Posted on by Renee Meyer

3 simple ways for People of Faith to Avoid “Bad News Fatigue” {No Fear Devotional}

There is injustice in this world and oppression, in the news and behind the scenes. I'm going to keep voting against injustice and oppression with my ballot and my dollars. And I'm going to speak up when I see wrong, and do what I can to make my community a place where all can prosper, everyone. I will let the news sweep me into action. But I will not let the news sweep me into hopelessness, conspiracy theories, fearing man more than God.  God is a refuge and shelter. I will not live like a refuge-less woman.

As part of my ongoing efforts to live life less tethered to my phone, last month I turned the notifications off on the News application on my phone.  Fringe benefit: Nearly instantly my mornings felt more peaceful. I don’t want to stick my head in the ground, but I also don’t want Google or Apple (or Facebook!) choosing what news I see. And over the last few years the news has proven a particularly unsuitable way to start peaceful days.

Before writing this, I popped into the news to check today’s headlines:

Zuckerberg testimony: Members of Congress grill Facebook CEO  (Washington Post)

Raid on Trump’s Lawyer Sought Records of Payments to Women (New York Times)

The Latest: Russian envoy says US has been warned on Syria (Washington Post)

And locally:

Man arrested following assault of two Lincoln Police officers

Officers defuse situation with man in Lincoln Wal-Mart threatening to shoot people (both from the Lincoln Journal Star)

In a world of bad news is it possible to not live a life of fear?

Is my only healthy choice to stick my head in the ground, never reading the news, refusing to engage in what’s going on in our country and the world?

I wasn’t expecting my study of “No Fear” verses to lead me to an answer to this question, but it did. Read more

Posted on by Renee Meyer · 3 Comments

The Last One chosen for the Team and Other Childhood Trauma {No Fear Devotional}

From my distress I called upon the Lord; The Lord answered me and set me in a large place.
The Lord is for me; I will not fear; What can man do to me?
The Lord is for me among those who help me; Therefore I will look with satisfaction on those who hate me.
It is better to take refuge in the Lord Than to trust in man.
It is better to take refuge in the Lord Than to trust in princes. (Psalm 118:5-9)

My grade school days taught me a life-long aversion to picking teams. There isn’t any situation in a standard PE curriculum for which I wouldn’t be the last one picked for the team. (Too bad we never chose teams for reading. Or making up stories. Or bossing around younger siblings.)

Through the years I’ve found myself in job searches which stirred up that “please pick me” feeling again. Is there anyone in the world who enjoys interviewing, attempting to sell themselves as the best candidate for a job?

In my pre-marriage days, I loved the independence singleness offered, along with the freedom to be fully available to friendships and serving my community. I did not love situations that required a partner, highlighting my “table of one” status, making me feel like the last kid chosen for the team, again.

Surely no one likes feeling unwanted, like the last one chosen?

As human as these feelings are, they are also a danger zone for me, leading as they do into the fear of man. My desire to be chosen quickly escalates into idolatry of the person in charge of choosing. I am easily fooled into giving human beings rights to my heart that belong to God alone.

I walk into a room, and feel like people are talking about me. I wonder if they like me, if anyone here wants to be my friend.

I watch a co-worker, whose areas of excellence overlap with my own, succeed. Rather than celebrating her success, I’m suddenly stuck on the sidelines, while she is chosen to play in the big game.

At work, decisions are being made that could affect my future. I feel threatened, attacked, unappreciated. I am convinced that my future and well-being are in the hands of people who care nothing for me.

I really wish life did not include so many situations that tempt me to believe that my value, my worth, my future, were things that other people get to decide for me.

What if these minor annoyances and major struggles are actually opportunities? Here I find a chance to live in the belief that I am not at all the last one standing, but in fact “chosen and dearly loved” (Colossians 3:12).

Here I find an occasion for turning from my fear of man, taking back the right to name me as wanted, chosen, valued, protecting that privilege for my Maker God alone. God is FOR me.

In every situation that sends me back to that PE gym, feeling unchosen, unwanted, not good enough, I find the possibility to choose trusting God rather than trusting in man.

Pushed to the wall, I called to God; from the wide open spaces, he answered.
God’s now at my side and I’m not afraid; who would dare lay a hand on me?
God’s my strong champion; I flick off my enemies like flies.
Far better to take refuge in God than trust in people;
Far better to take refuge in God than trust in celebrities.

(Psalm 118:5-9, The Message)

How about you? What makes you feel unwanted, unchosen? Do you find yourself trusting in human help, human favor, human solutions to your problems?

Be encouraged: The beautiful NO FEAR promise in Psalm 118 is bookended by an even more beautiful promise. Psalm 118 begins and ends with the words:

Give thanks to the Lord, for He is good;
For His lovingkindness is everlasting.

The good Lord, full of everlasting lovingkindness, is for me. And for you. We will not fear.

This post is the latest in the NO FEAR Devotional Series. Check back every Tuesday, and read the previous posts in the series here. And If this resonated with you, feel free to share it using the link below: That really helps people to find this site, which hopefully will bless them as it has blessed you!

Picture used in image is by Kyle Fang on Unsplash
Posted on by Renee Meyer

Eating Obstacles for Breakfast (No Fear)

Are you facing challenges that make you feel like a grasshopper? Look to Joshua and Caleb and learn to eat those obstacles for breakfast. (No Fear Devotional from reemeyer.com)

Our No Fear study this week continues the story of Moses and the Isrealites, who saw the Lord fight for them, while they had only to be still. After crossing the Red Sea and experiencing the deliverance of the Lord, the Hebrews were ready to enter the land God promised Abraham generations before.

Standing at the brink of God’s promises, at the border of Canaan, the people decide to send 12 spies into the land, to prepare the nation for the battle ahead.

Ten spies return with terrible news:

They gave out to the sons of Israel a bad report of the land which they had spied out, saying, “The land through which we have gone, in spying it out, is a land that devours its inhabitants; and all the people whom we saw in it are men of great size… and we became like grasshoppers in our own sight, and so we were in their sight.  (Numbers 13: 32-33)

This report causes the people to despair. But there is a voice of hope. Two of the spies have an entirely different view of the land of promise.

Caleb and Joshua attempt to calm the people, assuring Moses that the people can indeed take the land as God has promised. As the people weep and wail, wishing they had died in Egypt, Joshua and Caleb beg the people to believe God’s promise.

This fascinates me: How can 12 people have the exact same experience and come to two entirely different conclusions?

The answer is perspective.

Ten spies see obstacles, barriers, giants. Their view of the obstacles is bigger than their view of God: And so they preach fear and fleeing.

Joshua and Caleb see the obstacles, but their view of God is bigger than anything they saw in the land. And so they preach faith. Hope. Trust.

Joshua the son of Nun and Caleb the son of Jephunneh, of those who had spied out the land, tore their clothes;  and they spoke to all the congregation of the sons of Israel, saying, “The land which we passed through to spy out is an exceedingly good land.  If the Lord is pleased with us, then He will bring us into this land and give it to us—a land which flows with milk and honey. Only do not rebel against the Lord; and do not fear the people of the land, for they will be our prey. Their protection has been removed from them, and the Lord is with us; do not fear them.” (Numbers 14:6-9)

Ten spies see giants. Joshua and Caleb see food, knowing that the obstacles we face by faith strengthen us.

Perspective is a choice.

What choice will we make? As we look to the unknown, to challenges, as we listen to the voices in our heads that cry “I CAN’T”, which is bigger? The challenge? The obstacle? The giants?

Or God?

Perspective is largely a function of focus. In photography, whatever is closest to the camera appears largest. I have a choice where I focus, and what I let be closest to me, as I picture challenges and things that make me afraid.

Is the challenge, the source of fear, standing between me and God?

Or am I looking at every challenge – like Joshua and Caleb – through the lens of a good God, who keeps His promises?

This is an important choice: It will lead us to be grasshoppers in our own eyes, or it will allow us to see obstacles as food for us. And if we’re leaders? It’s the difference between leading people to despair or encouraging them to faith. God WILL keep His promises. No fear.

 

Journaling Prompts:

What obstacles are you facing right now? What makes you feel like a grasshopper, and maybe like you’d be better off anywhere but here?

As a leader (in life, in your job, in your family), in what ways might you tend to focus on challenges and obstacles, letting them be bigger than God in your eyes and the eyes of those you lead? And how are you encouraged in your leadership by Caleb and Joshua’s example?

As you look to the future, things that make you feel fearful, what would it look like for you to see God as bigger than any obstacle or challenge?

Are you facing challenges that make you feel like a grasshopper? Look to Joshua and Caleb and learn to eat those obstacles for breakfast. (No Fear Devotional from reemeyer.com)

 

 

 

 

This post is the latest in the NO FEAR Devotional Series. If this resonated with you, check back every Tuesday, and read the previous posts in the series here.

Photo in cover images by Gouthaman Raveendran and Boris Smokrovic on Unsplash
Posted on by Renee Meyer · 1 Comment

When you’re feeling trapped and there’s no way out…look for the way through (No Fear)

Do you feel trapped, like there's no way out? Read this {No Fear} devotional about trusting God to lead you on the way THROUGH.

But Moses said to the people, “Do not fear! Stand by and see the salvation of the Lord which He will accomplish for you today… The Lord will fight for you while you keep silent.” (Exodus 14:13-14)

Our story today finds the Hebrew descendants of Abraham enslaved in Egypt, crying out under oppression. God heard their cry and raised up a deliverer in Moses. Moses famously demanded of Pharoah, “Let my people go”, and after the trauma and death of the plagues, Pharoah let the people go. And they went. They went all the way to the Red Sea, where they realized Pharoah had changed his mind about releasing the slave population that made life in Egypt possible.

So the Hebrews found themselves trapped, between Pharoah’s armies and the deeps of the sea.

As Pharaoh drew near, the sons of Israel looked, and behold, the Egyptians were marching after them, and they became very frightened; so the sons of Israel cried out to the Lord. (Exodus 14:10)

Do you relate to that feeling?

Have you found yourself between a rock and a hard place? At the end of your rope? Between the devil and the deep blue sea?

Do you know what it feels like to be trapped?

Read more

Posted on by Renee Meyer

Looking for Love in all the {RIGHT} Places

Happy first day of February!

LOVE is in the AIR!

I want to spend some time in this, the month of love, looking away from the Hollywood version of love, love that can be summed up in chocolate candy hearts and over-priced red roses.

When I was in college and a brand new believer I had a poster of 1 Corinthians 13 (now that I think about it, it might have been my first Christian-ese, Family Christian Stores type purchase?) I loved that thing, but after a while I came to see 1 Corinthians 13 as kind of trite, commonly chosen as a reading for weddings by people who may or my not have known anything about Jesus. In other words, I got snotty and decided I was too advanced for Paul’s words about love in 1 Corinthians 13.

OH THE HUBRIS.

1 Corinthians 13 Printable from reemeyer.com

I have repented and returned to this beautiful description of love in the years since those young & prideful days. But I’ve never studied them in depth, I’ve never worked my way slowly through it. So this February, that’s what I’m doing.

Want to join me?

Each day of the devotional focuses on one aspect of love from 1 Corinthians 13. Most days include other verses on that topic, and some have a few thoughts from me. Every day there are a series of questions to think about and some practices to try, in order to RECEIVE love from God and OFFER love to others.

The content is appropriate for men or women, married or single, happy or sad in your love life. I am a sucker for romance, and I love love – but the point of this devotional is to think about real love, not romantic love, or the Hollywood version of love. I think you’ll enjoy it, wherever your love life finds you in this present moment.

The cover art is pretty & feminine, because I love these particular graphics & have been wanting to use them, and because LOVE. I know this  devotional will be read by men as well as women, and I don’t want to scare the fellas away with all the flowers. I thought about using something less feminine…but really there are not a lot of love-related graphics that aren’t floral or overtly valentinesy. And then I remembered that women read and study books with masculine covers all the time, and we can handle it. I’m sure our gentlemen friends can handle the reverse.

It’s a PDF, so you’ll get the devotional all in one download (I don’t have time to set up daily emails like I did for the Advent devotional right now, but if that is something you would prefer, let me know for the future!)

14 Days of Love is a FREE GIFT when you sign up for my weekly Ree-mail (I still can’t type that without laughing – too cheesy??)

When you subscribe to my REEMAIL list (hee hee), you’ll immediately get an email with a link to download YOUR FREE COPY! Click the pretty graphic below and you’ll find yourself in the right place!

YES! I want a copy of 14 Days of LOVE!

Posted on by Renee Meyer · 4 Comments

Heard & Seen: A Message for the Ones Who Feel Invisible and Disposable (No Fear Devotional)

No Fear Devotional: Heard & Seen: A Message for the Ones Who Feel Invisible and Disposable (No Fear Devotional)

Throughout my childhood and early adulthood I battled feeling invisible in my family, in school, and in my first jobs.  My preferred method for dealing with hard things tends to be to handle them myself rather than speaking up, and I think it’s important to own my own participation in areas where I don’t have a voice. I have learned to speak up (to the point where now I’m told – by some people- that I can sometimes take up too much space. I’ve now grown a lot of shame around the idea of being too loud, too opinionated, too much.), but I still relate to the feeling of having no voice and being invisible.

And I hear the stories of women who feel invisible, weekly. In their families, in their marriages, in their jobs, in their friendships, women are under attack, and the lie being thrown at us is INVISIBLE. You’re not heard, you’re not seen, you don’t matter.

Make no mistake: Invisible is a LIE.

We have a God who sees, a God who hears.

I was so happy to be reminded of this truth in my search through the places in God’s Word where He says, “DO NO FEAR.” When I am afraid, the reminder that God sees me and hears my cries is balm to my soul. Read more

Posted on by Renee Meyer

Waiting Patiently on God

Waiting Patiently on God

Rest in the Lord and wait patiently for Him… Psalm 37:7

Does patience come easily to you, or is waiting a struggle?

My patience is subjective and situational. Now that my daily life doesn’t involve 3 year olds who insist on doing everything themselves, I find it easy to wait on a toddler who wants to zip her own jacket.  It is harder, but I choose to be patient with my kids (most of the time) when they’re acting their age. And I try to practice patience when waiting in line, as a driver, all the normal patience-testing parts of being alive.

But I am not so patient with myself. I get frustrated and discouraged to struggle with the same issues year after year. I know I’m growing and changing, but it’s so much easier to see how far I have to go, rather than how far I’ve come.

And it’s never actually occurred to me that I need to be patient with God. But that is the command in Psalm 37: Wait patiently on the Lord.

The instruction to rest in the Lord and wait patiently on Him sounds quite passive to me. But the psalmist isn’t telling us to sit out of life and do nothing. The Hebrew words translated here are active words. The word for rest does mean to be silent and still. But the word translated “wait patiently” has child-birth undertones: travailing, bringing forth. Birthing is definitely not a passive image of waiting.

What are you waiting on God for?Are you waiting patiently?

I think about the things that make me anxious. Things I’d like to manage or control, outcomes I’d like guaranteed. I think about the unknowns in my future, about the uncertainties in my present. I think about advent and the kind of Christmas season I’d prefer to have (but may not even be a reasonable expectation, given my family and circumstances.)

In those things, what would it look like for me to be silent before God?

In those things, what would it look like for me to wait patiently on God to work, like a mother bearing down as she gives birth?

I don’t necessarily like my answers to these questions, and I don’t love the idea that waiting on God is like childbirth. Because birth involves pain, and silence doesn’t come easily to me.

However.

If I really believe that what God is doing in my life is good… If I believe in His presence and goodness, if I believe the outcome of my waiting is new life, joy, relationship, love…. If I trust God, can I choose to wait patiently?

The people of Israel waiting for generations for the promise of the Messiah to show up in the person of Jesus. Are we willing to wait?

Open up before God, keep nothing back; He’ll do whatever needs to be done:

He’ll validate your life in the clear light of day  and stamp you with approval at high noon. Quiet down before God, be prayerful before him. (Psalm 37:5-7, The Message)

 

Journaling Prompts:

How do you respond to the idea of patient waiting as being work, active, like childbirth? Is this helpful imagery, or hard to get your mind around? Why?

What are you waiting on God for? Is it easy or hard for you to be patient in this waiting? Why?

What in God’s character and your history with Him helps you to wait patiently on HIm?

 

This is today’s devotional from Waiting on God: A 4 week Advent Devotional, which started last week. If you’re interested: You can purchase the Ebook here, or SIGN UP HERE to receive it for free via email (starting with tomorrow’s devotional).

I’ve been amazed and encouraged that so many have purchased or signed up, it is such a gift to be on this journey with so many!

Posted on by Renee Meyer

Waiting on God in Silence

Waiting on God in Silence (1)

My soul waits in silence for God only; From Him is my salvation… Psalm 62:1

Historically Advent is a season of quiet waiting. God’s people wait in stillness for His arrival, His coming, God-With-Us. We will conclude Advent singing of silent wonder. It is one of my favorite memories of Christmases past and present: A quiet church with voices, and perhaps candles, raised, singing “Silent Night, Holy Night, all is calm, all is bright.”

The irony of that song in what we’ve made of this season never fails to get my attention. Sometimes it is funny and sometimes heartbreaking. Silent Night, Holy Night? If I want any quiet at all during the Christmas season, I have to fight for it, and fight hard.

Because Christmas can be LOUD.

This season is a cacophony of lists, lists of things we want, lists of things to buy, lists of good deeds to do, lists of gatherings to attend. December clangs with the music of parties, the raised voices of maybe more family time than anyone needs, the strident call of all the obligations and expectations we put on ourselves. For some of us, this season is also loud with the wail of unspoken pain. Lost loved ones, lost hopes and dreams, loneliness.

What would it look like, in the midst of this loud season, to carve out some quiet for your soul? Can you choose a regular daily time to step out of your lists, to turn off the noise, to take your pain or your joy and sit in silence with God?

Can you reserve some moments at the beginning or end of your day to sit with Jesus and wait? Perhaps over your lunch hour, or your littles’ nap time?

I am convinced our souls need more silence than this loud world provides. Don’t wait for Christmas Eve to enjoy a silent moment.

I invite you to join me during this season of Advent, to set aside time to intentionally, purposefully wait on God, in silence.

My soul, wait in silence for God only, For my hope is from Him.

He only is my rock and my salvation, My stronghold; I shall not be shaken.

On God my salvation and my glory rest; The rock of my strength, my refuge is in God.

Trust in Him at all times, O people; Pour out your heart before Him; God is a refuge for us. Selah. (Psalm 62:5-8)

Journaling Prompts:

What feels loud in your life right now?

As you step into this advent season, where can you set aside some time to be quiet, to be with Jesus and learn to wait on God?

What is your hope this Advent season? What do you want from God, for what are you waiting?

 

This was day 1 of my 4 week Advent Devotional: Waiting on God, which started on Monday. If you’re interested:

You can purchase the Ebook here, or

SIGN UP HERE to receive it for free via email (starting with tomorrow’s devotional).

I’ve been amazed and encouraged that so many have purchased or signed up, it is such a gift to be on this journey with so many.

Posted on by Renee Meyer

Why is it so hard to slow down?

I’ve suspected for a while now that hurry injures my soul (and I know for sure it hurts my kids, plus rushing children is nearly always counter-productive.) But still I find myself double tasking from morning to night. And while my love for podcasts and audiobooks is well documented (and probably not going away), I do wonder if living my days with constant background noise is my best choice.

I could blame this tendency to rush from one thing to another on the busy work season I’m just finishing, but let’s be honest: Too often this is how I choose to live my life. And all my seasons are busy seasons.

I don’t love being busy, but it feels productive, it feels right to be busy.

Busy people are wanted, necessary, popular. Busy people are important. Busy people aren’t sitting home waiting for life to happen to them. But do busy people have time for real relationships? Are busy people rested, awake, aware? I want my family and friends to know they are welcome and loved, but I can’t think of a single person who’s made me feel welcomed and loved while also appearing busy.

A certain level of busy comes with the territory in my current stage of life. But how much busy am I signing up for, voluntarily, and to my own harm?

I don’t like being distracted, but if I’m being real, I like distraction. I like having too much going on to deal with what’s really going on.

I like rolling out of bed to scroll mindlessly through other people’s social lives rather than being present to my own life, my body and my soul. I like listening to other people’s thoughts rather than being alone with my own. It is more fun for me to handle other people’s problems than to face my own. And I like the superhuman feeling of cooking dinner while watching a show on Netflix and also helping with homework and keeping all the plates spinning. Even when the superhero cape slips and I know I’m irritable and snappish because there’s just more noise and chaos than I can handle, I like being busy.

And I hear the gentle voice of my Father calling,

“Be still, and know that I am God…”

Thanks to technology and one thousand labor saving devices, men and women of our generation are more connected and can get more done than anyone who came before us.  But does the fact that we can mean that we should?

I am feeling the call to SLOW DOWN.

I am trying to answer. I answer the call to slow down with the daily practice of stillness, and by asking myself a series of questions about my day to day life.

With all the things I feel I have to do, or should do, what is really mine, and mine alone?

Where could I ask for help, or say no, or let my people take care of themselves?

And if I can’t (or won’t) ask for help, or say no, or let people take care of themselves…. Why not?

What would happen if I stopped multi-tasking? Would life stop, would my family fall apart if I did one thing at a time?

What would it look like to give each thing I do, each person to come across my path, my full attention?

Life comes with built in slowness: Whether they are expected or come as a surprise, we all face delays and waiting in our days. Stoplights. Bathroom breaks. Waiting for the toast to brown, or the water to boil, or the kids to come running out of the school.

What would it be like to receive those delays, those waiting times with patience, as a gift? What if those waiting times were my reminder to breathe, to be still, to slow down?

Relationships (with God and our fellow men) require time and attention. It is so tempting to rush through all my time and never giving anything or any one my full attention. What am I missing?

“Be still, and know that I am God…” Psalm 46:10

 

Questions to help me slow down

 

Image used in photo by Annie Spratt on Unsplash

Posted on by Renee Meyer

Surprised by Jesus

I spent the last 5 days with 124 amazing students, in the beautiful Rocky Mountains, talking about meeting God in ordinary and surprising ways. I got to lead a meditation on one of my favorite Bible stories…about a woman who went looking for Jesus but was still surprised by Him.

But as He went, the crowds were pressing against Him. And a woman who had a hemorrhage for twelve years, and could not be healed by anyone, came up behind Him and touched the fringe of His cloak, and immediately her hemorrhage stopped. (Luke 8:43-44)

In her culture, this woman would have been unclean, untouchable. I imagine she was lonely, and I am sure she dealt with shame.  In Mark’s account of this interaction, he adds the detail: “she had endured much at the hands of many physicians, and had spent all that she had and was not helped at all, but rather had grown worse…”

Lonely, ashamed, exhausted. Helpless and hopeless, she goes looking for Jesus.

And a woman who had a hemorrhage for twelve years, and could not be healed by anyone, came up behind Him and touched the fringe of His cloak, and immediately her hemorrhage stopped.

Matthew’s account tells us she thought to herself, “If I only touch his garment, I will be healed.” Helpless and hopeless, she goes looking for Jesus, hoping, expecting to be healed.

By Jewish law her uncleanness made her untouchable, but still she entered this pressing crowd (I picture it like leaving a Husker game where you’re pressed together like slowing moving sardines. By pressing in with the crowd, she made them all ceremonially unclean, something they surely would have resented.

This was a brave act, but she was desperate.

Where is the surprise in our story? She went into the crowd expecting that if she could just get near enough to Jesus she would be healed and she was. No surprise. Yet.

And Jesus said, “Who is the one who touched Me?” And while they were all denying it, Peter said, “Master, the people are crowding and pressing in on You.” (Luke 8:45)

Peter basically says, “Dude, everyone is touching you!”

But Jesus said, “Someone did touch Me, for I was aware that power had gone out of Me.”

When the woman saw that she had not escaped notice, she came trembling and fell down before Him, and declared in the presence of all the people the reason why she had touched Him, and how she had been immediately healed. (Luke 8:46-47)

This bleeding woman expected to touch Jesus and be healed.

But she WASN’T expecting to be noticed by Him.

She wasn’t expecting a personal encounter.

This woman wanted what Jesus had for her. But she wasn’t expecting Jesus to see her. She wasn’t expecting to be noticed.

She wasn’t expecting to have to tell her story. And she tells it publicly, in front all those people she made unclean. What is it about Jesus that made her brave enough to do that?

I don’t know for sure, but I do know what He said to her:

And He said to her, “Daughter, your faith has made you well; go in peace.” (Luke 8:48)

 

Can you put yourself in this woman’s place? Picture yourself, wading into a crowd of people around Jesus.

This woman had a hemorrhage, a 12 year health problem that had exhausted all of her resources. A great shame. Think of your own greatest shame. Your greatest need for healing. What do you want from Jesus?

Are you brave enough to push into the crowd around Jesus? Do you believe that He has what you need?

What do you need from Jesus? Picture yourself reaching out to touch Him, asking, needing, wanting.

Are you surprised that He sees you?

And friend, He DOES see you. You have not escaped His notice.

Picture Him, seeing you. Searching all the crowd for yours.

Are you afraid?

The woman was afraid, she came forward, trembling. I think she was terrified. She came trembling and fell down before Him.

Picture the expression on Jesus’ face as He looked down on her. What do you think she found in His eyes? Judgement? Condemnation? Disgust?

Or mercy? Kindness? Love.

To the woman’s great surprise, He called her daughter. DAUGHTER.

Picture yourself, trembling and terrified, bringing your shame, your hurt, your need before Jesus.

What do you see in His eyes, as He sees you? What does He say to you?

Can you hear Him calling you daughter? Son?

Jesus sees you. He calls you son, He calls you daughter.

Are you surprised?

Surprised by Jesus: A Devotional Meditation on Luke 8:43-48

 

Photo in my images by John Price on Unsplash