and teaching the Gospel. He could no more stop doing that – than he could stop breathing. He has eyes to see that God is sending him to work in a different part of the vineyard now. There are people that will never hear the Gospel inside a church. Even if they are in the church, they may be too distracted or too religious to really hear what God is trying to say to them. But sitting on the porch with my friend, drinking an icy glass of sweet tea, they may have ears to hear and a heart to receive God’s Word, His instructions to them. And my friend will deliver it!

God’s vineyard is BIG and diverse! Job descriptions to work in His vineyard are as diverse as the harvest the workers are to bring in. We need to open our eyes and ears to His voice so that we do not miss an opportunity, a season, in the work that He has called us to do. There aren’t “hard” jobs and “easy” jobs. Each will have its challenges. Each has the potential to bring Him great glory. And each can be camouflaged by the enemy to make us think that the job isn’t “important” or “as necessary” as what someone else is doing. Let us make sure we are doing our job the way God wants us to instead of looking around and criticizing others in their work!

So when we read this passage, and others, about working for the LORD, let us open ourselves up to all the possibilities where God may use us. He’s a very creative guy! His Good News goes well with salsa and chips and a tall glass of sweet tea on the front porch. Share it with whoever He sends over! Let us see our lives, what we are called to do, through God’s eyes.

Through Heaven’s Eyes from the movie, Prince of Egypt, sung by Bryan Stokes Mitchell

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Why THIS Death, Jesus?

Posted on June 13, 2012 by Jody Neufeld

He grew up like a small plant before the Lord, 
like a root growing in a dry land.
He had no special beauty or form to make us notice him;
there was nothing in his appearance to make us desire him.
He was hated and rejected by people.
He had much pain and suffering.
People would not even look at him.
He was hated, and we didn’t even notice him.

But he took our suffering on him and felt our pain for us.
We saw his suffering and thought God was punishing him.
But he was wounded for the wrong we did;
he was crushed for the evil we did.
The punishment, which made us well, was given to him,
and we are healed because of his wounds.              Isaiah 53:2-5 (NCV, my emphasis)

Did you ever wonder why Jesus died the way He did? I look at my grandsons and think, “Jesus was just like them. Happy. Playing. Laughing as Joseph picked Him up and tossed Him high over his head. Snuggling close to His mother when He fell and scraped His knee.” And then I look at my own son, now the age that we suppose that Jesus was when He went to Calvary. I see a strong man with a kind and gentle heart. Jesus, the Son of God, died for me because only He could provide the perfect sacrifice, even blood sacrifice, for my sins. But Jesus, also the man, went through humiliation, the level of which I would have torn out my hair if I had been the mother standing there as a witness. Beaten. Called names as they made fun of Him. Hung naked on a cross in the public road so that everyone could see. It’s beyond what my heart could bear, I think. Why?

I am working on a book that will come out next month. It is written by someone who has been through abuse, humiliation, and great pain. I thank God for the words that He placed in this person’s heart because it is not a book about the details of her abuse but it is a book that encourages and leads others to knowing the healing that God can bring to them. It’s practical and shines a light on the path out of darkness.

I believe that is why Jesus died such a humiliating, excruciating death. No matter what pain and suffering this world brings into my life, Jesus is there, walking before me, showing me that there is a path to life, a victorious life. His promises, given hundreds of years before His arrival like the words in Isaiah, are not just words. His promises are walked out in His own life with real blood, real pain, and real victory. When I am in the darkness of my own “Friday”, I can know because of Jesus that “Resurrection Sunday” is there – right there ahead of me. And there are His servants, like this wonderful author, who are willing to share their own testimony of His victory in their lives.

Healing Rain by Michael W. Smith & Martin J. Smith (2004)

Note: God’s Promise of Victory by Iris Lloyd, COMING July 20, 2012

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Every Day – Seek the LORD

Posted on June 12, 2012 by Jody Neufeld

Then the Spirit of God came upon Azariah son of Oded, and he went out to meet King Asa as he was returning from the battle. “Listen to me, Asa!” he shouted. “Listen, all you people of Judah and Benjamin! The Lord will stay with you as long as you stay with him! Whenever you seek him, you will find him. But if you abandon him, he will abandon you… 

But as for you, be strong and courageous, for your work will be rewarded…

All in Judah were happy about this covenant, for they had entered into it with all their heart. They earnestly sought after God, and they found him. And the Lord gave them rest from their enemies on every side.             2 Chronicles 15:1-2, 7, 15 (NLT)

Our LORD is sooooo polite. He will not force His way into my day. If I think I am too busy to fit Him into my day, then He won’t be in my day. And then the second busy day goes by; the third day; a week; a month… And where am I? That’s what happened to me when I was 19. I was in college, working on the weekends, going out and partying with my friends. I was busy and having fun! I didn’t go to church. I didn’t pray. I was my own person. When a crisis or major decision came into my life, I sat down and weighed the pros and cons and I talked to my friends. I had never had a ‘conversation’ with God. I had only recited prayers. Nothing personal. I went back to church but I went back because I thought it was a good idea for my children. It was a good social club to be involved in. It was a club that was well attended and expected by my local family. Thirty years went by. My life was in shambles. My marriage was broken. My children were off on some road that I couldn’t run fast enough to catch them – and they probably wouldn’t have listened to me if I had!

Jesus was there all the time. He didn’t barge in. Maybe – probably – there were people praying for me because things certainly could have been so much worse. When I reached that bottom of the pit and cried out to God, there was Jesus. No hesitation. No multiple hoops to jump through just a cry from my heart to His – and He was there.

I live along the Gulf Coast. We have been in the news again in the past few days because over a foot of rain fell in less than 24 hours. People have been evacuated out of homes. The local Waterfront Rescue Mission has sustained severe damage to their new building. The Mission does great work among the homeless and poor of the community. Why did this happen?

I am praying for six people who are battling life-threatening illness. One of them is only 3-years-old. Why does this happen?

I know a wonderful, loving woman who really needs a job. She is a recent widow and she could lose her home if she doesn’t find something. Why does this happen?

Here it is in 2 Chronicles that if we seek the LORD with all our hearts, making our commitment to Him, then He will give us rest. He will bless us. So how do I reconcile what is going on in the lives of all those I am praying for and God’s promise of blessings in the Bible? If you thought I was going to come up with a succinct, bottom-line answer, you were thinking wrong. I wrestle with God about this. And the only thing I know is that I seek the LORD. I press in closer. I do not give up asking and seeking about these questions until He blesses me with His peace and/or His revelation. That He has done and so I will trust for what I don’t know now.

Power of Your Love by Geoff Bullock

 

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Come Away With Me

Posted on June 11, 2012 by Jody Neufeld

He died for everyone so that those who receive his new life will no longer live for themselves. Instead, they will live for Christ, who died and was raised for them.

So we have stopped evaluating others from a human point of view. At one time we thought of Christ merely from a human point of view. How differently we know him now! This means that anyone who belongs to Christ has become a new person. The old life is gone; a new life has begun!          2 Corinthians 5:15-17 (NLT)

Ezekiel 17:22-24, Psalm 92, 2 Corinthians 5:6-17, Mark 4:26-34

In the Mark text of this week’s lectionary, Jesus is teaching us something using a familiar theme of seeds. He says that when seeds are scattered there is a growth that happens whether I “tend” the seeds or am just lazy and sleep. He also mentions the mustard seed, such a tiny seeds, that grows and becomes so large that others can make use of it. Mark says that Jesus explained all these parables to His disciples when they were alone.

And there is one of those principles that has no shortcut. If I want Jesus to show me and teach me, I have to take time to study and listen. The real depth of my relationship with Him is not going to happen in a ‘drive-thru’ moment on Sunday morning. I hope that we are getting great teaching there but it was Jesus’ plan that we, His disciples, would come away with Him and spend more time digging into His Word.

And what I heard today, when I was sitting and listening through these four passages was: God is doing so much in my life.

He is taking me, small and weak, and will plant me, water me with His Spirit, fertilize me with His words so that I will produce much fruit in His Kingdom (Ezekiel 17:22-24). But the point is what He is doing to put me in His fruitful garden.

He is doing great deeds and there are great blessings that will come to those of us who are in “right relationship” (righteous) with our LORD (Psalm 92). The lectionary people left out verses 5-11 but I think that is a mistake. I need to know the consequences of not choosing the LORD. I have grown in my relationship with God that I obey because I love Him but it is always a good thing to keep the negative discipline in mind!

He is with me, just as Jesus said, to the end (Matthew 28). God knows my weaknesses. He knows my fears. Most of us when we think of dying know we are going to heaven but we may have some questions, some uncertainty when we come to those moments as we leave this world behind. 2 Corinthians 5 passage tells me that I am reconciled to God. I have no ‘fine print’ in this contract. We are in a covenant together and by faith, I must walk in that assurance. And it is that walk that may persuade others that Jesus died for us all and that all have the same promise of an eternal relationship with Him.

Now I hope, I pray, that when you read these passages that some other point comes to you. Don’t be afraid to disagree with me or your pastor. My relationship with God took a GIANT leap the night that I disagreed with the evangelist, the teacher, that I had been listening to for so many weeks. I do not even remember what the passage was but while he made a great point, the passage that he quoted didn’t make that point. But that’s OK! None of us are going to hit it on the mark every time. That’s just another reason that Jesus wants to meet with me regularly. It’s an opportunity to correct and encourage.

Jesus wants to spend time with me. How important is that to me? Whatever is really important to me is what I will make time for.

The song that I bring today was not recorded as a “Christian” song but it is a love song. The singer wants us to spend time together. I believe that God loves me with that kind of passionate love. And as I listen to this song, I hear Him, lovingly, passionately asking me: Come away with me, Jody. It makes me weep to receive such love from my LORD. It makes me weep to think that I would not make time for us. Come away – Come away.

Come Away With Me by Norah Jones (2002)

 

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Fruit-Producing Christianity

Posted on June 8, 2012 by Jody Neufeld

[reprinted from March 8, 2010]

— Henry Neufeld

3Listen! A farmer went out to plant seeds. 4And as he was spreading the seed, some fell beside the path, and the birds came and ate it. 5Other seed fell in rocky ground, where it didn’t have much dirt, and it sprouted leaves quickly, because the dirt wasn’t deep. 6But when the sun rose, it was scorched, and because it didn’t have good enough roots, it was scorched. 7Other seed fell amongst the thorns, and the thorns grew and choked it, and it didn’t bear any fruit. 8And other seed fell in good ground, and it bore fruit, growing up and increasing, and it bore some 30 fold, some 60 fold and some 100 fold. 9And he said, let anyone who has ears hear!         Mark 4:3-9 (HN)

Before looking at the interpretation of this parable that Jesus gave, I’d like us to spend some time thinking about it as the disciples had to—on their own.  I think that Jesus used parables intentionally, and one intention he had was to make us think.  The parable can carry more freight even than he told the disciples.

Allow me to assume, for the moment, that the seed can include the prompting of the Holy Spirit in your heart. What in your heart prevents you from hearing the Holy Spirit and acting?

First, we have the seed that fell by the path.  What is the problem with the path?  It is stepped on and stomped on constantly.  There’s no room there for anything other than the path.  We can be “path” sorts of listeners to the Holy Spirit—unless the seed is strong enough to break through the trodden ground, it’s going to die.  We’ll continue to think we’re OK, because we’re on a trodden path, but we’ll miss what the Holy Spirit has for us.

Second, there’s rocky ground.  God’s grace, whether to save us or to empower us, is freely offered, but if we don’t allow it the space to grow, it will choke.  Ironically, this can be the situation for two opposed groups of people—those who think they will get everything they need directly from the Bible without the aid of the Holy Spirit, and those who think the Holy Spirit will direct them, so they have no need for study.  Either approach is a “shallow dirt” approach that won’t hold up when things heat up.

Third, there’s the thistle-filled heart.  This heart doesn’t like 1 Thessalonians 5:21-22, “Test everything, keep what is good, stay away from every form of evil.”  Often the thistle-filled heart seems lively, if a bit disorganized.  The person may seem very receptive.  But by receiving everything, this person cuts himself off from receiving the best thing.  This is comparable to the person whose mind is so open that their brains fall out.  In this case your spirit can be so open that the Holy Spirit falls out—or can’t get in.

Finally, there’s the “good ground” heart.  This heart listens all the time.  There’s no beaten path that limits what the Holy Spirit can do.  The rocks are removed and the soil cultivated, because this heart is looking for fruit-bearing plants that have deep roots and will last.  The thistles, whether things that are evil, or even things that are not precisely what God wants, are excluded.  There’s maximum room for fruit-bearing!

The result is a spiritual life that bears fruit.

 

 

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“I’m Just a Mess!”

Posted on June 7, 2012 by Jody Neufeld

“The God who made you is like your husband. 
His name is the Lord All-Powerful.
The Holy One of Israel is the one who saves you.
He is called the God of all the earth.
You were like a woman whose husband left her, and you were very sad.
You were like a wife who married young and then her husband left her.
But the Lord called you to be his,” says your God.
God says, “I left you for a short time, but with great kindness I will bring you back again.
I became very angry and hid from you for a time,
but I will show you mercy with kindness forever,” says the Lord who saves you.

The Lord says, “This day is like the time of Noah to me.
I promised then that I would never flood the world again.
In the same way, I promise I will not be angry with you or punish you again.
The mountains may disappear, and the hills may come to an end,
but my love will never disappear; my promise of peace will not come to an end,” says the Lord who shows mercy to you.            Isaiah 54:5-10 (NCV)

I never said this much to the world in general. I mean, I pretty much walked out the door of my house and pulled it all together. But when the LORD and I would spend time together and just get real – I admitted to Him – that I am a mess! And the problem is that I thought, “I created the mess. It’s my job to deal with the consequences and clean it up!” And how was that working for me? Not so well.

I think I forgot that God is my Creator. There is nothing about me He doesn’t know. He knows my weaknesses. He knows my stubbornness. There is nothing I can hide behind or ‘fake’ my way through to deceive God into thinking everything is alright with me – when it isn’t!

I also forgot that God is my Father. Now it took me some study time to read the Bible about who and what Father God was. It was an awesome journey that was such a revelation of new information to me! I found myself eager to read the Bible and eager to read how God was able to bring love and discipline to His children.

When I began to meet with Jesus on a regular, ongoing basis, I found I was following Jesus. I was learning about who I wanted to be. Jesus was cleaning up the mess that was me! Where I had been unable to make a change, Jesus was showing me how to take a step in a new direction, think in a different way, and choose to just mimic Him. What a concept!

And for all those out there who think you are a single parent – You aren’t! We are never alone, folks. We are never single parents. We always have Jesus with us, willing to lead and teach us. Willing to give us His wisdom, patience, joy, and peace. Peace in parenting? When I lean on Jesus, my stress falls. What a great concept!

If your life can be described as “a mess” or an aspect of your life is “messy”, go into your private place and call on Jesus. He is ready to roll up His sleeves and get to work. Go on – try it!

Call on Jesus by Nicole C. Mullen

 

 

 

 

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