-
A Free 2024 New Year Devotional to Help You Grow With God
Do you want to start 2024 by renewing your commitment to spend time with God? Like me, maybe you enjoy reading from an Advent devotional throughout December, but you hit a wall when the devotional ends. You feel a bit lost and aren’t sure what’s next. I have fantastic news. I have a free 2024 New Year devotional for you. Mornings With Jesus will help you connect with Jesus every morning for the next 31 days! Why I Wrote This New Year Devotional I spent years reading my Bible and practicing a morning devotional routine without regularly encountering God in the process. My devotional time felt more like homework than…
-
Learning to Be Still With God When Life Is Full
With each passing day, the vibrance of autumn is lost to the sleepy beige of winter. On a cloudy evening, I mourn the loss as I sit in the woods and inhale the pungent scent of fallen leaves. Pulling out my Bible, I flip to a familiar Psalm. It reads, “Be still and know that I am God” (Psalm 46:10). I’ve been learning to be still with God for decades and have yet to master the practice. My mind has been racing again lately, and silencing my thoughts today feels next to impossible. Instead of being critical of my racing mind, I am kind to myself today. I lean against…
-
16 Practical Ways to Keep Your Heart on Fire for God
We gathered around the campfire as fireflies illuminated the hoary breath of dusk. As I watched the flames dance, I thought about my walk of faith and felt a deep desire to fan the flame of my passion for God. I want to be a woman who is on fire for God, and when I feel the flame dwindling, I come back to today’s list of practices. On Fire for God Let’s get right to the heart of the matter today. I pray these practices will help you fan the flame, too. 16 Ways to Stay on Fire for God 1. Stay on fire for God by seeking him for…
-
How to Declutter Your Mind With God’s Help
Last night I took a walk beneath a canopy of beech trees as patches of fog hovered over the creek beside me. I’d spent the week keeping up with the kids and trying to stay on top of a full schedule. Desperate to sort through my thoughts and declutter my mind, the forest called me. Sometimes, it’s hard to know where to begin when it comes to sorting through our mental chaos. I go outside when my mind feels cluttered. As I watch the sun sink beneath the hills or listen to the sound of red squirrels gnawing on walnuts, my mind clears. Nature offers space to sort through my…
-
A Free New Year Devotional to Help You Start Strong
Do you want to start the year by renewing your commitment to spend time with God? Like me, maybe you enjoy reading from an Advent devotional throughout December, but you hit a wall when the devotional ends. You feel a bit lost and aren’t sure what’s next. I have fantastic news. I have a free New Year devotional for you. Mornings With Jesus will help you connect with Jesus every morning for the next 31 days! Why I Wrote This New Year Devotional I spent years reading my Bible and practicing a morning devotional routine without regularly encountering God in the process. My devotional time felt more like homework than…
-
5 Ways to Rest in God’s Presence: A Review of Just Rest
Snowflakes fall like a quiet benediction on a hushed spring morning. I awaken feeling groggy after another night of tending to coughing children. I’m desperate to rest in God’s presence this morning—to let his love wash over me and fill the empty places. Opening Melanie Redd’s new book, Just Rest: A 90 Day Devotional Journal, I read the following words: “True rest for the soul, however, comes from one place only—and that involves walking in the good way. This is the path we choose when we walk close to Jesus. The pathway to rest is found in Him alone.” We live in a culture in which hurry and hustle are…
-
How to Transform Your Life With Listening Prayer
I slip into the woods on a Thursday evening to get lost in the chatter of the pine squirrels, the southbound honking of the Canada geese, and the kind of listening prayer that shapes a woman from the inside out. Autumn days are getting shorter in these parts. The afternoon sunshine foreshadows the coming months of darkness. There are whispers of vermillion on the tree line. I sit in silence to admire a row of golden aspen and read the words of Dallas Willard. His book Hearing God is changing the way I approach prayer: “Hearing God? A daring idea, some would say—presumptuous and even dangerous. But what if we…
-
14 Free Devotional Books to Help You Grow With God
Are you ready to develop a deeper, life-giving relationship with God? My vision is to provide tools to help you encounter God in your daily life. For this reason, I have compiled a list of free devotional books to help you draw close to God’s heart. The first two books on this list are free as eBooks with the Kindle Unlimited plan (you can sign up for a free three-month trial if you do not have the plan) and also available to purchase in print. The remainder of the list is available to download for free with just one click, no plan is required. I pray these books help you…
-
A Surprising Reason You Might Feel Spiritually Stagnant
Winter wind sweeps white over grey, and the fields once so luxuriant with farmers’ crops are beige with sleep. It seems the whole world has grown spiritually stagnant in its own quiet way. I remember the sun-splashed fields of goldenrod as I read beside the window. Some deep part of me feels stagnant as well. I want to be vibrant and faith-filled, but we’ve shifted into a season of simply trying to put one foot in front of the other with each passing day. How to Shake up Your Spiritually Stagnant Places I pull out Dr. Robert Mullholland’s book Invitation to a Journey as I sit by the window. He…
-
Are You the Person You Want to Be in This World?
I drive ten minutes to the North Country Trail for an hour of hiking beneath the naked arms of the hardwoods. My soul finds space to breathe here. As I walk, I consider whether I’m living the life I long to live. It’s one of those days when you start wondering if you’re really being the person you want to be or if you’re just going through the motions in survival mode and hoping no one gets hurt. Are You the Person You Want to Be? I was feeling hopeful that summer evening, like summer would never end and cold west winds would never sweep across the bare boards of…