Devotionals for the Heart: How fasting and prayer helped me land a new job

How Fasting and Prayer Changed My Life
A devotional by Angela Anderson

“And he said unto them, This kind can come forth by nothing, but by prayer and fasting.”—Mark 9:29 (KJV)

“Effective next month, your job will be eliminated.”

I did not hear anything else my boss said after she uttered those words. I was under the impression that I would be in that particular position at work until I decided to leave, but in this case, my job was leaving me.

I started praying very earnestly about what to do and I began to complete applicatiaons and send resumes to available positions on-line. Even after all of those efforts, nothing seemed to work. No one was returning my calls, no one was responding to my emails, and no one seemed interested in my resume.

At the same time, a friend of mine who did not know anything about my circumstance approached me about fasting. There were people already doing it on Mondays and I was asked to join them in this exercise of faith. At that point in my life, I had never tried fasting for a whole day. The thought of it was unappealing to me so I declined, but something kept tugging at my spirit. I was in a desparate situation and nothing else was working. I felt like Heaven was locked in silence. I just wanted to do something to get God’s attention, so I decided to try fasting without telling anyone, including the friend who invited me to do this on Mondays.

After the first Monday of fasting, I had a meeting with someone who I thought would be able to assist me with finding a job. Unfortunately, that person could not help me, but she set up another meeting for the following Tuesday with someone else who could. I fasted the Monday before, praying for a good outcome from that meeting. When I finally had the meeting, I was instructed to send my resume. I was not thrilled at the idea because I had been sending resumes everywhere with no results. I sent the resume anyway and by that Friday, I received a call from a recruiter who scheduled an interview with me and a hiring manager for the following Tuesday.

On the Monday before the interview, I fasted again in preparation for the interview on Tuesday. By the time I was done with the interview, I was invited to a second interview that Friday over lunch. By the end of lunch, I was offered a position with higher pay and benefits, and a start date in June—the same date that my current position would be eliminated.

It's easy to look at this situation and automatically believe that fasting was the reason why my prayers were answered. However, it is important to understand that fasting and praying are not intended to manipulate God into getting our own way. Instead, fasting and praying aligns us with God’s will for our lives and prepares us for the work He is getting ready to accomplish in our lives. By fasting and praying, I thought I was getting God’s attention, but He was One who was getting my attention.

The exercise of fasting was more than just self-discipline for me. It allowed me to stretch my faith by just being open. I was introduced to a greater spiritual focus as well as a more profound experience of God’s presence in my life. Through fasting, I cultivated a deeper and more intimate relationship with God, and I built a stronger and more resilient faith.

I will never forget how God showed up for me in that moment. I truly believe that some things in life can only come about by fasting and prayer. This testing of my faith allowed me to overcome obstacles and achieve breakthoughs in areas where progress seemed impossible. I encourage you to be willing to do what God impresses you to do in order to reach that next level of faith in your relationship with Him.

Let’s Pray: Father, I believe that You can do all things, and these things will happen in Your time. Help me to exercise more faith and to be open to whatever is required of me so that I can have the level of intimacy that You desire. I give You my heart and my mind. In the name of Jesus I pray, Amen.

Song of Reflection: “When God’s People Pray” by Wayne Watson. Listen to it here.

~*~
Author Bio:

Angela Anderson was born in Brooklyn (New York) and raised in New Jersey. 

She started writing at an early age and realized in elementary school that it was both a strength and a passion. She continued writing through high school, college, and into adulthood. Angela is the author of a devotional book titled Just When I Thought I Knew God. She is currently working on another devotional book.

This is Angela’s fourth year as a devotional writer for Alexis A. Goring’s “God is Love” blog. In 2021, Angela was a winner of a devotional writing contest where her words were featured in a book, Hope When Your Heart is Heavy, that was published by Proverbs 31 Ministries. The following year, another one of Angela’s devotionals was featured in Living Unbroken, which is another publication produced by Proverbs 31. Angela has a passion for inspiring and impacting others through her writing as well as speaking.

Angela is a life coach for mothers. She empowers mothers who want to identify their God-given purpose and live it fully while taking care of their family. Angela develops mothers into mompreneurs by providing them with the necessary tools to be successful and fulfilled in life. She works to help them to see their value, understand their importance, and reclaim their identity.

Angela is also the host of “The Angela Anderson Show”, a virtual talk show that launched in April of 2023 on YouTube and Facebook. The show is designed for mothers who want to pursue their dream while managing family life. The audio version of the show is also available as a podcast on Spotify.

Angela has been married to the love of her life, Duane Anderson, for 19 years. Together they have two sons: Thomas (age 11) and Ryan (age 6). Angela’s favorite pastime is journaling, and she also enjoys spending quality time with her family.

~*~
Connect with Angela:

To connect with Angela, you can follow her on Instagram (angelanderson1104), Clubhouse (@angelize), and send a friend request to her on Facebook.

Subscribe to Angela’s YouTube channel @The Angela Anderson Show and follow the show on Spotify. Angela offers free consultations for mothers who want to pursue their dream while taking care of their family. Schedule here: www.ChatWithCoachAngela.com

You can also like and follow her Facebook page for her devotional book, Just When I Thought I Knew God.

Devotionals for the Heart: Trust

Trust Without Borders
A devotional by Julia Wilson

“Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding.” 

–Proverbs 3:5 (NIV)

As I write this devotional on March 25, the world is held in the grip of the Coronavirus pandemic. People are naturally fearful because we have never been here before. But there is One who knows the end from the beginning. We can trust Him with all our heart. In fact we must trust Him with all our heart.

As The Passion Translation of The Holy Bible says in Proverbs 3:5, “Trust in God completely … with all your heart rely on Him to guide you and He will lead you wherever you go.” Whatever we face in life, whatever surprises us, we can trust God because nothing surprises Him and He always has our back.

For us as a family, we have had a situation that has required us to lean fully on God and to trust Him completely. The situation was completely out of our hands. We had nowhere else to go but to trust and to turn to God in prayer. James 5:16 (TPT) says, “For tremendous power is released through the passionate, heartfelt prayer of a godly believer.”

And believe me, we have pressed into God, believing that He would hear us and that He would answer. I have trusted with all my heart and as I write this, God has answered and performed many miraculous signs. But there is still a way to go, and so I hold on to Him, trusting for that light at the end of the dark tunnel.

We all trust in something … We trust that a chair will hold us up, we trust that gravity will keep our feet firmly planted, we trust that Australia exists. Why? Simply because we have been told or we have experience of these things. So why do we find it so hard to trust God for our family, our finances, our jobs etc.?

We have been told of our faithful God over and over again in the Bible. I think we like to be in control but there are times when we simply have no control. It is in these times that we turn to God and we trust Him completely because there really is nowhere else to go.

What would our lives look like if we trusted God always? God urges us to “pray continually” (1 Thessalonians 5:17 NIV). As we pray, we join with God. When we pray, we must not worry, for if we worry it would be like saying to God that we did not trust Him to move. Prayer goes hand in hand with trust, not worry.

When I was a child I trusted (and I still do) my Dad completely. He said he was always there for me and he was. (I do realize that some will not be as lucky as I was). God says “Never will I leave you; never will I forsake you” (Hebrews 13:5 NIV) and yet we do not always believe Him. The promises God makes, God keeps, so why do we not trust Him always?

I absolutely love the worship song “Oceans” by Hillsong. It is a song that I have been singing a lot in recent weeks.

Allow me to paraphrase some of my favourite lyrics from the song that I love: The singer asks God’s Holy Spirit to lead her to a place where her trust in God is without borders. She asks God to help her walk upon the water (like Peter did in a Bible story). She asks God to help her trust Him to lead her and that she will answer His call and follow Him. She asks God to take her deep into her faith journey with Him. She trusts God to take her places that are greater than her wildest imagination. She asks God to strengthen her faith as she walks with Him. She feels blessed by the presence of her Savior (Jesus Christ).

Let’s Pray: Dear God, in these turbulent times, help us to learn to trust You completely. Please bless us with a trust that is without borders. In Jesus’s Name I pray, Amen.

~*~
Author Bio:

My name is Julia Wilson but I also go by Christian Bookaholic.

I live with my husband and five cats in a small town in Worcestershire on the banks of the River Severn (England). We have four grown up children and three granddaughters.

I have always loved reading and have always been surrounded by books. I used to work as a teaching assistant for special needs in the local high school. Ill health forced me to stop working in December 2015. I have Chronic Fatigue Syndrome (known as M.E.) and fibromyalgia. I now have plenty of time to read and review books!

Our eldest son set up my Christian Bookaholic blog. I review every book I read. I read over 300 books a year. I read Christian and mass market. I prefer stories set from 1850 onwards. My favourite type of books to read is stories set in WWI and WWII, and Russia under Czar Nicholas II.

I am a historian, having a Combined Humanities degree where I majored in History and minored in English. I also love swimming. I only learned how to swim in 2017 and go swimming four mornings a week for 90 minutes before breakfast, it keeps my joints going.

I am also a crazy cat lady. I absolutely love my cats. I have grown up with cats and cannot imagine life without them. My dream is to own an old fashioned seal point Siamese … but not while we have our young rescue cat as she hates other cats!

I love God and love going to a large lively church called Lifecentral. I cannot imagine life without God. He gives a peace even when life does not. He guides my life. He is my Rock.

Words of Faith: Gary's story about God as a refuge in times of trouble

My Refuge

A Words of Faith story written by Gary Breezeel

Some years ago, I moved my family hundreds of miles to take a new job. One day, only four months later, my boss called me into his office and told me he had to let me go. I went numb all over, my limbs like rubber. How could this have happened? He’d made no complaints about my work, and we got along well.

At least, he gave me a month’s notice.

When I regained sufficient strength, I got up, told the secretary I was leaving, and escaped. I had no particular destination in mind, knowing only that I had to get away.

I sat in the car for a few minutes, head spinning, before I remembered a tranquil spot near the Mississippi River. Only God’s grace kept me and other motorists safe as I negotiated crowded city streets and winding country roads en route to my destination.

Filled with rage, I parked not far from the river. It’s not fair. How could he do it? After all my excellent work?

After a few moments, I exited and followed a path a short distance down an embankment and stepped up onto a mammoth boulder, which extended out into the channel.

The muddy water swirled and eddied below me as the current raced swiftly past. For hours, I gazed both upstream and down. The size and power of the mighty torrent and the quiet roar as it rushed by took my focus off my troubles. The gentle breeze tickled my face. I scanned the azure sky.

Standing on that rock, I recognized some measure of the vastness of the universe. There in the midst of God’s magnificent creation, I poured out my heart to Him. Why? How could you let this happen? What now? I’m my family’s sole support. How can we survive?

Over the next few hours, I asked like questions repeatedly. At length, I received an answer to the question I should have asked. I began to comprehend how small and weak I was when compared with the size and power of that river. Yet, the universe made even the Mighty Mississippi seem minuscule.

Even more importantly, the Lord reminded me that He made all of creation, including me. With His help, I remembered that He loves me, that He wants only good for me, and that He promised to provide for me.

I went home with renewed hope and peace in my heart, knowing I could face an uncertain future because my God remained in control, and He would provide for me. No, I did not expect God to hand me another job. I knew I would have to send out resumes and make calls, but I could leave the results, and the worrying, up to Him. And I did. For the most part.

I would like to say that I completely avoided worry over the next few weeks, but, too many times, I picked that burden back up myself. Yet, whenever worry threatened to get ahold of me, I returned to my special place. There, as the waters surged by, I felt His presence in a special way. I experienced him in the vastness of the sky, the fresh, misty scent of the river, and the breeze rustling through the trees.

The enormity of His creation reminded me again and again of his power and that He reigns. He spoke to me through those things, renewing my trust in Him. But, mostly, I poured out my heart, knowing He heard me. In so doing, I gained the strength and courage to persevere through adversity without losing heart.

Over the next month, I spent countless hours by the river in prayer and meditation, as I experienced the wonder of God’s power and grace through various aspects of his creation. I felt closer to Him than ever before. Each time I visited my refuge, my troubled heart found peace. Moreover, God came through for me. After missing only five days of work, I found another job. What a Blessing! What a God!

Because of the Lord’s great love, we are not consumed, for his compassions never fail. They are new every morning; Great is your faithfulness. 

~Lamentations 3:22-23

~*~
Author bio: Gary L. Breezeel is a former attorney, minister, and government accountant. Throughout all those various career changes, he dreamed of being a writer when he grew up. Finally, upon retirement from his position with the U. S. Department of Defense, he fulfilled his dream. Gary moved to Arkansas in 2010 with his wife of more than forty years to be closer to his grandchildren. In addition to his writing, he fills his days with reading, feeding his television addiction, touring Arkansas, and attending sports and other activities involving his grandchildren.

Gary is a member of American Christian Fiction Writers. His short stories, essays, memoirs, and poems have won numerous contests. One recurring theme in his work is baseball. He is a lifelong fan and several of his stories have a baseball setting. Gary has completed a draft of his first novel and is making slow progress toward getting it ready for publication.

His only publication of note is “A Comedy of Errors” in Christmas Moments, Grace Publishing, 2014.