Tag: devotional

Daily devotionals…

January 7, 2018

I know there are many great Bible apps out there or apps for daily devotions, but I enjoy visiting the Crosswalk website for their daily devotional.  I read the daily devotional that they offer, by a variety of different authors. My husband and I also started taking advantage of one of their devotionals for couples as well, since we finished the book we had been reading together before bed. This has been something new for us to do together in the last 6-8 months. There’s definitely something to the saying ‘Those that pray together, stay together.’  Spending time together with God, through devotions and prayer, has brought us closer than ever before; we both wish we would have tried harder to do this from the beginning of our marriage 12+ years ago. 

I wanted to share a blurb from our devotional last night: 

As the new year has just begun, and many are focusing on new beginnings and fresh starts, myself included, this is a good reminder: Our words are either building each other up or tearing each other down. There’s a lot of power in our words; they can stick with someone for a life time- good or bad. As I have set a goal or resolution to be love, I hope to keep this fresh in my mind and allow my words to lift others up. Like our grandmas and mothers have told us…’If you don’t have anything nice to say, don’t say anything at all.’ Enough said, I guess. ❤

A big responsibility…

Every morning on my way to work I listen to the Family Life radio station and like clockwork the last 3-4 minutes of my commute always consists of the radio program ‘A Word With You’ by Ron Hutchcraft. I wanted to share today’s with you because it really hits home. The title is: Driving better when you’re being watched. Here’s the part that I think grabbed my attention most: 

“You can be a reason they’re attracted to Jesus or a reason they reject Jesus-a major factor in whether they spend forever in heaven or hell. Did you know that most people who come to Jesus do it because of a Christian they know? Did you know that most people who reject Jesus do it because of a Christian they know?”  (You can listen to or read the whole program here.)

Woah. 

This isn’t the first time I’ve thought about this. I think about it quite often, especially everytime I feel like I’ve screwed up. I don’t want people, especially those who don’t know Jesus yet, to look at me and think ‘if that’s what a Christian looks like, I don’t want any part of it.’ I’m not perfect, I’m a work in progress and always will be, and I have to try my best to remain close to God so I can live the way He wants me to. Life is hard and we’re all human and speaking for myself, I can think of many, many times in the past where I shouldn’t have ‘vented’  or over reacted, or should have bit my tongue or been more patient. At least I can learn from my mistakes and try to do better.  I’m a Christian, a work in progress, and one who wants to turn people TO Jesus, not away! 

On another note, it was a great morning for a run- I love my Friday morning runs…TGIF! 40* on December 1st, I’ll take it!

Baked goods and Jesus…

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November 30, 2017

In my Run for God devotional, one of the questions this morning was: ‘What do you share with others that gives you the greatest joy?’

I have always loved sharing the food that I make, especially baked goods, with others.  At every job I’ve had, I’m always the coworker who brings in baked goods to share.  I run into people from my previous places of employment and they still comment on missing my ‘yummy baking.’  I’m thankful for my ability to bake and I do appreciate seeing people enjoy things that I’ve made.

In the past I have compared sharing Jesus to that of sharing baked goods… I don’t ever want to ‘bug’ people, but I do often invite people to church…it’s like when you have your favorite food – let’s say a luscious cheesecake – you want to share it with people, you want other people to try it too because you think they will like it!  That’s why I invite people to church, especially people close to me.  I LOVE our church, our church family, and the way God speaks through our Pastor. I love having a relationship with God and looking back and seeing how things have changed in my life for the better because of that relationship.  Why wouldn’t I want to share that with others? I want them to experience it and enjoy it as well.  It’s never about judging anyone or saying or even thinking, ‘Man, I think you really need to go to church’; not at all.  It’s always out of love and just a desire to share something so wonderful that many are missing out on.  So for my friends and family, neighbors, etc. reading this – don’t be offended when I invite you to church, just know that I love you enough to share my yummy delicious cheesecake… and my church with you.

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Chasing another sunrise…

November 28, 2017

When I’m running alone, I don’t always have a set plan where I’m going to go… depends on how I feel, the weather, whether it is light out yet or not, etc.  This is one reason my husband has encouraged me to recently start using Strava.  If you aren’t familiar, it’s an app for running or biking that ‘maps your run,’ giving you statistics, lets you share with others, and also allows for friendly competition with other fellow athletes.  I however, do not use it for any of those reasons – lol – I use it so my husband can track me using the ‘safety beacon’ option, allowing him to see that I ended up running in a different direction than where I originally may have intended.  I’m thankful for this feature because it does make me feel safer when I run.  It also gives him the opportunity to message me while I’m running and encourage me or make some sort of funny comment.  *creeper*

Anyway, I set out for my early morning run that began by taking my normal route around town until I decided I couldn’t really stand to run around town for the entire 6 miles this morning…so I headed slightly out of town, turned onto another less traveled street and intended to turn around at the last street light—beyond that was quite dark and I had no intentions, initially, of going any further.  It may sound like I’m scared of the dark… but I will admit I’m totally scared of skunks (we’ll save that for another day).  After turning around at said street light, now facing a different direction, I caught a glimpse of what looked like a potentially beautiful sunrise.  I went a few more paces and thought, if I turn around and head back up that hill (into the dark) I’m sure I could see a beautiful sunrise at the top, overlooking the town.  It took a few more steps to convince myself it would be worth it, then turned around and decided to go for it.  I had never run up this direction before, let alone in the dark.  Thankfully dawn was quickly approaching and I knew I had to get moving if I was going to reach the top to see the sunrise.

About half way up the hill I get a text from Chris, ‘you picked a pretty big hill to run up this morning’… Yes, yes, I guess I did. My legs were burning but the sun was starting to peek up and set the base of the sky on fire; like all the other times I’ve found myself chasing a sunrise, you tend to forget or pay little attention to anything else.  It was a Win-Win – a good work out climbing the hill and the sky over the little view of the town was quite pretty.  Thankfully I was able to enjoy it further, as the colors of the sky continued to intensify as I reached the bottom of the hill and headed in an eastward direction towards home.  I love the mornings I get to chase a sunrise; it makes me feel so thankful that I got out of bed and had the opportunity, ability, dedication, willpower, endurance, etc. to run!  I wouldn’t have wanted to miss it…

Scenic run…

November 24, 2017

Sometimes you have to switch it up… I love to #run and often find myself running the same routes over and over.  I have a running friend, Whitney – the story how we met is a good one for another post another day 🙂 — anyway, when we run the same ol’ route in the early dark hours before work, its enjoyable and passes by quickly because of the company and nice chats.  However, sometimes by myself I just feel like I need to switch it up… those were my thoughts this morning when I headed out for my run.

It was a beautiful morning to run a couple scenic trails, one of which leads to a reservoir that I often forget exists.  To be honest, for being born and raised in the same small town I live in now, it might be surprising to some to know that I didn’t even know this reservoir existed until a year or two ago.  I guess it’s a hidden gem… if you like quiet, natural beauty of course.

Ps. I’ve seen people occasionally attempt to fish in this  and until today I had never been able to see the bottom … well, they are waisting their time.  It was crystal clear this morning, not nearly as deep as I thought, and not a fish anywhere to be found.  Sure is beautiful though!

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