Where God's Word Meets Our Mess
At first, I wasn’t super impressed with The Chosen. I thought the episodes ended really well, but the episodes seemed long and drawn out up until the ending. I didn’t really feel like continuing to watch the show. But I did. And I’m so glad that I did. Here are five reasons why you should watch it, too.
I have no idea what you should do this summer to avoid boredom, but I do know that you should use your summer well. There are countless opportunities for you to grow as a Christian this summer, but only you can choose to pursue them.
The problem with focusing on our smartphones, relationships, struggles, or anything else is that we take our eyes off Jesus. Instead of making Him our first thought and our last thought, we think about Him when it’s easy or convenient. But that’s not how we’re called to live—or think.
What if ____________ (fill in the blank with a biblical command) isn’t about if we feel like it? I admit that I act based on how I feel a lot. If reading my Bible is convenient, I’ll open it up. If being encouraging to a friend is comfortable, I’ll do it. If saying no to temptation is easy, I will. But that’s not how God designed for His people to live.
Why does it sometimes seem impossible to pursue Him? Maybe because we’re human, we’re sinful, and we're self-centered. Maybe it's even easier to pursue something we can see than a God we can't see. But just because we can't see Him doesn't mean He isn't here.
I couldn’t focus on the task at hand: doing devotions. Even though I try to do them regularly, I don’t always meet that goal. And I certainly have trouble focusing while I do them. So why do I bother? Why do I even spend time with God at all? What is the real reason I have quiet time? The real reason I have quiet time is to...
It can be hard to have our quiet times with God while we’re in a noisy atmosphere. But we can’t always escape from the noise, and we shouldn’t ignore those around us. Though I often become impatient with others when I can’t focus on my devotions, I should instead learn to manage the distractions and still prioritize others.
Have you ever prayed and felt like God didn’t listen to your whole prayer? I have. I have received totally different answers than the ones I prayed for and I have wondered if God didn’t listen to my whole prayer. But you know what? I think we feel this way sometimes because we have some misconceptions about prayer. Sometimes we can get so focused on how we think answers to our prayer should be, that we forget who God is.
In an instant, she was gone. One of the sweetest girls I’d met at college had suddenly vanished. I had no idea what happened to her. She didn’t respond to my texts. She didn’t let me know that she’d gotten my package in the mail. She didn’t even tell me that she wasn’t coming back to college for the spring semester. Something didn’t feel right about the situation.
Tizzie's Tidbits of Truth 