jesus calling
Want to Save the World? It’s Easier Than You Think
“While Your comfort is flowing through me to others, some of that blessing absorbs into me.”– Jesus Listens, October 21 “I know! I’ll be an epidemiologist and help prevent the spread of infectious diseases. That’ll save the world!” “I know! I’ll come up with a cure for cancer. That’ll save the world!” “I know! I’ll be like a modern-day Mother Teresa and tend to the poor. That’ll save the world!” A Life of Purpose We all want to do something meaningful with our lives to bring about good in the world. As image-bearers of the God who saves, we find that desire formed into our very being. But if I’m honest, the older I get, the more realistic I am about what I can actually accomplish with what I have, and the less saving the world seems feasible to me. What if I told you that saving the world ...
The Three Best Words for the Brokenhearted
“I can invite You into those broken places and collaborate with Youin putting the fragments back together in new ways.” – Jesus Listens, July 3 In fresh grief, well-meant words can sometimes wound. Even now, I shake my head at the unhelpful comments I made as a young mom handing over a hot casserole and the painful comments said to me a few years later after my husband died. So when a radio host recently asked me for the three best words to tell someone in grief, I perked up. Maybe it’s “I love you,” I thought as I waited for his answer. Those words sure comforted me as a new widow. Or maybe it’s “let me help.” Practical love is so needed when life falls apart. But neither guess was correct. The three best words to say to someone in grief? You’re not alone. The deepest comfort comes w...
5 Ways Fasting and Prayer Can Boost Your Faith
“My soul thirsts for You—the living God. The deepest yearnings of my heart are for intimacy with You, Lord.” – Jesus Listens, June 30 You have the choice to change your life with a simple decision. If faithfully done, choosing to fast and pray will alter your existence, rock your spiritual world, and bring your life on this earth into God’s perspective. I was drawn to fasting when I read in Matthew 6:16 that Jesus didn’t say “if” you fast, but “when” you fast. I knew I needed to follow what I believed was a call to fasting, but where to start? Most think a fast only pertains to food, yet in scripture we read that Daniel fasted from specific things: “I ate no choice food; no meat or wine touched my lips; and I used no lotions at all until the three weeks were over” (Daniel 10:3 NIV). E...
Three Ways to Welcome Grief into Your Church
As the worship music swelled, my eyes filled with tears. It wasn’t the first time I’d cried in church since my husband died; I was a pro by now. I knew exactly what to do. Look up at the ceiling to keep the tears pooled in my eyes. Smile and take a deep breath to keep them from dribbling down my face. And, at all costs, don’t make eye contact. Don’t let the grief get out of hand. Before Rob’s death, I’d cried from time to time in church when I was overcome with the beauty of God, when a Scripture passage touched my heart, or when I recalled afresh the precious treasure of the gospel. They’d always been happy tears. Nothing to be ashamed of. Worthy of being shared, like joyful tears at a wedding or birthday celebration. These tears, though? They were borne of agonizing sorrow and dark grief...
Restoring Your Soul in Turbulent Times
I am all around you, to bless and restore. Breathe Me in with each breath. Jesus Calling, February 26 The longing for things to be good again is one of the deepest longings of the human heart. It has slumbered in the depths of our souls ever since we lost our true home, for our hearts remember Eden. Most of the time, this powerful longing flows like an underground river below the surface of our awareness––so long as we are consoled by some measure of goodness in our lives. While we are enjoying our work, or family, our adventures, or the little pleasures of this world, the longing for things to be good again seems to be placated. Times of Testing But when trials and heartbreaks wash in, the longing rises to the surface like a whale coming up for air, filled with momentum and force. This is...
A Broken Hallelujah Is Still a Hallelujah
“I can invite You into those broken places and collaborate with You in putting the fragments back together in new ways.“ – Jesus Listens, July 3 Have you ever stopped and marveled at how the Bible, including God’s chosen family, is filled to the brim with screw-ups and sufferers? This is my favorite thing about the Bible. All the screw-ups and sufferers that are in there. It gives me hope, because if there is saving grace for bottom-dwellers like them, then there must also be saving grace for bottom-dwellers like me. The unfiltered stories of Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Rahab, David, Peter, Paul, Mary Magdalene, and others might make the middle class in spirit person’s skin crawl. Even though they are all considered heroes of the faith in the Bible and throughout the centuries, these “heroes” h...
Spending Time with God Heals Us
Allow the Light of My healing Presence to shine in the deepest recesses of your being—cleansing, healing, refreshing, and renewing you. Jesus Calling, March 17 Throughout my life, my prayers have looked different depending on where I am in my spiritual walk. Today, as a grandmother of six, my prayers are quiet, ongoing conversations with God. But in my thirties, they were loud and desperate, the only lifeline I had when memories of childhood abuse began to resurface. As the memories flooded back during this dark period, I experienced a rollercoaster of emotions. Yet throughout my tumultuous journey, God was a constant presence in my life. His still, small voice continued to guide me. Then, to my surprise, I discovered a gift that allowed me to channel the strong emotions ...
Make Something with the Pieces You’ve Been Given
When you reframe setbacks as opportunities, you find that you gain much more than you have lost. Jesus Calling, November 4 Here’s the truth about life: a whole lot of our best plans don’t work out, and many things we counted on . . . fall apart. Many times, there’s not much we can do about it. But you know what? There’s a lot we can do with the pieces left over from the moments when life doesn’t go the way we planned. One time, my son and I took an incomplete LEGO set, and by the time we were done, we created something more meaningful and beautiful than we could’ve imagined when we started. The missing pieces Of the seventy-five pieces that made up the LEGO City Desert Rally Racer our box only came with seventy-three. At first, we thought it was our fault. In the time it ...
Mending a Broken Relationship: It’s Possible
I am a God who heals. I heal broken bodies, broken minds, broken hearts, broken lives, and broken relationships. My very Presence has immense healing powers. Jesus Calling, August 20 “With men it is impossible, but not with God; for with God all things are possible.” Mark 10:27, NKJV When Jesus said that all things are possible with God, did He include fixing those broken, somewhat cracked, even estranged relationships we sometimes experience? When we suffer the sadness of a broken relationship, we may grieve it for years. We may even wonder if it is really possible to mend it, or if we should just cut our losses and move on. With God, all things are still possible! One reason we can say with confidence that all things are possible wit...
Experience Jesus Like Never Before
I designed you to commune with Me face to Face, and this interaction strengthens your soul. Such communion provides a tiny glimpse of what awaits you in heaven, where all barriers between you and My Glory will be removed. Jesus Calling, August 28 Imagine Jesus standing before you with a golden envelope. It contains an invitation to know and experience Him in ways like never before. If you tear open the contents, you’ll discover Christ anew in His breathtaking beauty, staggering strength, wondrous power, and the depths of His neverending love for you. Would you take the envelope? Or would you say, “Eh, nah. I don’t like the packaging. That’s not for me.” Revelation – The holy exclamation point For far too many years of my life, that’s how I’ve thought of Revelation. Maybe you or those you l...
Healthy Living from the Inside Out
When you try to live independently of Me, you experience emptiness and dissatisfaction. You may gain the whole world and yet lose everything that really counts. Jesus Calling, September 16 Have you ever wondered why it is so hard to make healthy living a habit? Armed with our greatest determination and countless diets and training plans, it should be easy, but many of us find that it is not. Somewhere between setting our goals and facing reality, we trade healthy habits for quick-fix gimmicks and temporary results. Healthy living is more than a look Like finances, marriage, and other subjects studied through the Word in our churches, a healthy approach to life can be attained when our focus is on God. We cannot get healthy, remain balanced, and maintain the results on our stren...
The Life-Changing Power of Speaking a Blessing
I am speaking to you continually: words of Life . . . Peace . . . Love. Tune your heart to receive these messages of abundant blessing. Jesus Calling, September 21 Other than praying, what should we do when someone we love isn’t living up to their potential? We can bless them. God blessed Adam and Eve and then released them to be fruitful, multiply, and rule. For most of my life, I believed the opposite. I assumed that if I performed well, then I would be blessed. But Genesis 1:28 radically upends the order of events. With God, the blessing is not the reward for productivity—it’s the power for it. Blessing is a positive, faith-filled vision spoken in accord with God’s Word over someone’s life. It’s stronger than encouragement and altogether different than prayer. Though often unfamiliar to...
