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John 12:27-28a “Now my soul is troubled, and what shall I say? ‘Father, save me from this hour’? No, it was for this very reason I came to this hour. Father, glorify Your name!”
Life can be difficult, but it can also be amazingly beautiful and precious. I have learned as I have lived that I have a choice when heartache and heartbreak come. I can fight it, or I can draw closer to my loving Savior. Do not misunderstand me. I do not like trouble or hard times. I don’t wish for them or seek them, but I know that God can draw me closer during trials in ways that just aren’t possible when life is sailing along.
John 12:28b Then a voice came from heaven, “I have glorified it, and will glorify it again.”
We all have to decide what our purpose is in life. The older I get, the more dedicated I am to drawing closer to my Creator and Savior and shining His light. Anything good that comes from these reflections? That’s because of my precious Savior. Anything good that comes from me? Strength? Wisdom? Perseverance? Once again, I cannot take credit. I will not take credit because without God by my side, drawing me closer, strengthening me, uplifting me, I am nothing, I have nothing, and I stand for nothing. Thank You, Lord for Your support and purpose. Glorify Your name again through my life.
Eph 5:17 Therefore do not be foolish, but understand what the will of the Lord is.
Lord, Thank You for this day and for the reminder of Your will for me. You want me to seek You, to trust You, to draw closer to You, to glorify You in ALL things. Help me, Lord, to live out that goal, to never lose sight of it in this crazy world. My life means nothing without You, Lord. Draw me closer. Amen.
Eph 5:20 And give thanks for everything to God the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ.
Have a blessed day. 

Proverbs 3:5 Trust in the LORD with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding….
Lord, Thank You for the very clear command to love You, love others, and be Your hands and feet in this world. So often in life I feel I reach a crossroads, trying to figure out what I’m supposed to do next. Help me never forget what You call me to do—love You, love others, and be Your hands and feet.
Proverbs 3:6 …in all your ways submit to Him, and He will make your paths straight.
You know me, Lord. You created me. You know I try to get a sense of the big picture so that I can keep that end-goal in mind throughout the process. But You don’t always need for me to know the end-goal. More often, You call me to trust You, to love You, to love others, and to be Your hands and feet. Help me to always heed Your call, Lord.
Isaiah 55:8 “My thoughts are nothing like your thoughts,” says the LORD. “And my ways are far beyond anything you could imagine.”
Lord, Thank You for this day and for the simplicity of what You call me to each day. You ask me to love and to serve, without reason, without limit, without exception. Help me, Lord, to trust You, even when I can’t see and don’t understand. Help me to love and to serve. Draw me closer. Amen.
2 Cor 12:9 But He said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in in weakness…..”
Have a blessed day.

Jer 33:3 Call to Me and I will answer you and tell you great and unsearchable things you do not know.
I love the way God works. I thought I knew where He wanted me to go with today’s scripture. Last week marked two years since the hubs suffered a minor heart attack. (For the record, any heart attack that happens to someone you love never feels minor!) I’ve been marveling the past few days at our remarkable Savior, who has led my sweet spouse from the back of an ambulance to a trail stretching from Georgia to Maine. Thank You, Jesus.
Psalm 17:6 I call on You, my God, for You will answer me; turn Your ear to me and hear my prayer.
I thought this was to be a reflection of praise, and I am so tremendously thankful for His presence and provision for the hubs and our family, but as I was praying, I was reminded of all the little stresses that I still hold back, that I feel like are too insignificant for Him. I feel Him telling me to give it all to Him, not just the stuff that’s too much for me. He wants me to trust Him with everything. Thank You, Jesus!
Psalm 17:7 Show me the wonders of Your great love….
Lord, Thank You for this day, for Your steadfast love, for Your unending grace and mercy. Thank You for wanting me to hold nothing back and for reminding me to come to You with all my worries and cares, not just the ones I don’t think I can handle. Help me to hold nothing back from You, Lord. Draw me closer. Help me to shine Your light. Amen.
Psalm 17:8 Keep me as the apple of Your eye; hide me in the shadow of Your wings….
Have a blessed day.

Psalm 91:14 “Because he loves me,” says the LORD, “I will rescue him; I will protect him, for he acknowledges My name.”
As I have matured, my understanding of my Creator and my understanding of my relationship with my Creator have also matured. God loves me simply because I am His. When He sees me, He sees my intention and my potential. I can do nothing for Him but love and praise Him, yet that’s all He wants from me–my love, my praise, my heart. Thank You, Jesus.
Psalm 91:15 “He will call on Me, and I will answer him; I will be with him in trouble, I will deliver him and honor him.”
One thing I’ve grown to understand more clearly is that being His loved child does not mean life will be easy. Life is not easy, but it is amazingly beautiful and precious. And even though it can be incredibly difficult at times, His love for us means that He is with us always, through every trial, through every triumph, through everything in life, all the ups and downs. Thank You, Jesus.
Psalm 91:9-10 Because you made the LORD your refuge, the Most High your dwelling place, no evil shall befall you, no scourge shall come near your tent.
Lord, Thank You for this day and for these reflections. Thank You for loving me, all of me, even though the only thing I have to give You in return is my heart, my love, my praise. Thank You for Your steadfast love, a love that I can cling to regardless of the storms of life. Thank You for supporting me through the valleys and trails and for being with me on the mountain tops. Draw me closer, Lord, always. Amen.
Psalm 91:11 For He will command His angels concerning you to guard you in all your ways.
Have a blessed day.

Psalm 51:17 My sacrifice, O God, is a broken spirit; a broken and contrite heart You, God, will not despise.
My students and I have talked much this year about humility. In order to grow, we all have to be humble enough to realize that we have room to grow. We have to check our delicate egos that sometimes get bruised when we feel we’re being criticized. We have to be big enough, strong enough to say, “I want to be better than I currently am. Help me to grow by showing me areas where I can improve.” I think this is exactly the attitude being described in Psalm 51:17.
Psalm 51:4 Against You, You only, have I sinned and done what is evil in Your sight….
It is easy to harbor negative thoughts and feelings against humans. It’s easy to be angry when we feel we have been slighted. It’s easy to say my anger is justified because of someone else’s actions. It is so much more difficult to do any of that when I acknowledge the God that is reflected in every one of His children. That single shift in perspective now shows me that my negative thoughts and my anger are aimed at God’s children, His deeply beloved, and by extension, at Him, the Creator. That’s certainly a sobering thought.
Psalm 51:1 Have mercy on me, O God, according to Your unfailing love; according to Your great compassion blot out my transgressions.
Lord, Thank You for this day and the perspective You have given with this scripture. Help me to always recognize and respond to You in Your children. Help me to always be humble enough to say, “I want to be better than I currently am. Help me to grow by showing me areas where I can improve.” Help me to love Your children and to shine Your light every moment of every day. Draw me closer. Amen.
Psalm 51:12 Restore to me the joy of Your salvation and grant me a willing spirit to sustain me.
Have a blessed day.

Psalm 18:1 I love you, LORD, my strength.
Lord, I come to You this morning just to say Thank You–for strength, for provision and guidance, for opportunities. Thank You for taking all of my anxieties, even when I am reluctant to let them go. Thank You for being bigger than my fears and for being steadfast and true, even when I falter.
Psalm 18:2a The LORD is my rock, my fortress and my deliverer….
Lord, Thank You for the amazing people in my life, for my husband and children, my family and extended family, for the phenomenal network of framily and friends with which You have surrounded me. Thank You for looking at the mess I am and for seeing, recognizing, and acknowledging Your deeply loved child.
Psalm 18:2b …my God is my rock, in whom I take refuge….
Lord, Thank You for this day, for my insanely emotional nature, for this heart full of love and gratitude for You and Your provision. Thank You for the opportunities of this day and the people with which You surround me today. Help me to shine Your light. Draw me closer. Amen.
Psalm 18:2c …my shield and the horn of my salvation, my stronghold.
Have a blessed day.

1 Cor 3:16 Don’t you know that you yourselves are God’s temple and that God’s Spirit dwells in your midst?
Let’s talk about that inner critic that we all have. The one that has something to say about every mistake and misstep you make. Mine is particularly caustic and mean. If she talked to anyone else the way she talks to me, there’s no way I’d sit by and let it happen. But for some reason, I never stop that voice when it’s smack-talking me. Jesus, Help me.
Matt 10:20 For it is not you who will be speaking–it will be the Spirit of your Father speaking through you.
It occurred to me, though, that I get to choose whose voice I hear, whose voice I listen to. And “the same power that rose Jesus from the grave lives in me.” THAT’S the voice I want to hear, the voice of love and truth, not the voice of condemnation. Jesus, Help me.
2 Tim 1:7 For the Spirit God gave us does not make us timid, but gives us power, love and self-discipline.
Lord, Thank You for this day and for the reminder that Your power is within me, Your voice is the one I need to hear. Thank You for sending the Holy Spirit in truth and love. Help me to treat myself with the same kindness that I try to show to others. Help me to shine Your light. Amen.
John 16:13 But when He, the Spirit of truth, comes, He will guide you into all the truth….
Have a blessed day.

Exodus 3:3 So Moses thought, “I will go over and see this strange sight—why the bush does not burn up.”
One of the goals in my classroom is to cultivate curiosity in my students, to get them looking and thinking and wondering about life and literature beyond what they see on the surface. It is easy to go through life accepting everything at face value, but I think that when we do that, we miss opportunities to see the extraordinary in the mundane of life. I realized this morning that I could benefit from cultivating curiosity in my own life as well. I wonder what metaphorical burning bushes God may have placed in my life, just waiting for me to notice and draw near so He could speak. Jesus, Help me.
Acts 7:31 When Moses saw it, he marveled at the sight. As he approached to look more closely, the voice of the Lord came to him….
One of my devotionals this morning contained this gem: “God usually speaks out of the ordinary experiences of life.” I know this to be true, and while I try to be infinitely curious in my own life, I sometimes get complacent, missing His extraordinary presence in my day. Jesus, Help me draw near and listen.
Ezekiel 36:26 I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit within you; I will remove your heart of stone….
Lord, Thank You for this day and for the reminder that my perspective matters. Help me to approach life with a sense of wonder and curiosity, to see Your divine presence in the ordinary experiences of my day. Help me to slow down, to take the time to notice and wonder, to praise Your holy name. Draw me closer to You. Amen.
Psalm 46:11 The LORD Almighty is with us….
Have a blessed day.

Matt 6:33 But seek first His kingdom and His righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well.
God’s still working with me on finding balance. When I searched “What does the Bible day about balance?”, Matt 6:33 was the first verse I saw. So what does the Bible day about balance? Seek Him. First. Before worry. Before anxiety. Before to do lists, grading, deadlines. Seek Him, His kingdom, His righteousness. First. Always. Thank You, Jesus.
Heb 13:5 Don’t love money; be satisfied with what you have. For God said, “I will never fail you. I will never abandon you.”
I’ve never been particularly enamored of money or possessions, but being satisfied with what I have, with where I am, where He has placed me at this exact moment is sometimes problematic, often more from the standpoint of my overwhelming “to do” lists than anything else. I can’t fully be present in the moment when I am stressing about how I’m going to do all the things that I don’t have time to do, grade all the things I don’t have time to grade. Jesus, Help me.
Rom 12:2 Don’t copy the behavior and customs of this world, but let God transform you into a new person by changing the way you think….
Lord, Thank You for this day and for loving me too much to let me continue this pointless, overwhelming cycle of worry and stress. Help me to put You first always—before worry, before stress, before to do lists and deadlines. Help me to be satisfied, not stressed, exactly where You have placed me. Help me to focus on You and find the balance I so desperately desire in this life. Draw me closer. Amen.
Matt 6:34 Therefore do not worry about tomorrow….
Have a blessed day.

Psalm 23:1 The LORD is my shepherd; I shall not want.
Once again this morning, I find myself exhausted, and the day has not even begun. And just for a moment, I thought, “To be a kid again. To not feel like the weight of the world rests solely on your shoulders…” And my sweet Savior sent Psalm 23:1, balm for my weary soul.
Psalm 23:2 He makes me lie down in green pastures. He leads me beside still waters.
When I think of my day, I think of the thousands of deadlines and to-do list items I’ve set for myself. But Jesus helps me regain my perspective. My responsibilities are quite simple when viewed through His lens: 1. Love God. 2. Love others. 3. Be His hands and feet in this weary world. Thank You, Jesus.
Psalm 23:3 He restores my soul….
Lord, Thank You for this day and for strength, rest, and restoration. My constant state of exhaustion tells me that I’ve got to get myself back to Your basics—in the verdant pastures and near the peaceful streams, where I can see You and remember that my chief responsibilities are quite simple: love and service. When the world overwhelms and exhausts me, Lord, renew my soul and refocus my priorities on You. Draw me closer. Amen.
Psalm 46:10 He says, “Be still, and know that I am God….”
Have a blessed day.