Making Time to Share Jesus With Others

Years ago, a young country doctor just starting his career faced an outbreak of typhoid in the small farming community he settled in. In the first few days after arriving and ‘putting out his shingle,’ nearly a dozen people came to see him—all of whom had typhoid. He knew what it was. He knew how to treat it. The question was, had he gotten there in time?

Unfortunately for three families, the answer was no. One family lost two of their three small children to the disease by the end of the young doctor’s first month there. He was devastated. In his heart and mind, he was a complete failure. He tried to move beyond the emotional pain and defeat, but he could not. A few months later, without saying a word, he left to live out the rest of his life working as a farmer and determined not to tell anyone what he was.

Fast-forward a few years. The young doctor fell in love and got married. Before long, the couple was expecting a baby. As soon as the tim...

Sometimes women feel God’s presence. Other times, it seems like God has completely disappeared from our lives. We can often feel anxiety, sadness, or mistrust of God in these times.

The Questions that Haunt the Hurting

During unspeakable loss and horrific evil, many women doubt where God is. Heartache forces us to confront the ugly questions we otherwise would not ask. Some questions haunt us deep into the wee hours of the morning.

We ask things like this:

• Do You worry about what happens to me?
• Does my pain matter to You?
• If You are good, why does life hurt so much?
• Why did You not stop this?
• Why will You not take this away?

Why Is God Quiet?

In response to these types of questions that threaten to rip at your soul, it seems as if God is quiet. Insult to injury. Abandonment in the face of most profound sorrow. Why is God quiet?

Prayer warrior, and the man after God’s own heart, David wrestled with similar questions during his lifetime. In Psalm 13:1-2, while taking...

Conversations Start with Sharing

In many ways, women look at conversations as simply sharing. Perhaps you share how your day went with your kids, your husband, or even your pet. Maybe you share about a struggle you had with a co-worker or a funny event that occurred at school.

An active prayer life is essential to your spiritual well-being. Prayer is a conversation, so start with simply sharing. Talk to God about your day. Tell Him how you feel about events, whether good or bad.

Ask Him for what you need. Maybe that is knowledge to understand how to take the helm on a complicated project at work. Or perhaps you need strength to continue caring for a sick member of the family.

Pray with All Emotions 

We learn from how Jesus prayed in the middle of pain. He turned to God the Father. We can also turn to God during our struggles and pains. God waits to hear from us and listen to our prayers, just as He listened to Jesus’ prayers in the Garden at Gethsemane.

Jesus experien...

God could have prevented my miscarriage, but He did not. Why did He allow this?

It is one thing to trust that God loves you deeply and passionately. It is a belief that can strengthen and inspire you amid discouragement and minor setbacks.

Yet, it is another thing to believe that God is all-powerful. It is a truth which many Christians wrestle with daily. Sure, it is comforting at first. God is in control—we want to put that on bumper stickers and cross-stitch it on decorative pillows.

Why Did God Allow This?

But what about when there is another mass school shooting? Only it is not at some other high school. It is at your child's.

What about when there is a factory explosion? Only it is not overseas. It is where your spouse works. What about when there is a horrible car accident? Only it is not someone else's family that does not come home. It is yours.

Abruptly, that beautiful belief that God is powerful now hurts. Because He did not intervene, He did not stop this. He sto...

It is good to understand that Jesus is with us during our darkness. But when it feels like someone pulled the rug from underneath us, how do we right our world?

How can an aching mama’s heart beat again after she buries her child? How do you retake a breath after hearing that cancer diagnosis? How do you carry on when the pains keep crashing, one overwhelming wave after another?

There are no simple answers. There is no checklist that someone can give you to make your life normal again. Everything is going to feel horrible for weeks or even months to follow. That is OK. It is part of grief, part of letting go of your previous life.

What you must do is keep open communication flowing between God and you. The worst thing to do is shut down in the course of crises and stop speaking to Him. But that does not mean you have to put on a stoic face and walk into the throne room like everything is fine.

Scripture tells of people who were utterly truthful with God about what they felt.

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If you accept Jesus as your LORD and Savior, you promise to give Him your whole life - all aspects of it. As a Christian, your workplace is not just where you do a job. It is a ministry that Jesus has called you to do for His kingdom. No matter what type of work Jesus calls you to perform, it is essential that you bring prayer, as Jesus did, into your daily walk with Him.

Taking faith to your workplace also means you seek to please God in your decision-making rather than other people. We believe in a risen Lord. Jesus is present among us. When we represent him, verbally or non-verbally, we introduce someone to the risen Christ.

Make Time for Jesus at Work

Matthew 28:19-20 says: “Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost: Teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you: and, lo, I am with you always, even unto the end of the world. Amen.”

Jesus expressed these words to His disciples ...

God can do all things. No purpose of God fails. There are times when this is a complicated truth to acknowledge. In particular, when you are praying for what seems to be in line with His will.

You are not advancing the request like putting a coin in a vending machine. You realize that God has the free choice to say “no”. You recognize this truth.

But you are praying for what you know based on Scripture to be His will. Perhaps you are asking God to restore your marriage or to deliver your spouse from alcoholism. Maybe you are begging Him to heal your child from a horrible disease.

The God that we serve does not speak without then acting. If God reveals that He will do something, He surely will. However, years or even decades may pass with God repeatedly saying no to your request. There are countless reasons why He denies us something we truly want.

From time to time, it is to grow your faith, such as with Joseph. Genesis 50:20 KJV tells us that, after more than a decade ...

Praying daily helps you grow in your prayer life because you prioritize God every day. You are giving Him praise and seeking Him when you pray daily.

Prayer is vital to the Christian life. It is how we reach out to speak to our Lord and Creator. We express praise and thanks to Him, ask for forgiveness, pray for personal needs and the needs of others. But often, this is a disregarded activity. Be honest, are you praying daily?

“Pray without ceasing.” - 1 Thessalonians 5:17

The subject of daily prayer is good food for thought. A discussion is a beautiful thing to have with God. But what happens on the days when your heart feels too heavy to pray? Life has, once again, knocked you down. And, it feels as though you may just never get up again. How do you pray on these days?

Jesus prayed all the time. Before His crucifixion and while hanging on the cross, He prayed. He did not just pray during the good times or only in hard times. Jesus prayed during both.

In hard times,...

God Is Never a Passive Listener

Worship focuses on who God is. During prayer, make time to give praise to God. Pray because God loves you so much He sent His only begotten son to die on a cross for you. When you develop an active prayer life, you begin to see the ways that God responds to your requests.

David recorded an exciting moment in Psalm 18.

“In my distress I called upon the Lord, and cried unto my God: he heard my voice out of his temple, and my cry came before him, even into his ears.” - Psalm 18:6

Prayer directs our thoughts and our hearts to God. David speaks about God hearing his prayers, but he makes one more point. In the next verse, David discusses how smoke poured from God’s nostrils and how God was furious on his behalf. God is more powerful than any problems we face.

God is already at work around you. It is tempting to consider God as a passive listener. You might imagine Him as this kindly grandfather type listening to your prayers before patting y...

Women have the opportunity to bring Jesus into our homes daily. Sometimes our lives can get hectic, and we can forget the most important things. But I know as we keep Christ as the center of our homes, we can feel peace and happiness there.

How do you make time for Jesus in your house?

Life is hectic. I appreciate that. But you cannot let your life come to be too busy to recognize, communicate, and serve your Savior, Jesus. It starts with an attitude of acknowledgment. "Because that, when they knew God, they glorified him not as God, neither were thankful; but became vain in their imaginations, and their foolish heart was darkened." Romans 1:21

Once you acknowledge Jesus as the giver of life and all its blessings, you will be more motivated to…

Give thanks all through the day. Amid the bustle of our days, it is a great idea to pause, take a deep breath, and thank Jesus that we can be busy. Jesus said, “I am come that they might have life, and that they might have it more abundan...