He wants you…

Good morning, sweet Rise and Shine friends!

Happy Spring! Happy last day of March! Happy everything!

This week is one of my favorite weeks in the whole year.

Holy Week.

Often, I think of how Jesus was feeling this week almost 2,000 years ago.

Riding on a colt into Jerusalem, last supper with his friends, washing their feet, sweating blood in the Garden of Gethsemane, betrayal, suffering, beatings, pain….

Oh, but He knew what was coming!

He knew it would all be worth it in the end.

We have the gift of not knowing the detail of our futures.

We do have God’s Word and His timeline of things that will happen before the return of Jesus.

However, we are unable to see specific things in our future.

Honestly, this is a gift from God.

If I had known certain things would unfold in my life, I would have run far far away. Fear would have suffocated my heart and mind and I would have re-directed the path.

Yet, when I look back, I see God’s Hand in all of those painful times. His weaving together of circumstances, people, and outcomes.

He has the “Aerial” view of our lives.

Many times, answered prayers come through those hard things that we endure.

When He tells us to have a child-like faith, it makes so much sense.

Worrying, fretting, and fearing the future will torment us to no end.

We must trust His plan. It will always be better for us when we do.

It may not seem better at the time….

But, God’s Plan is Supreme.

“For my thoughts are not your thoughts,
    neither are your ways my ways,”
declares the Lord.

“As the heavens are higher than the earth,
    so are my ways higher than your ways
    and my thoughts than your thoughts.

Isaiah 55:8-9

Trusting God is not as easy at is sounds, I know.

To trust someone, we must get to know them. Have a relationship with them.

We must daily get to know their heart, their character, their words and actions.

For us to truly get to know Jesus, we must read His Word.

I was 37 years old when I finally understood this.

Finally, I surrendered to His Word and His plan for my life.

I had always believed in Jesus, but I did not really know Him well.

I knew what others told me of Him.

I knew He was the Son of God.

But, I was not sure I could trust Him with all those things I was trying to control and grip to death.

When I opened my Bible and started to get to know Him on January 1, 2012…

Well, it changed everything.

It wasn’t a sudden AHA moment, it was a slow and sweet relationship that began to develop.

Little by little, day by day, each pen stroke of His Word, I began to fall more in love with Him.

Many years later, my favorite part of the day is early mornings with Jesus and my coffee.

I look forward to it more than anything!

Do you have a relationship with Jesus?

Or do you just know Him and believe He was the Son of God?

Having a living, breathing, active relationship with Jesus is life transforming.

I mean, I know that Lem is my husband. I know that we married in September of 1998.

But, I also have developed an intimate relationship with him.

Day after day, year after year.

We didn’t just marry and then spend time apart from each other.

We learned about each other through those daily interactions and time together.

It is the same with Jesus.

We must spend time with Him. We must talk to Him. We must read His Words. We must draw near to Him.

I know that life is exceptionally busy for most of us, and demands often pull us away from Jesus.

However, we must not let this happen.

We must prioritize and protect our relationship with Him.

NOTHING is more important.

NOTHING.

If you are not sure how to start…

I understand. I did not know how either.

In November, I published my first devotional.

The heart behind it was to keep it simple.

To help others establish a routine with their time with Jesus.

To help to prioritize time in His Word in a simple and doable way.

Jesus was simple. He was not complicated and unreachable.

He spoke plainly.

He looked for the simple of this world….

He also looked for the ones that felt like they did not belong…

The overlooked. The rejected. The wounded. The outcasts. The sick. The sinner.

The lost sheep…the ones that were desperate for help.

Not the ones who felt they had it all together and did not have time for Him.

I have come to call not those who think they are righteous, but those who know they are sinners and need to repent. -Luke 5:32

And, honestly, that is what drew me to His Word way back in 2012.

I was the perfect candidate for Jesus.

Fearful, insecure, untrusting, doubtful, lacking wisdom, lacking purpose…

Exactly desperate enough to need the living water He was offering to me.

And I drank. And drank some more.

And I am still drinking from His Word day after day.

Jesus is not after perfection, and rule following…

He is after our hearts. Every messy part of it.

I love you, but Jesus loves you like no other.

If you only know Him from afar, why not start knowing Him personally and intimately today.

Right now.

Open His Word, and just start reading. It doesn’t have to make sense at first. In fact, it probably won’t.

But, learning a foreign language is the same. It sounds like jibberish at first until you know the words and the language.

If you would like some doable assistance in getting started, you can find my 30 day devotional on Amazon. It will walk beside you day by day, hand in hand.

Or maybe you know someone who needs a little nudge…it would make a great gift for Easter.

Enjoy and savor this Holy Week.

He sure loves you, sweet friend.

day by day,

jill