Devotionals for the Heart: Why we can trust God to guide us through life

Trust That God’s Leading the Way
A devotional by Alicia Searl

“I will instruct you and teach you in the way you should go; I will counsel you with my loving eye on you.”—Psalm 32:8 (NIV)

This morning I went on a walk all by my lonesome. It was wonderful. Don’t get me wrong—I enjoy walking with my pup, crew of kiddos, or my husband, but today, I needed it to be just me and God.

When I get the simple pleasure of going for a walk alone, God always meets me in the most beautiful ways. Today was no different, yet His approach was a little more unusual this time. Maybe because He knew I needed Him to meet me in this season with a bit of His firm love. Yes, the love that comes with conviction. Sigh.

The last few months have held both beauty and sorrow, but I will be the first to admit that I have fallen into some not-so-great habits. From binge watching shows late at night and escaping reality by immersing myself in the mindless scroll of social media to feeding my emotions with an entire bag of pretzels, let’s just say my body was telling me, “Enough is enough!”

Now to be fair, my kids have been home all summer, my hubby has been working most weekends, and our oldest daughter is about to leave for college. So, if my girl wants to watch a sappy rom-com at midnight with buttery popcorn, you better believe, I’m all in! In other words, I am going to pounce on that opportunity because time is of the essence. Yet, if I am being fully honest with myself, my momma heart has been weary, my mind completely overwhelmed, and my body continues to remind me of how old I am getting with every ache and pain, especially in the morning. Yet, this morning those body aches and pains prompted me to hit the pause button and forced me to shift my focus. It was time!

After a hurried and hasty rush out the door and getting back into a school routine, I finally got the chance to dive into God’s Word in my quiet home. It was utter bliss. Yet, what I found was that I was naturally reaching for my phone. Just a quick look led to an hour detour. Old habits are hard to break. Thankfully, God’s firm love met me with the conviction to put the phone down, pry myself off the coach, and step outside.

Honestly, I needed it more than I realized. The sun saturated my skin. The whisper of the trees calmed my soul. Then God softly touched my heart, reminding me to trust Him. So, I moved from my backyard around the house, to the street. I felt like God was telling me: Keep going. Take the next step, the next block. Go the extra mile. I listened. I obeyed. And I was recharged. As I took each step, I was blessed in that moment to experience God’s presence and His gentle response to the choices I had been making. Choices that I didn’t think were “all that bad” but surely didn’t honor God and put Him first.

In the Bible book of Psalm, King David is open and honest with his struggles and how his sinful choices that affected his walk with God. Yet, time and time again, we see how God met him right where He was and whispered for him to keep going because He was leading the way.

As people who believe in God, we can rest assured that we have a faithful Father who knows what is best for us and walks beside us, goes before us, and picks up the pieces behind us (Deuteronomy 31:8). That includes the times we fall into habits that may not be good for us. God always meets us with His gentle yet firm hand, reminding us that He calls us to live this life abundantly (John 10:10). When we do, we find this sweet place where hope meets healing.

Maybe you need to be reminded to press the pause button in your life and let God do a little spiritual realignment. Step out in faith today and see where God leads you. All you have to do is trust that His is guiding you and then be bold enough to take the first step.

Let’s Pray: Faithful Father, thank You for meeting us in all walks of life and bringing us sweet reminders of Your love. As we fall into patterns that pull us away from You, meet us with bold convictions and give us the space to humbly submit to Your will and way. Help us not to be swayed by worldly temptations and grant us the wisdom to heed Your instruction and follow Your truth. In Jesus’ name, I pray. Amen.

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Song of Reflection #1: “First” by Lauren Daigle. Listen to it here.

Song of Reflection #2: “Walk by Faith” by Jeremy Camp. Listen to it here.

Song of Reflection #3: “The Sun is Rising” by Britt Nicole. Listen to it here.

Song of Reflection #4: “Lead Me Lord” by The Brooklyn Tabernacle Choir w/ Elizabeth Goodine. Listen to it here.

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Author Bio:

Alicia Searl is a Christian author, writer, writing coach, and speaker who is passionate about sharing God’s Word to spread hope and healing. She has an educational background and a master’s degree in advanced literacy. 

Alicia is a contributing writer for iBelieve, Crosswalk, Christianity.com, and Your Daily Prayer. She has authored two devotionals, a children’s book of grief, and several Bible studies and prayer journals.

She enjoys helping new and aspiring writers follow their calling and pursue their God-given purpose and shares personal faith stories on her blog. Alicia’s heartfelt words and authenticity are portrayed in each of her literary pieces in hopes of bringing her readers a sense of understanding, comfort, and encouragement on their faith journey.

Alicia resides in Texas where her family is currently fixing up a tiny home in the Piney Woods in East Texas to spread hope, bring healing, and share God’s love with others.

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Connect with Alicia:
Email: alicia.searl@gmail.com

Devotionals for the Heart: Why we need to persevere and move forward

Stay in the Race
A devotional by Desiree Future

“Let us not become weary in doing good, for at the proper time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up.”—Galatians 6:9 (NIV)

As I was approaching my fifty-second birthday, I realized that I was very overweight. Exercise was difficult for me because of underlying health problems. However, I knew I had to find a way to get around that obstacle.

By the grace of God, I received notice of a walking-step challenge. This would be perfect since I had to shed a few pounds. Having to walk a set amount of steps every day gave me the motivation I needed. My friend joined me in this challenge and that was even better. I was so eager to start the five-week challenge that I didn’t thoroughly read all the requirements. Somehow, I misread the instructions and didn’t notice you had to take 1,000 steps per day.

As a cancer survivor, I live with side effects from the medications. It limits what I can and cannot do. Having to walk 1,000 steps every day made me cringe. But I had already committed to it. There was a week for warm-ups when I walked almost 1,000 steps in one day. That was truly a record for me. Normally I get about 3,000 to 5,000 daily steps in, depending on how I’m feeling.

During the first week, when the steps counted toward the goal, I averaged 5,600 steps. My four teammates averaged about 1,300 steps. Needing to reach the goal or at least catch up to the others, I vowed to work harder but my body simply wouldn’t cooperate with my mind. At one point I thought, “Why would God bring me here to be the person with the lowest score on my team?” To me, there was no logic behind it.

The following week I averaged 6,400 steps. One of those days I walked 10,200 steps! However, that was nowhere near what my teammates did. They averaged twice the amount and more of myself. I wanted to quit because I felt like I was holding my team down. I felt like a complete failure. How could I not have read the fine print of what I was joining and gotten my friend to join me as well?

My friend and I discussed this in great lengths. She said it doesn’t matter about your place number. It matters that you’re in the race. Her words of wisdom blew my mind. I was so focused on my low score that I missed the biggest picture: My name was listed as part of the team.

Here I was, questioning why God sent me to be the last person. To me, it just didn’t make any sense because I was holding my team back—or so I thought. When, in fact, He sent me to be one of the people on the team.

In life, sometimes we tend to only look at the smaller picture. However, God always has the biggest picture for us. For instance, that tiny pebble that you see among the larger rocks could be the biggest and brightest diamond ever. You just need to look past the size to see its actual value.

After the walking-step challenge ended, I felt renewed. Even with my health challenges, I still managed to stay in the race. Not only that but I took off a week due to having the flu then after I recovered, I jumped right back in.

God’s purpose for me the entire time, I learned, was to stay in the race.

Let’s Pray: Father God, I’m not sure who needs this message but please let them know they can do this. They just need to stay in the race and keep the pace with You by their side, allowing You to guide them every step of the way. Thank You, Lord! In Jesus’s Name I pray. Amen.

Song of Reflection #1: “Walk with You” by Michael Bethany. Listen to it here.

Song of Reflection #2: “Pieces” by Meredith Andrews. Listen to it here.

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Author Bio:

Desiree Future is a self-improvement blogger at “Hope Faith & A Smile” where she pens inspirational and encouraging posts. 

This blog that she started as a place for her upcoming novel turned into something far more than she expected. It developed into a home for conversations with people from all walks of life. By writing about everyday events that occur in her world she makes her posts very relatable. As some commenters have said, “Desiree talks to us and not at us.”

In 2013, she self-published The Pastor’s Heart, a Christian romance novel. The following year in 2014, she self-published its sequel, It’s a New Season.

Desiree has been a member of American Christian Fiction Writers (ACFW) since 2020. She’s also been a member of a writing critique group through her local ACFW Chapter since 2021. Several of her articles have appeared on the official blog for ACFW. In 2022, she became a contributing author in the encouraging devotional, The Courage to Write.

This child of God may not have a church home yet, but God is first in her life.

Desiree is a cancer survivor who calls New Jersey home. She enjoys traveling to different places to spark ideas for her next article. She likes thrifting and going to the theater to see the latest matinee.

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Connect with Desiree:
Website: https://desireefuture.com/
E-mail: desireefuturewrites@hotmail.com

Devotionals for the Heart: Walking dusty roads and loving people

Walking a Dusty Road
A devotional by Kay Pflueger

“This is how we know what love is: Jesus Christ laid down his life for us. And we ought to lay down our lives for our brothers and sisters. If anyone has material possessions and sees a brother or sister in need but has no pity on them, how can the love of God be in that person? Dear children, let us not love with words or speech but with actions and in truth.” 

–1 John 3:16-18 (NIV)

I am plagued with wide feet and as such, I have a difficult time finding shoes that fit and that I actually like. A few years ago, I bought a pair of bright pink athletic shoes that were wide enough and were comfortable. I was so excited to find them. My thoughts were that they would be perfect for my daily walks and would help motivate me to exercise more since they would be so much fun to wear. I envisioned taking leisurely walks and counting my steps on my Fitbit.

I am sure you are familiar with the saying, “The pathway to Heaven is paved with good intentions.” I had good intentions when I bought those shoes but they have spent more time on the floor of my closet than they have walking the sidewalks of my neighborhood. Funny thing is that unless I take the time to put the shoes on and lace them up, they will still sit in my closet. They will not walk those sidewalks unless they are on my feet.

Those pink shoes are much like our good intentions. We have good thoughts about reaching out…about offering to help...but unless we put those thoughts into action, they sit idle. Loving others is not a passive thing … it involves walking the walk, not just talking the talk. It takes putting on those shoes, lacing them up and getting out and moving. Do you have shoes of good intentions? Hopefully they are not still sitting in the closet like my pink shoes.

Jesus Christ spent His time walking the dusty roads of the Holy Land. He encountered people on those roads…people who heard His words or felt His touch and were healed. His feet were calloused and dirty but that did not stop Him from His mission. He put on his sandals every day and went out into the world.

The most well-known parable told by Jesus is the story of the selfless love of the Good Samaritan. (Luke 10:25-37). It is interesting to me that even those who do not know the Lord are familiar with this story. It happened that the Samaritan, as he was walking, came upon a man who had been beaten and robbed. Even though this man was a stranger to him, he made certain the injured man was taken care of and his wounds tended to. He lived out the words found in the verse above from 1 John 3:16-18. His actions showed the love of God.

To come upon a such a scene as the Samaritan did may not be likely in your own neighborhood. But then, when have you driven by someone who needs a meal, or neglected to call a friend whom you know could use some encouragement, or failed to reach out to welcome a visitor to your church because of how they look?

God wants us to “walk the dusty roads” in our own neighborhoods. Just think how you might meet someone who needs a “good Samaritan” in their life today.

I encourage you to ponder on this…How dusty are you willing to get your shoes?

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Author Bio:

Learning to read as a young child opened a world of adventure for Kay Pflueger. She came to realize that words can have a unique power and beauty. 

Choosing to share those words in her devotional writings has become a joyful and rewarding experience for her. As a widow, she feels a special affinity towards those who are grieving or experiencing loss.

When she is not spending time with her married son and three grandchildren, she is either reading, cooking, writing, or working on pursuing her Copyediting Certification.

Kay is an avid baseball fan who looks forward every summer to following her favorite team, the Chicago Cubs. 

Kay is an active member of Victory Lutheran Church in her hometown of San Diego California.

She enjoys writing devotions to be shared on her church’s website and personal social media.

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Connect with Kay:
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/kay.m.pflueger
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/irishsweetpea/

Devotionals for the Heart: God's Glorious Love for Humankind

Safe in the glorious, perfect love of God
A devotional by Jessica Brodie

“The Lord God called to the man and said to him, ‘Where are you?’”

—Genesis 3:9 (CEB)

There is something about early morning that connects me in the deep, beautiful love I share with God.

A hush still envelops the world, and I hear only the birds twittering in the trees and the squirrels scavenging furiously for nuts, perhaps a few cars in the distance, but not enough to disturb. My house is quiet—the kids are drowsing in their beds. My husband is snoozing peacefully. Even my cat isn’t quite ready to move.

There’s a special magic in the air, and my heart and soul are still in dreamland, even if my body is in motion. I drink a glass of water and look out the window, marveling at creation and steeped in gratitude for all God has given us—given me. 

I brew coffee and think about the day, carrying God along for every step. He’s right there with me, and it feels so natural and right. We are close, still, before the day and its distractions threaten to drive a wedge between us, a wedge I’ll try to fight all day. But this early, there are no distractions yet. It’s just me and God, as it should be. As He intended.

We talk together in prayer, and I sit and read His Word, bathing in His presence. Thank you, God, is my refrain, sometimes spoken and sometimes thought. You, Lord, are everything.

Once in a while, I have a little extra time to go for a walk, and I lace up my sneakers and stride down the road to the lake and back again, a good two-mile loop before the heat of the day makes exercise unbearable. My connection stays with God all this time—I feel Him in every step, every breath, every beam of sunlight.

Sometimes it doesn’t happen like this. I oversleep, or I have so many things on my mind I crowd out such special time with my Creator. I read the Word, but my own thoughts and plans creep in, or my prayers feel rushed. The connection, on my end, is slippery. I have to work throughout the day to rein it in and stay close.

But I’ve learned over the years that this connection is critical to my love relationship with God. That’s “our time,” whether it comes in the early morning solitude or when I allow myself to fully relax and just be. And I strive as I grow in faith for “our time” to be “all the time,” with every breath and every thought.

I imagine that’s how it was in the first days, when God created Adam and Eve and they all lived in perfect harmony together (Genesis 2:4-25). They spoke together. They shared, loved, laughed, and talked. But then came the fall, when Adam and Eve broke God’s rule and ate from the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil, and their relationship was forever changed. They were driven from the garden. Their sin had become an eternal wedge, only mended through God’s grace in the form of His son, Jesus.

I like to think of my morning time as if I’m back in the garden with the Lord, sharing creation in pure accord as He’d intended. And I think of the distractions of my day, the things I put before God (even though I don’t mean to!), as that wedge—the forbidden fruit I must avoid. I know I’m not in the garden, of course. I know only through Jesus can I fully connect with God.

Still, I read these lines in the Bible, and they resonate profoundly: “The Lord God called to the man and said to him, ‘Where are you?’” (Genesis 3:9 CEB).

Throughout my busy day, I hear God asking, “Where are you?” The question brings me back, and I remember exactly where I am: safe in the glorious, perfect love of God.

~*~
Author Bio:
Jessica Brodie is an award-winning Christian novelist, journalist, editor, blogger, and writing coach and the recipient of the 2018 American Christian Fiction Writers Genesis Award for her novel, The Memory Garden. 

She is also the editor of the South Carolina United Methodist Advocate, the oldest newspaper in Methodism, and a member of the Wholly Loved Ministries team.

Learn more about her fiction and read her faith blog at http://jessicabrodie.com/shiningthelight.