Tag: Faithfulness

Choose to Show Up

Published on by BrandiLeave a comment

I sit down with my coffee and my Bible. I get settled in and open my journal and my Bible. I hear stirring from the baby monitor. The baby woke up. Again. 

Sound familiar?

In high school I used to spend long stretches of time reading my Bible. In college, my workload got more intense, and I didn’t have as much time to spend in the Word. At the time I didn’t understand that different seasons of life mean that our time in the Word may look different. Instead, I felt guilty and would often go through long periods of not reading my Bible at all because I thought if I couldn’t spend the time that I was used to spending then I shouldn’t spend any time at all – I was wrong, by the way.

It’s so easy to get frustrated when different seasons of life make your “quiet times” with the Lord look different. It’s easy to just not show up. Something to remember, however, is that God values faithfulness. He honors when we choose to show up, whether we have an hour or just ten minutes. I believe time spent with God is never time wasted. God can bring fruitfulness out of both situations, even if we don’t necessarily see the fruitfulness right away.

So I take a drink of my coffee, set my Bible and journal aside temporarily, and go get my sweet baby. My quiet time is different than it used to be, but that’s okay. Seasons of uninterrupted time in the Word are beautiful, but so is this season.

There will be times as my daughter gets older when I wake up early to spend time with the Lord and the little pitter-patter of feet come down the stairs before they are supposed to, and that’s okay. Maybe I’ll pull her onto my lap and we can read together. Or maybe I will take a break to make her breakfast and then resume – maybe ten minutes later, maybe two hours later. But what I won’t do is get frustrated. I want my children to see their mama meeting with God regularly, and that may mean my quiet times looking much different than they did when I was fifteen. And that’s perfectly okay.

Friends, be willing to meet God where you are, no matter the season. Seek His face no matter what, and remember that your time with God is never wasted. 

With love, 

Photo credit: 

unsplash-logoAaron Burden
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The List

Published on by Brandi1 Comment

Yesterday morning I began the book of Matthew.  I haven’t read it in over three years and it’s one of my favorite books of the Bible, so I’m pretty excited.

So I began chapter one, the first half of which is the genealogy of Jesus.  Now, I’m pretty sure the first time I read it, I skipped this part.  Since then, someone has pointed out to me how cool genealogies can be, and I’m going to elaborate a bit on the cool stuff I found in the genealogy of Matthew 1.

  • It shows how God fulfilled His promise of the Messiah through the line of David.
  • It shows that Old Testament stories are more relevant than we think – did you know that Rahab the prostitute that hid the Israelite spies is the mother of Boaz who married Ruth? or that Ruth and Boaz were the great-grandparents of David?
  • It shows that God can use anyone and everyone – Tamar seduced her father-in-law, Rahab was a prostitute, David was an adulterer and murderer,  Mary the mother of Jesus was a virgin.
  • It show’s God’s faithfulness.  The genealogy starts with Abraham – the first to be called by God – and it continues through a list of unqualified, messed up people who were each a part of God’s plan to bring the Messiah into the dying world.

Every part of God’s Word is alive and relevant. This list of name after name points to the faithfulness, love, and ability of the Father.  God orchestrated the lives of hundreds of people to bring the Messiah into the world in the exact context that He wanted Him to, yet we think God doesn’t know what He’s doing when it comes to our lives.  Scripture says differently.

Remember, you are loved by a mighty God. Until next time, lovelies.

Photo Credit: Michał Grosicki