Story
Hopes and Prayers for Our Children by Kari Kampakis
A Story Of Jesus Calling Last September, a mom shared a back-to-school story on social media about her two teenage daughters. The girls had struck a deal during their morning trip to school: one sister would drive, the other would read aloud the daily devotional from Jesus Calling®. Wow. What a plan. What struck me most was how this was their idea. Mom wasn’t pushing Jesus on them—the sisters made a deliberate choice to start their day with Him. As a mother, this is what I hope and pray for. This is the type of goal I am working toward: that one day, when my girls are basking in the freedom of living any way they please, they’ll follow the quiet tugs in their hearts to spend time with the One who made them. Obviously, I can’t “make” this happen. I can’t force my children to love God or orc...
The Mundane and the Monumental: Clinging to Easter Sunday on Monday Morning
By: Sherri Gragg Six days before Easter morning, I found myself lying at the bottom of a flight of stairs, pondering the efficiency of gravity. One minute, I was making my way down the narrow staircase of a 200-year-old log cabin on a friend’s farm. The next, I was sprawled across the hardwood floors, clutching my knee in agony. As two of my teens helped me stand, everything in me was already raging. Raging against gravity. Raging against socks on stairs. Raging against my aging body. Raging against all the things I wouldn’t be able to do with an injured knee. Raging against looming doctors’ appointments and hours spent in physical therapy. While I was at it, even though it was completely irrelevant, I raged against menopause too. Because if anything deserves rage, it is menopause. For the...
How to Find Peace in Mom-Fail Moments
By Becca Stevens Babies and toddlers are precious, but those years are so hard.If I hadn’t consecrated time for a daily devotional at the start of each day, I don’t think I would have made it. Early each morning, I found the peace I desperately needed to hear from God in the bathtub. I lit a candle, read a Psalm, and soaked in the silence for 20 minutes. Those 20 minutes each day saved my spirit so I could be a good mom, wife, pastor, and entrepreneur. “Because you are human you will continue to make mistakes. Thinking that you should live an error-free life is symptomatic of pride. Your failures can be a source of blessing, humbling you and giving you empathy for other people in their weaknesses. Best of all, failure highlights your dependence on Me. I am able to bring beauty out of the m...
4 Tips to Living with Confidence
4 Tips to Living with Confidence By Alli Worthington Have you ever felt so nervous, worried, or anxious that you wanted to stay in bed and pull the covers over your head? Have you ever been so overwhelmed by the fear of failure, of disappointing your family, that you just shut down? Me, too. So often, I sense fear getting the best of me. When I feel like I’m going to fail, I want to hide, put on my mask, and snap at the people I love. Sometimes I just want to flat-out quit. But that’s not the person I want to be. So when I feel overwhelmed I pray, read a powerful daily devotion in Jesus Calling, and use this little Fierce Faith mantra to keep me on track. Show up. Be real. Love others. Don’t quit. These four little phrases have boosted my confidence and transformed the way I live. I bet th...
Finding Spiritual and Financial Stability in a Crisis
In December 2001, my parents went to a holiday party with friends. During the party, my father gradually became extremely dizzy and nauseated. Fortunately, one of the other guests was in the medical field and knew that my father was on the verge of having a heart attack. My father thought his friend was overreacting, but his friend rushed him to the emergency room. Doctors confirmed that my father needed triple bypass heart surgery and would definitely not be leaving the hospital any time soon. And for the first time in my life, I experienced the frightening reality that I might lose my father. “You can feel secure, even in the midst of cataclysmic changes, through awareness of My continual Presence.”Jesus Calling, March 24 Fortunately, my father’s surgery was a success. He eventually reco...
6 Ways to Make Prayer Simple for Kids
That shiny purple birthstone, set in a ring to fit my six-year-old finger, was my most prized possession. That’s why I dreaded telling my mom I had lost it. Cartwheels in the grass had given way to utter panic as I realized the ring wasn’t on my finger anymore. After I confessed what had happened, my mother uttered four words that impacted my spiritual journey for the rest of my life: “Let’s pray about it.” “When you pray, I want you to share everything with Me: your joys and heartaches, your struggles and triumphs, your worries and questions. I am you best Friend—pour out your heart to Me.”Jesus Calling: 365 Devotions for Kids,January 11 My husband and I often talk about the goals and desires we have for our kids. Like everyone around us, we’re neck-deep in sports and academics and servic...
Choices in a Faith Journey
In 2012, my word for the year was risk. My daily devotional consisted of studying risk takers, AKA crazy people, in the Bible. It was a pivotal year for me in my faith journey. I’m not a natural risk taker. Far from it, actually. I like to control my environment and make calculated decisions. I call it wisdom, but in reality, it teeters on a lack of faith. And as someone who’s not a risk taker, the words of the December 9 entry of Jesus Calling strike me to the core: “Be willing to go out on a limb with Me. If that is where I am leading you, it is the safest place to be. Your desire to live a risk-free life is a form of unbelief . . . In order to follow Me wholeheartedly, you must relinquish your tendency to play it safe.” Have you ever looked up the definition of risk? In case you haven’t...
Finding Peace in the Storm
I’ll never forget the day our family buried my mom. I remember wishing that the overcast sky would better reflect my emotions if it were rolling with fierce clouds and flashes of lightning. The thought seemed strange at the time. Not many people wish for storms. No, we typically choose to avoid them at all costs. But that day, the world had spiraled out of my control and I could do nothing to change it. While the emotional storm raged on without my consent, my heart also felt unexplainable peace. Faith was at the helm. If you’re facing a storm right now—a hurricane, tornado, or life-changing event—I know your world is spinning right now. While it’s hard to stay present amid anxiety and worry, and when, things seem out of control, just remember: God is always in control. He is with you wher...
Rachel Hollis Shares Excerpt from Girl, Wash Your Face
When Rachel Hollis spoke on the Jesus Calling® podcast she shared one of the hardest seasons of her faith journey. Here is excerpt from her book,Girl, Wash Your Face, that describes a portion of that difficult time and how we must have faith in God’s perfect timing. Imagine a little baby taking her first step. She’s joyful and chubby and she’s been balancing in place without holding on to the coffee table for weeks now. Finally, finally, she takes her first coltish stumble from the relative safety of the side table, then wobbles across the perils of the living room rug to grasp the edge of the sofa. She gets there and looks up at you with elation and pride and so much excitement. Now imagine you give her a quick, brittle smile and demand, “Yes, Chloe, that’s fine, but why aren’t you r...
Giving Away Good News Across the Street and Around the World
In my daily devotionals growing up, somehow I missed the good news that Jesus could save me on earth in physical and emotional ways—even though I was already spiritually saved for heaven. Finding this brand of holistic peace, which helped me find a calming joy with Jesus in everyday life, meant I could give it away. “The friendship I offer you is practical and down to earth, yet it is saturated with heavenly Glory. Living in My Presence means living in two realms simultaneously: the visible world and unseen, eternal reality. I have equipped you to stay conscious of Me while walking along dusty, earthbound paths,” September 5, —Jesus Calling. I’m just an ordinary person. But I started to live a spiritual adventure by following Jesus to the nations in my neighborhood, to people with the leas...
Make Sure the Holiday Is What You Desire
The Christmas season is so, so exciting. It gets us in touch with so much that is important: the message of God’s gift of Jesus and His redemption, the importance of family, relationships, gratitude and love, and so much more. “Living in collaboration with Me is the way to instill meaning into your days.Begin each day alone with Me, so that you can experiencethe reality of My Presence.” Jesus Calling, December 14 At the same time, it can be fraught with pain and conflict. Sometimes holidays bring out the grief of what someone has never had, or what has lost been or destroyed. Longings go unmet, and past pain is often revisited. Then there is the opportunity for old pain and patterns in toxic relationships to be repeated, as families get together and some people find themselves around hurtf...
Finding Joy When Your Heart Hurts
“You can find joy in the midst of brokenness. One of the hardest times to be joyful is when you’re dealing with multiple problems—seeking solutions but finding none—and then several new difficulties beset you. The way to encounter joy in adversity is to encounter Me. You can pray,‘Jesus, help me find You in the midst of this mess!’ ” —Jesus Today, Day 67 “You aren’t listening to me. I’ve had enough. Get out of my house!” Harsh, isn’t it? Brokenness reveals itself in so many ways. I recently felt very broken over a verbal misunderstanding. I knew that the other party could only see her way and felt that I was completely wrong. Exasperation grew when she failed to take time to listen to me, and I lost my temper for the first time in a long time. As a Christian, I felt extremely discouraged. ...
