How to Be Satisfied in Jesus When You’re Struggling in Life
The lake is flat and grey today. The surrounding hills roll lavender beneath an ashen sky, and I pray for just a glimpse of blue overhead. I’m here because I long to be satisfied in Jesus, especially when the winter season feels like it might last forever.
I close my eyes and ask God to speak to my soul. I want to know how to be content when the landscape of my days seems desolate.
A startling truth settles upon me as a red-tailed hawk cries out to its Maker: I can spend all day seeking an emotionally riveting encounter with God by this water, and I may or may not sense his presence with me. Meanwhile, God is always waiting to connect with me in his written Word.
I can spend all day seeking a tangible encounter with God by this water, and I may or may not sense his presence with me. Meanwhile, an encounter always awaits me in his written Word. #findingGod #seekingGod #WordofGod Share on XA Simple Secret to Become More Satisfied in Jesus
You might not want to hear that the secret to being satisfied in Jesus will come through reading your Bible.
At the end of a long day, digging into the thick Book feels like work.
I understand. Nevertheless, I invite you to pause with me right here and consider this analogy:
When my husband and I were in the early stages of love, we wrote long emails to one another. Our emails bridged the gap between us while he finished his undergraduate degree in Maine, and I taught special education in Pennsylvania. We poured over the words and fell more deeply in love as we expressed our innermost thoughts.
Imagine my soon-to-be husband writing messages that went unread. Imagine if I occasionally skimmed his words for encouragement but never soaked in his words. I would miss the kind of encounter that would draw me closer to his heart.
Be Satisfied in Jesus by Reading His Love Letter to You
I ignore Jesus’ love letter when I leave my Bible unopened on the nightstand for months on end. I ignore his love letter when I scan it in an occasional search for inspiration.
Friend, Jesus is inviting you to open his love letter and expect to encounter his heart. He wants to lead you to deeper places in his love. When was the last time you soaked in his written Word?
You don’t have to sit along a misty lake to find deep satisfaction in Jesus. He wants you to commune with him every day through his written Word. Like my husband’s precious emails, his Word is his love letter to his beloved bride.
God wants us to find satisfaction in him through emotional worship experiences and captivating encounters. He also wants us to learn to walk faithfully with him when life feels mundane and unemotional.
This means reading the Bible day after day and sinking our roots into the truth of who God is.
3 Ways to Be More Satisfied in Jesus
Let’s look at three compelling truths about being satisfied in Jesus: 
1. Glance in his direction often throughout your days.
God’s heart is ravished when I glance in his direction (Song of Solomon 4:9).
Song of Solomon depicts the love between a man and his bride through eight chapters of eloquent poetry. There are varied opinions about the interpretation of this text. Bible scholars universally agree that Scripture portrays a healthy marriage relationship as a metaphor for Christ’s love for his people.
Nestled in the middle of this book is a verse that has transformed my life more than any other. Song of Solomon 4:9 reads, “You have ravished my heart, My sister, my spouse; You have ravished my heart With one look of your eyes” (NKJV).
This verse tells me that when I pause my daily labor and look toward God, his heart is ravished. He is undone in the way young lovers are captivated by a single glance across a crowded room.
This must be the single most astonishing aspect of God’s character. Human beings have the capacity to ravish his heart! Encountering his ravished heart is the most satisfying experience of human life. Let’s pause together to glance in his direction and bask in this truth today.
2. Be more satisfied in Jesus by remembering his faithfulness.
When I mess up, my automatic response is to turn from God and hide. Adam and Eve know all about hiding. Their first response after inviting sin into the world was to hide from God. How silly. But I do the same thing when I refuse to turn to him in prayer after snapping at my child.
I do the same thing when I go to bed without seeking his face after a night of eating my feelings. However, even in my faithless moments, God remains faithful to me. He promises not to leave me (Deuteronomy 31:6). It’s his promise for you today, too.
Drink deeply from this truth and let it sink into the deepest parts of your soul. There is nothing you can do or have ever done that will cause God to stop being faithful to you. He is the trusted companion you can count on. Lean into this truth when you are feeling dissatisfied with your life. Let these words nourish your soul.
3. Remember that nothing can ever take his love away from you.
I will be satisfied in Jesus when I remember that nothing can separate me from his love (Romans 8:38-39).
No attack from Satan, no failure on my behalf, and no season of wandering can separate me from the love of God.
Even when I’m not feeling his love, even when things are falling apart, and even when I’ve stumbled into a life of apathy, his love remains. His love is an anchor for my soul.
If we could begin to grasp, on a deeper level, the height of his love for us, we would be forever changed.
A Free Devotional to Help You Connect With Christ:
Does the idea of slipping away to a beautiful place to recharge and refresh sound inviting? Space for Your Soul to Stretch is your invitation to create space to rest in God’s presence. Each day of this eight-day devotional invites you to encounter God’s created world and spend time in his written Word. You will walk away from this journey replenished and refreshed each day. It is my free gift to you here.
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Calling all moms and daughters!
Additionally, my teen daughter, Bekah, and I are passionate about helping moms and daughters grow closer while connecting with God. We have written two mother-daughter devotionals together. Girl to Girl: 60 Mother-Daughter Devotions for a Closer Relationship and Deeper Faith is written for girls ages 7-12. It includes 60 devotions with Scripture, conversation starters, and a shared journaling section after each devotion.
Heart to Heart: A Mother-Daughter Devotional With 50 Devotions for Teen Girls is for teenage girls ages 13-20. It includes 50 devotions, each with a shared journaling section to help moms and daughters connect through writing. This is a great book for moms who want to communicate about awkward topics—like dating, purity, peer pressure, and more—but don’t know where to start. We will help you!
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