I can’t believe this is our last week of the year! Thank YOU for journeying with me through His word and allowing me to share from my heart. I pray He continues to draw you to Himself and into His word in 2022. He truly is our treasure, friends! 

Just in case you missed it, I will not be continuing the devotional into 2022! I will be busy writing my next book (ahh!) and am so excited for the opportunity to trust God, again, to make much out of my little. I am also praying I can make this devotional available in print down the road and will keep you posted. 

Let’s stay in touch in 2022, ok? I’ll have email updates from time to time, and also have some fun things planned for social media.  

Grace and peace to you and yours,

Katie 

Monday: Exodus 3

Tuesday: Luke 9

Wednesday: Psalm 27-29

Thursday: Ephesians 2

Friday: Exodus 3, Luke 9, Psalm 27-29, Ephesians 2

Monday, Exodus 3

“Here I am,” said Moses, and could we? Maybe we don’t get to see a burning bush but if we open our eyes to really look, if we open our ears and our hearts to really listen, we will hear the God who calls our name out to us – “Beloved, Beloved!”

Could we say, “Here I am Lord”? Could we believe all of this life, this precious life that God has given us here and now, is holy ground? God has seen all of our suffering and our sorrow, and He has promised to bring us home to Himself, to the promised land of Heaven where all will be made new and right. He is the great I AM and He is always with us until He brings us Home.

How would your perception of your mundane days change if you truly believed they were holy ground from God?

Where might He be calling your name, beckoning you to answer, “Here I am Lord”?

Tuesday, Luke 9

I wonder as I read if Jesus sent them out with nothing so they would know first-hand that He alone is enough. I wonder if Jesus asked the disciples what to do (knowing full well all along what He was going to do) so they had the opportunity to bring their little, their lack, an amount of food that certainly couldn’t feed the crowd, as a sign that they believed He could take their little and make a feast. 

He satisfies. 

And when we know this deep in our bones, we can die daily to ourselves, taking up any cross to follow Him, and count it our joy. “Whoever loses His life for my sake will find it,” Jesus says, and I can add nothing but my testimony. These words have been true in my own life, and will certainly be true in yours.

What is He calling you to let go?

What is He calling you to step into?

How might you practically lay down your own life to take up more of His?

Wednesday, Psalm 27-29

There is no better news than this: The Lord is my Light and my Salvation. No matter what comes against us in this life, no matter what storms rage, no matter what darkness comes, we will gaze upon the beauty of the Lord. We will look upon the goodness of the Lord in the land of the living.

Take heart, dear one, the Light is here. Salvation is yours in Jesus.

Spend time this week memorizing Psalm 27, 28 or 29. Enter into the new year assured of God’s goodness and mercy toward us!

Thursday, Ephesians 2

This is the Gospel. All of the Bible summed up right here – God, rich in mercy, full of love, didn’t just give us a better life, He made us alive when we were dead. And this had absolutely nothing to do with anything that we would ever do or achieve or give back to Him. He resurrected us to life so that He could reveal Himself to us and show us the immeasurable riches of His grace and kindness to us. Can you even believe it? He created us and chose us so that He could show us His love and kindness?

Can you rest in His kindness and mercy today?

Spend some time in adoration and worship of the God who made you so that He could love you.

Friday Reflections

On the Saturday after Good Friday, we boarded a plane to fly halfway across the world. It felt sacred to watch the sun peak through the clouds from the tiny airplane window on Easter morning as we raced toward a loved one who was suffering and in need of her family. In the middle of the bleakest unknown, God filled my heart with hope and anticipation that He who raised Jesus from the depths of the tomb would also bring about restoration and healing in our darkest situations.

On Christmas Eve we boarded a plane once again, full of expectation for loved ones we have missed so dearly, full of expectation that a babe born humbly in a manger has come to be our conquering King. And as the plane hit the runway on Christmas night and I breathed deep the warm air of home, I felt it deep in my bones:

            His love is always coming for us.

            For us who are lost.

            For us who are broken.

            For us who have tried and failed and tried again.

            For us who aren’t really sure where home even is right now.

Here’s the thing: if there hadn’t been a cross and a tomb, there couldn’t have been a resurrection. And so often, to have a front row seat to redemption, we have to dive headfirst into the hard, into the dark.

We may not get a burning bush, but our God is still calling us, into the hard, into the beauty, closer and closer to His heart until the glorious day when He brings us into eternity with Him. He can take our meager loaves and a couple fish and fill baskets and then some. He can take our willingness and make it into abundant life.

Here comes the new year, dear one. Here it comes with all it’s promise, with all it’s unknown. And we can dive in with the sure confidence that our God is always coming for us, always here with us, always calling us home.