I was talking with a friend tonight about drawing, painting, art in general and using it as a form to worship God. She brought up that sometimes when she is writing or journaling she can't find the words she is looking for so she goes to drawing. This made sense to me because I have seen times in my life that art gives me a place to create when I don't have the words to express what I am feeling or what I need to say. As we talked, I was reminded of how God hears our prayers,

It's Sunday again, so here are a few verses for you to meditate on today. I will keep it very short and simple. In a world that is constantly telling us to hustle hard and be uncontrollably busy, God invites us to, yes, work hard and unto Him, but to make time for rest. Rest is not laziness, it is being proactive. It is taking the time to recognize that we need it and in that time of rest we are able to refocus on what is most important-- our relationship with our Savior. All

Have you ever done something you were so ashamed of that you didn't want to go home? Isn't that a terrible feeling? It's like the one place of comfort you want to go to you just cannot bring yourself to enter because you are afraid of contaminating it with your guilt. Or you are afraid the consequences will be so unbearable that you would rather run away. Everyone deals with pain and shame in their own ways, but in the end, we tend to do somewhat the same things. For me, I've

How do you feel about your name? Actually, let me get more specific, how do you feel about the meaning of your name? Do you like when people call you by your actual name or a nickname? Names are a funny thing... funny yet foundational and important. Today as I was going through a study in Genesis, the Holy Spirit gave me a tap on the heart when I got to a certain passage. This was the passage: "Then they journeyed from Bethel. When they were still some distance from Ephrath,

You ever have those days where you are just exhausted? Same. Today is one of those days, honestly. As I am sitting down to write today, I am reminded of something one of my professors wrote in our discussion board today about resting in the redemptive work of Christ. He wasn't saying this to excuse our sinful actions in life, but to show us that no matter what we do, good or bad, that we cannot earn the grace of God-- He simply has given it and we just receive it. As I was th

As I was praying about what to write for today's devotional, I realized how I have barely stopped to just breathe and center my mind on Christ today. In a world that says busyness and full schedules are what equal success and happiness, we must remember how God called us to live differently. Nothing wrong with being busy or having a full schedule, but when our lives begin to revolve around all the things we "need" to do, our lives are no longer bowed down in worship to our Ki

Tonight at Bible study we read the first three chapters of Genesis and took a step back to ask a few questions. "In the beginning, God created the Heavens and the Earth..." I feel like I've quoted that in a Sunday school voice since the day I could speak. But recently God has been urging me to go back to the beginning to re-learn some things and learn some new things. That is the amazing thing about the Word of God, you can read it a hundred times and still learn something ne

Have you heard the song Way Maker that Leeland and a dozen other Christian artists have been doing lately? It is such a powerful song and I cannot get tired of it no matter how much it plays. It talks about Who God is and is just super chill-bump worthy. But as I was listening to it tonight God reminded me of how this powerful song, just like so many others, barely scratches the surfaces of Who He is. Our human attempts to convey the character of Creator, our struggle to cont

Well, it's Sunday again so just like last week I will be sharing a verse and a few thoughts rather than the usual longer devotional I post every day. Today while searching through my photos I found a screenshot of the following verses and immediately felt the Holy Spirit reminding me that these words are for me, for all of us, today and every day. As you meditate on these scriptures I pray God will give you an ever-deeper understanding of His Word and a greater sensitivity to

You have probably seen the quote going around, "If you are more fortunate than others, build a longer table, not a taller fence". Not sure who quoted this originally or if I even quoted it the exact way it was originally said but you get the point. When we see this quote though, I think we often think of others being more fortunate than us. I have also seen this quote as, "If you have more than you need, build a longer table, not a taller fence". We often think of others havi