jesus calling
Let’s Build “Recovery Culture” into Our Communities
“You know absolutely everything about me, yet You love me with perfect, unfailing Love.” – Jesus Listens, January 4 If you call yourself a Christian, you’re in recovery. If we were all once sinners in need of a Savior, then we’re all trying to recover and heal from something. Recovery is for everyone—and if that statement bothers you, recovery is probably for you, too. After all, real recovery isn’t a program, it’s a lifestyle. A lifelong journey that celebrates diversity and combats stigmatization. And because recovery is for everyone, there’s no shame in acknowledging that we all need it. Building an authentic recovery culture within pre-existing Jesus groups can be a real challenge. Because recovery, even with Jesus as our Higher Power, is wildly unstable. Here are five critical m...
Three Ways to Unthaw Your Frozen Calling
“I’m learning to yield to Your will and timing. Rather than striving to be in control, I need to spend more time seeking Your Face.” – Jesus Listens, February 23 Conflict stirred within as I attempted to blend into the audience. The secret struggles in my heart felt exposed as the conference speaker addressed the crowd. Frozen callings “There are frozen callings in this congregation,” she declared. The weight of that statement hit my spirit like a bag of bricks. No, Lord, I whispered. I can’t hope any longer for things that never come to pass. God spoke softly in return. I will be with you. It’s time to take your calling off the shelf. Two years before, I had packed away my ministry dreams. Ambitions of public speaking, teaching the Bible, and writing books drove me to push past God’s timi...
When Clutter Is a Gift
“You’ve been clearing out the debris and clutter within me, making room for Your Spirit to take full possession.” – Jesus Listens, January 7 Clutter is a fact of life. Decluttering Decluttering is a fact of life, too. Over the years, I’ve decluttered more than the average person and now, I actually write books about decluttering. When people find out I’m a Christian who writes about decluttering, they want to talk about what the Bible says about clutter. One of the verses they love to quote is Matthew 6:19: “Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moths and vermin destroy, and where thieves break in and steal” (NIV). Spiritual Treasure Obviously it’s true, since it’s in the Bible. But as a person who’s purged (literal) truckloads of clutter from her home and cried tears of...
6 Truths to Help You Understand Grief
No matter what losses I experience, in my life, I know that nothing can separate me from Your loving Presence! – Jesus Listens, October 21 When you are grieving, it can feel like that single emotion controls every aspect of your life. From your relationships and physical health to your ability to work or do the simplest tasks, grief is ever present. If you don’t have proper care and a plan of action, grief will assume control of your life. But before you can take effective action, it’s essential to understand the strong emotions you’re feeling. Want to understand grief a little more? These are six things you need to remember: 1. Grief Is Universal We feel grief so personally that it’s easy to think we are alone in our suffering. But sooner or later, everyone will feel the sting of grief. R...
Ending the Self-Esteem Battle for Good
When I’m feeling overwhelmed, I won’t give up. Instead, I’ll look to You and Your strength. – Jesus Listens, July 31 For years I struggled with feeling good in my skin. I would go on a diet and do pretty good for a few days, but then life would get busy, my daughter would get sick, or my motivation would fade. I would fall off track, eat my favorite things, and then plan to do better next time. This cycle caused a negative conversation in my mind: Why did you eat that? Why can’t you stick to a diet? Why didn’t you work out today? If only you could reach your fitness goals. I lived with an ever-present feeling of failure. Jesus wanted to eat with me One day at church, I cried out to God. I couldn’t take feeling this way anymore. I needed a breakthrough. We were studying Revelation, so I ope...
In the Dark of Winter, We Can See His Light
“Hope keeps you spiritually alive during dark times of adversity; it brightens your path and heightens your awareness of My Presence.” – Jesus Calling, December 15 Where I live in the mountains of southwest Virginia, Advent arrives with the beginning of winter. Night gathers quickly Night gathers quickly, with a deep darkness settling in by the time we settle around the table. The ground that only a few months earlier burst with life lies dormant, under a chill that never seems to lift. From the warmth of my kitchen, I look out the window to see my once-lush garden encrusted with ice, full of thick, heavy clods of earth, and littered with the remnants of cornstalk and pumpkin vine that twist up among the table scraps. Bringing forth life Closer to the house, ornamental beds of l...
Reframing Shame
“I know Your power is made perfect in weakness. So I thank you for my insufficiency—it helps me depend on You to infuse strength into me.” – Jesus Listens, January 9 Admitting our weakness is often a difficult task for most of us, because calling our imperfections, failures, hang-ups, and habits what they are, is uncomfortable. And it often produces shame. Shame and self-esteem Shame is a powerful emotion that is inward and, when not dealt with appropriately, deadly to our self-esteem and connection with God and others. The accuser of our souls is out to steal, kill, and destroy, and we can easily find ourselves believing the lies he plants in our minds: that we are not good enough; that we are broken beyond repair. The enemy attacks us this way because it is a direct attack on our identit...
Our Big God Doesn’t Make Small People
“You, the Mighty One who created the universe, live in me!” Jesus Listens, July 2 If you are anything like me, at some point you have dealt with the warring thoughts of wanting more out of life but feeling guilty about your lack of contentment. If God wanted to give me more influence, ability, or fulfillment, He would have, right? I think sometimes. Isn’t my desire for more an indication of a lack of gratitude—or even worse, rejection of what God has for me? I’m not the only person who has thoughts like that this, am I? Getting Answers From the Bible As a pastor, I spend a lot of time reading the Bible, and I love it. Like, love love it. Not only because Scripture holds life, truth, and keys to unlock God’s miracles in my own life—though that’s the main reason—but also because there i...
The Gift of Giving Thanks
“I can never thank You too fervently or frequently.” Jesus Listens, November 1 For many people, it’s difficult to see how life can be considered a gift, because that means they’d need to acknowledge the Giver. Most people want to make it seem like they don’t need someone else’s help. We humans take pride in our independence. The Jewish tradition has an inspiring view of gratitude that I think every person, no matter their religion, can learn something from. Every day it is the goal of those who practice this particular tradition to recite one hundred blessings—or thanks—to God, beginning with eighteen blessings right when they wake up in the morning. The tradition says that as you are sleeping, your soul leaves your body, and what better way to come back to reality upon waking than to reci...
Just for Today, Lord
“Help me to walk in the way of wisdom—trusting You no matter what happens in my life.” Jesus Listens, September 19 He was given the gift of one day. One sunset. One sunrise. Just one rotation of the planet before he left it. Unlike the average American, he wasn’t gifted with almost eighty years of life on this earth. No, he was given the gift of one day. However, the way Jude Samuel Shook unwrapped the divine gift of his one day gave us, his grandparents, a gift that has changed the way we now live every day. A little boy who lived on this earth for just a handful of hard-fought hours taught us how to live our years. Jude’s Story Our son Josh and his wife, Kelli, found out at their twenty-week pregnancy doctor’s visit that something was severely wrong with Jude’s kidneys. The doctor explai...
Feeling the Warmth of His Unconditional Love
Sometimes I hear you whispering in my heart, “I take great delight in you.”It’s hard for me to receive this blessing, but I know it’s based on theunconditional Love You have for all your children. Jesus Listens, May 2 We live and feel deepest from the gut, not from the head. The love I have for my child, the way I felt during the first dance at my wedding, the doubled-over weight I’ve held staring into the casket of a lost loved one, and the laughter that comes from watching my niece open a gift on Christmas morning—none of that emerges from an intellectual equation I’ve solved. It comes from somewhere deeper, somewhere more instinctive, an emotional place. That’s how author of Hebrews describes Jesus’ response to sin and the havoc it wreaks on our lives—a gut-level, emotional response of ...
Thriving Through the Unexpected
“Help me not to let unexpected events throw me off course. Instead of getting upset or anxious, I want to respond calmly and confidently—remembering that You are with me.” Jesus Listens, November 3 In the years since I found out I had cancer, plenty of people have asked me why I think I got sick in the first place. Why did this happen to me? Why does cancer happen to anyone? I actually love that question, because it gives me a chance to share the story, once again, of my mother’s prophetic words. My simple answer is that this happened to me because I was chosen. A Legacy of Firsts If you know anything about me, it’s probably that I’ve been blessed with many opportunities to serve others by being a “first.” First Black senior class president of Kennedy High School in Richmond, California. O...
