Story

“Teach me how to live more fully in the present— refusing to worry about tomorrow. I really do want to live present tense in Your Presence, making You the main pursuit of my life. This is quite a struggle for me because planning and worrying come so naturally to me. Please help me resist the temptation to worry.”– Jesus Listens, October 12th I usually fall into the “trap” late at night. The sudden rush of worry about tomorrow’s meeting. The unnerving sense that my goals and dreams for the future aren’t going to work out. The terrifying sensation that I am not where I should be, and am running out of time.  I call it the tomorrow trap. That snare that comes out of nowhere, tripping you up and keeping you stuck by flooding your mind with worry about things that aren’t even happening yet...

“Help me to trust You enough to accept the full forgiveness that You offer me continually. This glorious gift cost You Your Life, and it is mine for all eternity! I’m grateful that forgiveness is at the very core of Your abiding Presence.” – Jesus Listens, June 3rd That relationship. Yeah, that one. When you began the relationship, you didn’t sign up for heartache or headaches, did you? Oh sure, you know conflict is part of life. Everyone knows. What you didn’t know was how deeply the spouse, child, friend, coworker, or church would wound you.  But here you are. The conflict happened. Or is happening. The hurt is real. So is the anger. And the confusion.  Enter the need for forgiveness. Years ago, my husband worked for a thriving church. However, when the senior pastor retired, f...

by Joy Clarkson “Lord, I want to flourish in Your Presence—like an olive tree flourishing in the house of God. As the sunlight of Your Presence shines upon me, it nourishes me so I can produce fruit in Your Kingdom.”– Jesus Listens, October 31st Machine like productivity You think that you have never described yourself as a machine, or thought, I am a computer. But think of how we describe ourselves processing something like a hard drive whirring away, or how we tell a friend that we need to update each other about life events, like new software. We adjust to new circumstances like a car whose tires need to be rotated; people push our buttons; we need to power down so we can recharge. When we don’t understand something, we might say it does not compute. When someone has been influenced to ...

“Today, the only things that seem endless are my problems and my pain. Yet I know You are here—tenderly present—ready to help me get safely through this day. Your loving Presence is my lifeline that keeps me from giving up in despair.” – Jesus Listens, February 6th My hair was slicked back and wet after my nightly shower. I was cozy in my pink heart bed shorts and pink T-shirt. I pulled out my two books. One of them I’d been writing in almost every night for a year, recording a brief description of what I had done that day. The other was a fresh, blue-flowered journal. I’d just finished another like it, writing a poem to my twin baby boys every night since I found out they had died inside of me. Routine was what had been getting me through the last several months of pain. But our usual sch...