Join Pamela for an unscripted study of how God blesses the life of obedience and surrender. Genesis 22 & 24.
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The ultimate act of obedience is to offer the thing we love most. It would be easy for me to give you something from my closet that I never wear – but to give you my favorite thing would be a real sacrifice. Sure you can have my Amazon earrings, but the jewelry I bought in Italy is a totally different story. That’s a treasure to me. It would be unfair of you to ask me for my treasure.
God asked Abraham to be willing to sacrifice his greatest treasure. His son. The son he loved with every fiber of his being. The son he had prayed and waited his whole life for. And honestly, what an unfair ask of God – right? But today, we will take another look at Genesis 22 and reveal the unmatched love of God within the story of an unfair ask.
When God asked Abraham for the ultimate demonstration of his love and sacrifice, he asked him for his son. When God the Father wanted to show us the ultimate demonstration of his love and commitment to us, HE GAVE HIS SON. God knew just how unfair it was to ask for Abraham’s son, because he was preparing to do it himself.
All these years, I’ve avoided the story of Abraham’s test of faith because it seemed so cruel. Was he really willing to sacrifice his son? Was he really prepared to lay his son on the alter? He most certainly was – and here’s why: He knew God could do anything. His faith was stronger than his feelings. And just as he laid his son on that alter, God provided a sheep for the sacrifice instead.
That day, God came through with a substitution in the form of a sheep. A sheep that would be sacrificed for the cleansing of sin. And about 2,000 years later, God came through with the ultimate substitution – his own son. Jesus is called the Lamb of God, the perfect lamb without blemish or spot, sacrificed on a cross to redeem us. God gave the ultimate sacrifice of his greatest treasure. His ultimate demonstration of love and commitment to us is in offering his son, Jesus.
He saved Abraham from having to give his son, and God himself gave us his. What greater love could there possibly be?
When God tested Abraham with this unfair ask, he specifically said, “Take your son, your only son – yes, Issac, whom you love so much.” Do you see the divine connection here? God did that for us! God took his son, his only son, who he loved so much. John 3:16, “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.”
God did that. He did it for Abraham. He did that for me and for you. The unfair ask, the unthinkable sacrifice, the ultimate demonstration of love, has been done for us! Why? To save us from the life we deserve.
We often say things like, “I work hard, I deserve a new car”, or “It’s been a bad day, I deserve to relax”, or “a woman like me deserves to be treated better.” That sounds good – but let me tell you something, we should never ask for what we deserve. We’ve all fallen short of the glory of God. We’ve all failed to measure up. What we deserve is death. Romans 6:23 says, “For the wages of sin is death.” Because we’ve gotten it wrong before, we really don’t “deserve” what is right. So let’s be clear – God says you don’t deserve it, but he says you’re WORTH IT!
What is the life you really deserve? Do you deserve to be successful? Do you deserve to be happy and healthy? Do you deserve to get to go on vacation, have nice things, and be treated good? It’s easy to assume we are deserving of a good life because of our efforts and performance – but we have never once lived up to the standard of self-righteousness. No one has and no one can, except for Jesus. We don’t get what we deserve because Jesus accepted what he didn’t deserve.

Have you ever held back from God because you were afraid of what he would ask of you? I certainly have. I was once convinced a surrendered life would be a boring life – wow, was I wrong! I once believed releasing the desire for my own way would be the end of my desires – again, I was really wrong. It was the beginning of something so much more.
What will you do when God calls on you? Will you hide? Will you play little? Will you dismiss yourself? Will you withhold? Or will you believe in the goodness of God enough to say, “Here I am.”
I believe that’s exactly what is happening today. God is calling on you. He’s calling on you to trust him. He’s calling on you to take the next step. He’s calling on you to go for him. He’s calling on you to change something, surrender something, do something different this year. Will you answer his call and say, “Here I am.”
What would happen if you did? You would get to see and experience the things only God can do. Will it be scary? Maybe. Will you feel inadequate? Probably. Will it be worth it? Absolutely!
In our study of the book of Genesis, we’re reading about the life of Abraham. Remember, he and his wife Sarah had waited their whole lives for a promised baby. Finally, at the age 90, Sarah miraculously becomes pregnant, and Abraham becomes a father to Issac at 99 years old. Abraham had believed God’s promise, and now he was walking in the fulfillment of that promise with his long awaited son.
And then we come to a chapter titled “Abraham’s Faith Tested”. Whew, have you ever been in one of those chapters of your life? This is where the hard stuff happens. This is where things don’t make sense. And this is where you get to see that through it all, God is forever faithful with his providence and power.
Genesis 22 begins with, “Some time later, God tested Abraham’s faith. ‘Abraham’ God called. ‘Yes,’ he replied. ‘Here I am.'”
With over 100 years of life experience, Abraham knows he can trust God. He knows whatever God calls him to, God is going to provide for him to get through. He knows the promises God has spoken over him are undeniable and irrefutable. He lives in the reality that God does impossible things.
I wonder if maybe we have forgotten that. Have you forgotten the impossible things God has done for you before? Have you skimmed over the promises your Creator has for you? Can you look back and see that God has always been with you and always made a way? The more you know that, the more you can trust him here. And when you fully trust God, you can reply to his every call with, “Here I am.”
What God speaks to Abraham next was unthinkable. Verse 2, “Take your son, your only son – yes, Isaac, whom you love so much – and go to the land of Moriah. Go and sacrifice him as a burnt offering on one of the mountains, which I will show you.”
Wait God – WHAT?!!!!!!! This is the son I’ve waited my whole life for, the one every promise hinges on, and now you’re asking me to sacrifice him? To give him up? That doesn’t make sense.
Have you ever tried to make sense of the supernatural? Have you ever tried to plan for the impossible? Have you ever tried to calculate the miraculous? Here’s what we do – we flip out, we freak out, and we stress out. When we can’t see it, control it, or fix it, we struggle with it. But God is NOT STRUGGLING.
Please hear this loud and clear. Whatever you are struggling with, God is not. Does he care? More than you can imagine! But is he struggling? Not in the slightest. He already has a plan and he perfectly holds the power to fulfill his plan.
Whatever you’re struggling with right now, I have a simple and powerful prayer of faith for you today. Right now,

All good will come under attack. In a garden of beautiful potential, there will be weeds. Everything you plant in your garden will be attacked. To assume otherwise would be naive.
You woke up this morning in a garden of beautiful potential. Here, in this year, supernatural things can happen in your life. Things you have been waiting YEARS for have the potential of happening here. Seeds you thought were dead are about to breakthrough the ground. Yes, breakthroughs are here. Growth is here. Proof of all you have been praying for, working for, waiting for, is about to be seen.
And my sister, it’s all under attack!
Why? Because it’s good!
God is doing something sooooo good in you. He’s been moving in your life, working in the details, preparing you for this new year. You’ve felt it. You’ve felt dreams being whispered again, hope being stirred, strength being received. And now … things get noisy!
Your adversary, the devil, he is loud. 1 Peter 5:8, “Stay alert! Watch out for your great enemy, the devil. He prowls around like a roaring lion, looking for someone to devour.” He roars! He creates noise. What does the noise do? It distracts us. It creates fear.
I wonder who woke up to distractions, problems, and discouragements today, on just the 2nd day of this new year. It’s not starting how you wanted it to start. Why is that happening? Because you are on the cusp of breakthrough. You are daring to believe the promises which God has spoken over your life. You are claiming the power, the love, and the self-discipline God’s spirit has offered you. You’re starting to write goals from God’s word, goals God wants to pour his power into! And if the enemy of your soul can’t rob you of that offering, he will certainly try to distract you from it.
There is noise! Oh, you will probably hear the noise today. Sometimes it shows up in loud, chaotic roars that send shivers down your spine. But most times it shows up as the little voice in your head that tries to talk you down. The voice that says you can’t. The voice that says you’re not good enough. The voice that says you’re not worthy of the changes you desire. The voice that says it will never happen for you. The voice that says it’s too late. That is NOT the voice of God. That is the voice of darkness. That is goodness under attack.
Today, we will look at the perfect little story hidden within the pages of your Bible to give you the exact words to speak and next steps to take when the enemy shows up with his distractions and discouragement.
It’s the story is of Nehemiah. Nehemiah was charged by God to rebuild the destroyed wall of Jerusalem. These walls had been in ruin for over 100 years, and it was time to be rebuilt. For 100 years, people had looked at these torn down walls that had left their city vulnerable to attack, and of course everyone had wished for something to change – but no one had been willing to do anything about it.
I wonder what desperately needs to change around you, but no one has been willing to do anything about it? What if God is charging YOU to be the one who gets to work now? Oh, I believe he is. No more wishing and complaining. No more waiting. It’s time for the work to be done, and God chooses YOU! The good work starts now!
Nehemiah had been doing a good work of rebuilding the walls around Jerusalem. But remember, all good comes under attack. His enemies did not want him to rebuilt the wall and they tried to discourage him. But Nehemiah would not be discouraged. Say that with me, “I WILL NOT BE DISCOURAGED!”
Nehemiah 6:1-4, “When word came to our enemies that I had rebuilt the wall and not a gap was left in it, my enemy sent me this message: ‘Come, let us meet together in one of the villages on the plain of Ono.

Does God care about you having fun? Does he care about you doing things you love to do? Does he want you to enjoy life?
Yes – as long as it doesn’t become the entire objective of your life. As long as God still gets first place, fun is one of those things that he gives us as a result. Our Bibles are full of scriptures that tell us of the joy and pleasures in the presence of God. Does that only apply to Heaven after this miserable life? No. Jesus even taught us to pray that God’s kingdom come here on earth as it is in heaven. Joy and pleasures here – how? Well, we can be in God’s presence now, and when we are, we get to enjoy the fullness of life.
Look at creation and you’ll understand God’s nature. He loves beautiful things. He loves mysterious things. He loves quirky and bizarre things. Watch a few episodes of Planet Earth and you will see God’s fun nature on full display. He was having fun creating this world, now he invites you and I in on the fun.
Misery is always an option, but it’s never a good one. The enemy of your soul loves to make you feel like the best stuff in life must come in rebellion to God. Like you can’t have fun and follow Jesus at the same time. Hmmmmm … hang around with me for a day and I think we can prove the devil wrong. We can follow Jesus into some wild, faith-filled spaces we could never reach alone, and we can be the funnest girls there!
Fun is my middle name. It’s actually my job. It’s my calling. I create fun for people and then I invite them to play. And ultimately in the fun, we experience the love of God and the joy of Jesus. I can’t spread the love of God and the joy of Jesus by being miserable and turning everything into a dreaded burden. And my friend, you can’t either.
We are here as the representatives of Jesus. Represent him well! When Jesus walked in a room, people gathered. Heck, they even tore the roof off a house to get in a crowded room with Jesus. He had something radically different and that energy was felt in his presence. Now, we carry that same Spirit of energy. Don’t dampen it. Revive it. Unleash it. People are drawn in by that positive energy and fun vibe and you can then easily point them to Jesus.
Jesus said in John 10:10, “The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full.” Understand that Jesus not only offers a full and abundant life in Heaven, but he offers a full and overflowing life right here and now. The way you live your life is what brings Heaven to Earth. You’re here to represent Jesus – Is he remotely appealing to others when they look at you?
In the final hours of my Daddy’s life, the veil between Heaven and Earth had grown very thin and while laying in that hospital room, he could experience Heaven. Fully aware, he told us what he saw and experienced. My Dad let out deep belly laughs and giggles as he said, “Jesus is so funny! Everyone is so happy here!” I believe that with every ounce of me. And I believe we are called to represent Heaven here on Earth.
So, let’s look at 4 scriptures for our FUN Goals and confidently write a few goals we don’t have to feel guilty over in our fun.
Scripture 1: Psalm 90:12 TPT, “Teach us to number our days and recognize how few they are; help us to spend them as we should.”
When you realize just how fast this life goes by and how limited your days really are, you recognize the value in each day and you are no longer willing to waste your days. Girls, let’s make these days count.
Have you ever noticed how it feels like time goes so much faster than it used to? And we all feel that way. Why is that? Well, there’s actually a scientific reasoning behind it. When you were a kid it seemed like an eternity from one birthday to the nex...

Home/Money/Career
Does God care about where you live, where you work, how much money you make and how you spend it? Absolutely. Jesus tells us to look at the birds and notice how God takes care of them, then know how much more valuable you are than the birds to God. Jesus tells us God is so intimately involved in the details of your life that he numbers the hairs on your head. NUMBERS. Not only counted, but numbered. Meaning when one hair falls out, he knows precisely which hair it was. And if God has the care and capacity to number your hairs, then I assure you he has the capacity to care about your home, your work and your money.
Also, be aware of this – Satan loves to meddle in these things as well. He schemes in Hell how he can bring chaos and disorder to your home. How he can make you miserable in your work. How he can make you so consumed with the pursuit of money that your priorities become twisted. How he can make you continually unhappy because of what you don’t have and miss the blessing of what you do have.
The spiritual battle is for real over your home, over your money and over your work. God wants to bless you, and Satan wants your blessings to become burdens. And that is why we must seek God for our goals. How do you live in the blessings without them becoming burdens? How do you pursue good things without the pursuit consuming you? How do you get every single thing God has for you without getting what the enemy pushes on you?
Today, we will look at 5 scriptures directly from God’s word for guidance in setting our home/money/career goals for 2026.
Scripture 1: Matthew 25:29, “To those who use well what they are given, even more will be given, and they will have an abundance. But from those who do nothing, even what little they have will be taken away.”
Here’s what God knows – If you won’t take care of the little house, you most certainly won’t take care of the new big house. If you won’t show up on time for your hourly pay job, you won’t show up on time for your higher level promotion. If you don’t spend $100 wisely, you certainly wouldn’t spend a million wisely. We are continually revealing what we will do with more.
Scripture says God has the ability and resources to generously provide everything you need. There’s nothing he can’t do and nothing he can’t give. It’s all under his power. We also know God is not a greedy God, but he is gracious and generous in abundance. He likes to pour to not just fill your cup, but overflow your cup. But, God is not foolish or reckless. In his divine wisdom, he watches to see how you use what you are given before giving you more.
What if our prayer shifted from “Lord, give me more” to “Lord, I want to be faithful with what I already have. Thank you for this, now I want to use it well.”
GOALS:
• Be faithful with the work I have.
• Care for what I have been given with delight.
• Waste nothing.
Scripture 2: Romans 12:13, “When God’s people are in need, be ready to help them. Always be eager to practice hospitality.”
We aren’t given homes to hide behind our doors and create our safe little spaces. We aren’t given money to keep buying more stuff so we can hoard our treasures. We are entrusted with homes to offer hospitality. We are entrusted with things to give them. Out of greed, cynicism and self-protection, we have closed our doors, closed our hands and closed our hearts. God says, OPEN THEM BACK UP!
Have you ever prayed for God to show you the needs around you, then you suddenly started noticing people you’ve never noticed before? Why are these needs around you? Because God put you in the middle of them to help! Stop falling for your own fear-driven excuses of not having time, not know what to do,

RELATIONSHIPS
God cares about our relationships. He loves relationship. Think about this: Even God didn’t do his work alone. He specifically designed the trinity of himself, his son Jesus, and the Holy Spirit to work together. That should tell us how important relationships are to God. In fact it’s why he created YOU. You were designed for relationship. You were never intended to do this life alone.
God could have created Adam and stopped there. He could have enabled Adam to do everything alone. He could have made him a one man show with all the time in the world to do all the work – but he didn’t. God specifically created Eve for Adam, then blessed them with children.
RELATIONSHIPS are God’s design, so YES, he cares about your family, your friends, your circle. And his word has so much to say as a guide to writing goals for those relationships in 2026. From his word, we discover our deepest and most powerful goals.
Remember this, relationship goals are always about how YOU SHOW UP in your relationships, not how anyone else shows up. You cannot control them, so let them. When you let them, you ultimately let you. You let you show up as the wife, the mom, the daughter, the sister, the friend, the coworker, the neighbor God wants you to be. Relationship goals are 100% about how you show up, not about others showing up. Can you trust God enough in 2026 to get it right on his end when you are faithful with yours?
I have 4 scriptures on relationships to share with you. Each of these becomes a guide for your goals.
Scripture 1. 1 Corinthians 13: 4-7 (it’s the wedding scripture), “Love is patient, love is kind …” and it goes on for 4 verses giving us a list of how to specifically live in love. God knew we would struggle with this, so he literally spells it out for us. He says, “My girl, this is what you do and this is what you don’t do.” God actually knows what he’s talking about with relationships, remember he designed them and desired them for himself and you. Trust what he says and apply it to every relationship you have.
Breaking down this familiar scripture point by point, we’re going to look at different translations to apply God’s word to our goals.
Verse 4: “Love is patient, love is kind.” That means you don’t give up, it means be intentionally thoughtful.
“Love is not jealous or boastful or proud or rude.” That means don’t obsess about what you don’t have or what they don’t do, it means don’t force yourself on them, don’t demand to be first like you’re more important.
Verse 5: “Love does not demand it’s own way. It is not irritable and it keeps no record of being wronged.” That means don’t keep score, it means don’t be overly sensitive and easily offended.
Verse 6: “Love does not rejoice about injustice but rejoices whenever the truth wins out.” That means stop finding delight in what is wrong. Stop talking about them.
Verse 7: “Love never gives up, never loses faith, is always hopeful, and endures through every circumstance.” That means you always look for the best, it means you never take failure for defeat, it means you remain steadfast during difficult times.
Do you see the relationship goals you need here? Yes!!!!! Go back, verse by verse, looking at different translations like the MSG translation, TPT translation, NKJV translation, AMP version. You’ll end up with the most powerful goals from God’s word for HOW YOU SHOW UP in your relationships. It has nothing to do with them, and everything to do with YOU!
GOALS:
• Be intentionally thoughtful.
• Let them. (Read the book – The Let Them Theory)
• Be un-offendable.
• Stop talking about who is wrong and what they’re doing.

Welcome to the final countdown of 2025. Together, we will use these final days to fully seek God for guidance in planning the new year of life in the offering.
What will you do with 2026? How will you live your days? What will you pursue? Who will you become?
Life can just happen to you – or you can answer the call to live up to your potential as God’s masterpiece created in his image. Which will it be for you? It’s a decision only you get to make. You either settle, or you go for it. You either dismiss yourself, or you dare to believe God created you for more. You either belly up to the table God has set for you and dive in, or you refuse your seat and survive on scraps.
Have you ever thought about what it actually means to be created in the image of God? It means that you and I set apart to uniquely reflect the power of our creator unlike any other creation. Within us, we have the potential of doing great things. You know, Jesus actually really meant it when he said, “Anyone who believes in me will do the same works I have done, and even greater works …” (John 14:12)
Within you and I is the potential to do really great things. So … why don’t we just do them?!!!!! For real – let’s live up to our design and dare to be and do everything Jesus says we can.
What if that’s what the new year is about?
About daring to live up to your God-given potential.
About doing the great things Jesus said you could do.
About becoming everything God imagined when he created you in his image.
You can’t live that life without seeking God first. Oh you can work and grind and strive and you can experience temporary highs and momentary successes, but they always come crashing down. Did you know people who achieve a big financial goal typically feel a depression after reaching that goal? You know why – they have the money, they are finally successful, they built the business, met the goal, but they still don’t like who they are.
Every goal you will ever have is a temporary high from which you will come crashing down if you’re not becoming who God created you to be. If the inside doesn’t match the outside, the battle will rage.
I’m a HUGE fan of goals. I’ve dedicated the past 16 years of my life to creating a goal setting system that really works. In the process, my life has radically changed. Yes, I’ve met some huge goals along the way. I’ve run the marathons, I’ve built the business, I’ve built the big house – then I sold that house and decided I’m better suited for being homeless and traveling, I’ve seen beautiful things and had awesome adventures. And all along, God has been sweet enough to let me do all those things while patiently waiting for me to discover something so much bigger, deeper and meaningful.
It’s not the goal you set – it’s WHO you become to achieve that goal! The rest is just details my friend – it’s WHO you are becoming on this journey. This is the journey of becoming the image of God. Becoming the reflection of his light. Becoming the bearer of his good news. Becoming the vessel that carries his Spirit and shares his love.
Does God care about the goals of achievement, the goals of success, the goals of personal dreams and desires – ABSOLUTELY!!!!!! As you surrender your life fully to Him, he becomes the author of your desires and they grow like seeds leading you to the live you were always designed to live, producing the fruit that honors him.
God loves goals and here’s how I know. God is a God of vision. He had a vision for his creation, then he spoke it into existence. And when he created you and I, he created us in his own image with the ability to share his vision, speak it, create it and live it!
The enemy of our soul also love goals.

GOAL SETTING BROADCAST
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The day after Christmas…
The day you wake up 5 pounds heavier to a big mess…
The day after all the excitement…
What do you have after the excitement?
I assure you, life is a series of ups and downs. There will be things to look forward to, then those things will pass and there will be a lull. Almost an emptiness. A lost feeling. An uncertainty about where to focus your efforts next.
Have you ever heard of a “Goal Hole”? It’s the hole you find yourself in after reaching a big goal. It’s that unexpected loss of motivation once you’ve arrived to where you were striving to get. It’s the day after Christmas, when suddenly you’re regretting all the Christmas decorations you put up this year. Can I trick you into believing you “GET TO” take them down now?
What about the day after Jesus was born? This miraculous promise Mary had received was now a real life baby laying in a manger. Yeah, now what? If you study the 4 gospel accounts of Jesus, (Matthew, Mark, Luke & John) each give different perspectives and details. Mark and John begin with Jesus being baptized as a man at about 30 years old. But Matthew and Luke go back and tell of the miraculous conception and birth of Jesus. Luke focuses more on the shepherds who came to see baby Jesus, but Matthew focuses more on the wise men that came.
Can I be honest – I always got the two confused. I assumed it was just a difference in terminology thinking maybe shepherd meant the same thing as a wise man. And it’s actually, quite opposite. A shepherd was considered a very low class, often even shady fella. Yet, that is who God sent an angel to in Bethlehem and told them to go find the new born savior of the world lying in a manger. I love how God intentionally chose to send shepherds when the world would have never chosen them.
But Matthew focuses on the other visitors looking for Jesus. They are the wise men, and they are literally very wise. They are scholars who studied the stars. And for these astrologers, they knew something magnificent had happened the night Jesus was born because a new star had appeared in the sky.
Did you know that star is the reason why we put a star on top of our Christmas tree? It’s the reason why pictures of the nativity scene include a star.
These wise men, scholars of the stars, knew from prophesy in the book of Numbers that a star would rise from God’s savior. And now, they’ve seen the star!
Matthew 2:1-2 MSG “After Jesus was born in Bethlehem village, a band of scholars arrived in Jerusalem from the East. They asked around, “Where can we find and pay homage to the newborn King of the Jews? We observed a star in the eastern sky that signaled his birth. We’re on pilgrimage to worship him.”
That last sentence just jumps off the page and grabs my heart this morning, on the day after Christmas. We’re on pilgrimage to worship him.
This is what we do today. The day after Christmas, we are on pilgrimage. A mission, a journey, a quest to find and worship Jesus. We were thinking of him yesterday as we celebrated his birth, now today, we look for him!
If you want your 2026 to be radically different, declare it to be the year of your PILGRIMAGE TO FIND AND WORSHIP JESUS!
Where will you find Jesus today? Where will you find evidence of his saving grace in your life? Where will you notice his fingerprints on the unfolding miraculous details that otherwise appear so ordinary? Where will you look and find, this is undoubtedly the work of Jesus in my life! There’s simply no other way to explain this!
This “band of scholars” we read about on their pilgrimage to worship Jesus are commonly referred to as the 3 wise men. They’re in the nativity scene,

The Bible has over 300 specific prophesies about the coming savior of the world. Hundreds, even thousands of years before, details like:
He would come from a virgin birth, he would enter into Jerusalem on a donkey, he would be betrayed for 30 pieces of silver, he would be pierced and crucified, he would be resurrected back to life.
The odds of 1 man fulfilling just EIGHT of the over 300 prophesies is statistically IMPOSSIBLE at 1 in 100 quadrillion. And that’s for only 8 of the prophesies. Jesus perfectly fulfilled each of the over 300 prophesies and details foretold.
Jesus is the Messiah. He is the savior of the world. He is the one angels spoke of. It’s our Jesus, and now we celebrate him! Make it about Jesus!!!!!
Read the Christmas story – Luke 2: 1-20
Vs 19: Notice what Mary did … “But Mary kept all these things in her heart and thought about them often.”
Scripture often uses the word heart to represent the center of our thoughts and emotions. As she saw her miraculous new born baby laying wrapped in a manger, kneeling next to Joseph and now these shepherds who have come revealing what the angel had said about her baby, she kept it in her heart. She’s sitting in the moment, noticing everything, recognizing this is a profound spiritual experience.
She’s seeing how God had worked through everyone and everything to make this happen. She’s noticing the divine alignment of every detail. She’s seeing how they had to travel at such an inconvenient time so she would be in Bethleham to give birth. She’s seeing how there had to be no room in the inn and the only place to lay her newborn baby would be a feeding trough, just as the angel told the shepherds he would be. She’s seeing how Joseph had every right and every reason to leave her when she mysteriously shows up pregnant, but God didn’t let that happen. God had aligned every detail, and now she’s sitting in the middle of those details, thinking about them and keeping them in her heart.
She’s amazed by God. She’s content, fulfilled, humbled, grateful.
And this is who we are called to be this Christmas. We’re called to be the one who notices the divine alignment of every detail in God’s work. Notice it. Sit in your moments and recognize the miracles in those moments. This does not require the presence or participation of another living soul … just you. Intentionally noticing. Noticing the beauty. Noticing the moment. Noticing the miraculous.
These days hold the potential for precious memories, but you miss those precious memories if you rush through them and focus on trying to make things perfect. Stop. Just be here. Be fully here. Notice.
It’s okay if the house gets messy. It’s okay if the kids get wild. It’s okay if everyone is still in their pajamas. It’s okay if dinner is served late. It’s okay if you eat dessert first. It’s okay. You don’t have to control it or fix it, just notice all the good there is to notice.
Notice the sounds. Notice the smells. Notice the flavor. Notice the sights. Notice the moments.
My sister, you’ve been missing entirely too many of your moments. Moments that held the potential for precious memories. Moments that were nothing short of miraculous. Don’t miss these!
Mary kept these things in her heart and thought about them often. It’s time to store up some beautiful things in your heart so you can think about them often.
Notice the beauty in the moment, as is. See the life that is unfolding in front of you, this is life that is passing and you’ll never get back.
My prayer for you today and the coming days as you celebrate the birth of our Jesus, is that you have intentional and on purpose Mary moments. That you remember this. That you slow down. That you pause.

Sometimes God’s blessings don’t exactly look or feel like blessings. Sometimes they feel like an inconvenience. Sometimes they look like an unwelcome change. Sometimes blessings come in the form of everything you think you want absolutely falling apart.
Mary had her life planned out. This little small town girl was engaged to Joseph, they were going to get married within the next year, they would then have a house of their own and start their little family. She would grow her own little garden, make perfect loaves of sourdough bread, and sew matching clothes for her family. That was the plan. It was a good plan and it was all coming together.
All her good plans were interrupted by a visit from the angel Gabriel. Out of nowhere, Gabriel delivers a message from God and basically says, “So, Mary – you are so favored by God that your plans are going to be wrecked. Before you get married, before you get your own little house and before you grow your garden, you’re going to be miraculously pregnant and have God’s son!” In a time when adultery was punishable by death, this did not feel like a blessing. This was a crisis.
Joseph would know there was no way this baby could be his, so he would surely leave her, then everyone would assume Mary had been unfaithful. Judgement would come. Punishment. Shame. There was no possible scenario Mary could imagine in her head that would make this socially acceptable.
Knowing how this looked and felt to Mary, here was her reply – Luke 1:38, Mary responded, “I am the Lord’s servant. May everything you have said about me come true.”
That would be easy to say if an angel has just told you you’re winning the lottery. Okay, LET IT BE! That would be easy to say if an angel had just told you the doors have been divinely opened to your dreams and it’s all going to happen for you. Yes, may it come true! But Mary has just been told her whole world is going to flip upside down. She will have a mysterious pregnancy no one will understand, which will likely mean she will lose her fiance, she will be shamed in public, and maybe even stoned to death. And to this Mary says, “I am the Lord’s servant. May everything you have said about me come true.”
My friends, this is what really trusting God’s plan looks like. This is a picture of faith when it not only doesn’t make sense, but when it scares you to death. God, I trust you so much, I CHOOSE your way even when it’s the hard way.
There’s a song by Ben Fuller and Carrie Underwood called “If It Was Up To Me”. It says:
If it was up to me,
there’d be no gravel roads
No wounds, no blisters on my soul
Pain might come,
but it wouldn’t come for me
If it was up to me,
I’d take the easy ride
But I’d miss the grace that changed my life
Thank God, I’m not the one in charge of things
I’d never know how good your plans could be
If it was up to me
You see, if it was up to me, I would have skipped every hard day I’ve ever had. But I would miss the extra sweetness of the good days. If it was up to me, I would have never gotten sick, I would have never lost a loved one, I would have never experienced pain in my most important relationships. But then these knees would have never hit the floor and I would have never known the power of my prayers. I would have forfeited my testimony, missed my calling, missed my purpose, and missed the lives I’m here to impact.
I’m sure Mary wouldn’t have chosen a mysterious pregnancy that would potentially ruin her relationships and her reputation, but she accepted God’s plan with tremendous faith. God, if you’re saying it, then I trust it. God, if you’re telling me this is a blessing,

Your feelings about a situation do not change God’s power over that situation. God is not limited by feelings. God is not limited by chances or odds. God is not limited by timelines or conditions. If God speaks it, it will happen. Done. Deal.
Your circumstances may not be telling you the truth. There could be sooooo much more happening than what you see. There may be an act of God Almighty happening in places you cannot yet see. You may not feel it yet, but your feelings do not limit the power of God.
Mary was a young teenage girl living in the tiny, forgotten town of Nazareth. Nazareth was nothing. It was miles away from a road and didn’t have a good source of water. No one important had ever come from Nazareth, and no one there had ever done anything great. This town had never been mentioned before.
I come from a small town like that. A small town where everyone knows who you are and what you’re doing. It’s the kind of town where you don’t see examples of anyone ever leaving or doing great things. So, I never dreamed of leaving. The jobs available in my small town were the jobs I imagined having. My mama worked at the only factory in town, so I assumed I would work at that same factory. The thought that God would have something different for me was completely foreign. I was a no one with nothing, and there was absolutely nothing special about me.
That’s what happens in small towns. You only know what you know, and you simply don’t know much. Nazareth was a town of only a few hundred people. Mary growing up in Nazareth meant she was a humble, small town girl, who likely never considered herself to be anyone special. But just because you don’t feel special doesn’t mean God doesn’t consider you special. Just because you never expected God to do something special for you doesn’t mean God isn’t already working in the unseen in special ways for you.
In Luke chapter 1, we’re unexpectedly introduced to Mary, living in her tiny country village. Verse 26-33, “God sent the angel Gabriel to Nazareth to a virgin named Mary. She was engaged to be married to a man named Joseph, a descendant of King David. Gabriel appeared to her and said, ‘Greetings favored woman! The Lord is with you!’ Confused and disturbed, Mary tried to think what the angel could mean. ‘Don’t be afraid, Mary,’ the angel told her, ‘for you have found favor with God! You will conceive and give birth to a son, and you will name him Jesus. He will be very great and will be called the Son of the Most High. The Lord God will give him the throne of his ancestor David. And he will reign over Israel forever; his Kingdom will never end.'”
Mary was not expecting this. Her life was simple and uneventful. She likely spent her days doing laundry, sweeping dirt floors, helping her mother cook meals, training for her upcoming opportunity to have a house of her own once she married Joseph. She had never been told she was favored before. She had never been singled out and chosen. She had never dared to dream of anything different or bigger for her life.
Yet, here was this angel telling her the most unimaginable things. Telling her she was chosen to be a mother to a future King that would reign forever. But this didn’t make sense to Mary. How could this happen? She was a virgin, awaiting marriage to Joseph.
And what the angel is telling her is, “That’s why I’m here – to tell you that your limited circumstances are not revealing the truth to you, your conditions are not true, and what you feel doesn’t matter.”
You think you’re a nobody from nowhere with a very certain and limited future ahead of you, but God sent me to tell you there’s something happening that you cannot imagine!!!!
Yes, that’s what the angel was telling Mary.

The number 1 question I receive is, “How do I know God’s will for my life?” What they’re saying to me is, how do I know God’s voice? How do I know if that thought, or that feeling, or that stirring within is from God or from the devil?
Maybe you don’t trust yourself anymore. You’ve made so many wrong choices, acted on impulse chasing after the wrong things, that now you can’t trust yourself. That’s actually good. Coming to the place where you know that you alone can’t get this right is a great place to be. Knowing you’re not self-sufficient is a beautiful first step of a surrendered life. Knowing you can’t lead yourself is how you learn to follow Jesus.
But there’s one way to learn to trust your inner voice – let that inner voice be filled with God’s words. If it’s God’s word, then it’s not wrong. However, on a very practical level, how do you get God’s words to become your inner voice? ONE WAY, my friends, ONE SIMPLE WAY. The only way God’s word gets in you is to put it there. Read it, listen to it, study it.
The more you read God’s word, the more his word gets in you. The more his word is in you, the more you will hear his voice.
Think about it like this – what is someone’s voice? It’s the words they speak, right. So if you want to hear God’s voice, you’re looking for his words. The Bible is filled with God’s words! This is how you get his voice.
How do you know God’s will for your life? You read his word. How do you come to know the difference between a thought or a feeling that comes from God verses the ones that come from the devil or your own imagination? You read God’s word and learn what his voice says. That’s how you’ll recognize it.
If you’ve been listening to me very long, you know my voice. You know the things I say. You know the words I use. So, if you were to read this devotional instead of listen to it, you would still know it was me. You would even read it in your head with my voice. You’ve heard me say, “Good morning, Beautiful” so many times that now when you see it on a coffee mug, you’re like, “Oh, that’s Pamela!” You recognize me now because you know my words.
If you know God’s words you’ll recognize him. Plain and simple, there’s no other way to know God’s voice.
When people talk about, “Well, the Lord told me this or that …” there’s a filter to put that through – Does that sound like God? If someone says, “Well, the Lord told me leave my husband and chase after yours”, I know that’s not from God because it doesn’t sound like God. How do I know what God sounds like? I READ HIS WORD!
Even on days when I feel like the words I’m reading don’t make sense or don’t apply to my life right now, I’m learning God’s voice. Nothing is wasted when it comes from him.
So, let’s be clear – if you’re questioning how to know God’s will for your life and how to hear from God, the answer is you get to know his voice. His voice is the words he speaks, and our Bibles are a written transcript of his words. And while you may not be able to open your Bible to the exact answer to your questions and see in black and white what your next step is, you’re learning to recognize his voice. And once you recognize his voice, then you start noticing those thoughts, those feelings and those little stirrings you sometimes feel are actually God speaking directly to you.
You’ll miss them if you don’t know his voice. And you only know his voice by reading his word.
Before you can hear it, sense it or decipher it, first you have to read it. Oh I know, you want to HEAR God speak to you,

There’s two sides to every coin. Just because the coin lands on heads doesn’t mean tails no longer exists. They’re both there. They co-exist together, heads and tails.
God sees your situation much like a coin. There are two sides to it. The two sides co-exist together. Now, he’s asking you to see the two sides and trust him with the flip.
Hold on to that, because we’re coming back to it. An ah-ha moment is just a few minutes away! Know there are the two sides and trust him with the flip.
We’ve been studying the story of Abram and Sarai, the old couple never able to have children. For 25 years, Abram has waited for God to fulfill his promise of future descendants. In Genesis chapter 17, God gives them each a new name. Abram becomes Abraham, which means the father of many nations. And for Sarai, she becomes Sarah, which means “mother of nations.”
Now, with new names given by God at the age of 100 for Abraham, and 90 for Sarah, they are visited by 3 men. And what they didn’t know at the time was, these 3 men weren’t just strangers wandering through their town, it was the Lord and 2 angels.
Genesis 18, starting in verse 10:
“One of them said, ‘I will return to you about this time next year, and your wife, Sarah, will have a son!’
Sarah was listening to this conversation from the tent. Abraham and Sarah were both very old by this time, and Sarah was long past the age of having children. So she laughed silently to herself and said, ‘How could a worn-out woman like me enjoy such pleasure, especially when my husband is also so old?’
Then the Lord said to Abraham, ‘Why did Sarah laugh? Why did she say, ‘Can an old woman like me have a baby?’ Is anything too hard for the Lord? I will return about this time next year, and Sarah will have a son.'”
Hmmmm, did you catch that? Verse 14, “Is anything too hard for the Lord?”
The Hebrew word used here for ‘hard’ is hă-yip-pā-lê. Is anything too hă-yip-pā-lê for the Lord? Too hard.
Maybe you’re facing a situation right now that seems too hă-yip-pā-lê. Instead of getting better, it’s getting worse. It’s too far gone, too broken, and too late. Too hă-yip-pā-lê. Too hard.
But this word, hă-yip-pā-lê, too hard, has another meaning. We find this same Hebrew word in Psalm 139:14, “I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made; your works are wonderful, I know that full well.” Your works are hă-yip-pā-lê, I know that full well.
hă-yip-pā-lê means too hard on one side of the coin, but on the other side it means wonderful!
Same word, same coin, both are true.
If it’s too hard, on the other side of it is something wonderful!
Abraham and Sarah having a baby at their age with her old womb was too hard … and it was wonderful! God flipped that coin and gave them a wonderful miracle.
Let me tell you, God can do that! Whatever hă-yip-pā-lê you’re facing at the moment is too hard for you alone, but on the other side of it is something absolutely wonderful.
When you’re on the side of the coin that is too hard, know this – When you’re not okay, God is still good. God is good even if your heart hurts, even if your whole world seems to be breaking. God’s goodness doesn’t depend on your situation. You can continue trusting him despite your circumstance. He is still good even when life is not.
Wonderful is on the other side of this, and God can flip it at any moment.
hă-yip-pā-lê too hard – hă-yip-pā-lê wonderful. God is the God of both sides of that coin.
There’s a saying I love that says: I asked God, “Why are you taking me through troubled water?” He replied, “Because your enemies can’t swim.

When God moves, a shift takes place. Heaven responds. Mountains start moving. Seas start parting. Walls start crumbling. Chains start breaking. When God moves, impossible becomes possible. It happens in an instant when God moves. However you and I do not know when God will move. We don’t know his timing. We don’t see the timeline of his plan.
It’s not our job to understand when or how – it’s our job to know WHO. Who will do this? God will. When? No idea. How? No clue.
When life feels uncertain, God is in control. When you feel forgotten, God’s eye is on you. When it feels too late, God knows the time.
Isaiah 60:22, “At the right time, I, the Lord, will make it happen.” So, it still hasn’t happened for you? Then my sister, it’s not the right time yet. But when the right time comes, God will move and everything you’ve been waiting for will go into motion.
What God has for you, is for you. You can trust his timing. You can trust his plan. You can trust his move.
And let’s be clear – this is God’s move, not yours. You can’t force this – atleast not the really good stuff. You can force the lesser than, imitation version of this. You can cut corners and jump through loop holes to find something you could settle for faster. But if you want the best stuff from Heaven’s storehouse, then you must wait for God’s move. He will make it happen, and he will make it happen at the RIGHT time.
When Abram was 75 years old, God promised to give him so many descendants that, like the dust of the earth, they cannot be counted. Wooohoooo, a word from the Lord. A promise to hold on to! That’s fantastic.
Then, nothing.
10 years later, now at 85 years old, the Lord speaks to Abram in a vision. He takes him outside and says to him, “Look up into the sky and count he stars if you can. That’s how many descendants you will have!”
Another promise followed by nothing actually happening. In this desperate wait is when sad and sick hearts make bad choices and create messes with a servant girl named Hagar and her baby. Abram and his wife were willing to settle. They were willing to accept a baby any way they could get it. But that was not God’s plan.
Right now, maybe you’re willing to settle. You’re so tired of waiting that you’ll take a “good enough” version you can have now and sacrifice God’s best that you still can’t have. I’m so grateful God knows his girls. He knows our tender hearts. He knows our loneliness. He knows our minds that so easily play tricks on us, putting lipstick on pigs and creating fixer upper situations that would be a disaster. And he covers us with his grace.
GRACE TO WAIT FOR GOD’S BEST.
Father, close the doors I would so easily run through that lead to the second rate version of your plans for me. Block the way that leads me to my plans and guide me to the narrow path that leads me to yours. Help me to wait patiently for your move.
Patient waiting isn’t just about what we get at the end of the wait, it’s about who we become in the waiting. This is where God molds us. It’s where we find joy in the simple things as we wait on the big thing. It’s where we find that actually God is enough.
After Abram waited for 10 years and God shows him the stars in the sky that number his future descendants, guess what miraculous thing happened next. Go ahead and guess. Guess how God moved. Guess how everything changed in an instant. Guess how 10 years of waiting became worth it.
It didn’t. Nothing changed. Abram received a renewed promise of children and still nothing changed. No move from God.
In fact, following along in Genesis 13, 14, 15, 16 and 17, Abram didn’t hear from God again for 15 years.

Do you ever feel like you’re not the main character in the story? Like God’s promises aren’t for you? Like the good plans don’t include you? Like you’re left on the outskirts watching everyone else get their turn and their blessings?
My sister, I want to tell you the truth about YOU, and if you will receive it, it can change that deep feeling of unworthiness you’ve always battled. This truth can heal that broken place within you that makes you feel like you’re never good enough. Here’s the truth about you – God’s eye is personally on you. You are chosen. You are special. You are seen. You are set apart. There are blessings specifically for you. Your name is known and his plan for you is sure.
I encourage you to look up Jeremiah 1:5 and read it in several different translations.
MSG – “Before I shaped you in the womb, I knew all about you. Before you saw the light of day, I had holy plans for you.”
TPT – “I had divine plans for you before I gave you life, and I set you apart and chose you to be mine.”
AMP – “Before I formed you I knew you and approved of you as my chosen instrument.”
GNT – “I chose you before I gave you life and before you were born I selected you.”
You know what this tells me – it tells me it was never up to you to get chosen. It was never about your performance or your success. If God chose you before you were even born and set you apart for his holy plans and approved you as his chosen instrument before you ever took your first breath, that means you were good enough in the mind of God from the very beginning. It means you have always been worthy because God designed you as worthy. Situations and circumstances do not determine your worth, DESIGN determines your worth.
God designed you as worthy.
You are the main character of God’s plans for your life. Every day of your existence is covered in the personal promises of God. If you’re on the outskirts, honey, it’s because you’re sitting where you don’t belong. You are seen, known, chosen, set apart, approved and loved. Nothing about that tells me you’ve been overlooked or dismissed. You may feel unimportant, but your feelings are not fact. They are fickle. Stop being led by feelings and be led by what God says about you.
Let me tell you something, the day you stand up with some fire in your eyes and courage in your gut and declare, “God has good plans for me!”, everything changes.
Within the well-known story of Abram and Sarai awaiting their promised baby from God, is an unlikely character. A servant girl named Hagar. She has no home of her own, no family of her own, no big plans for her future. She seemingly just belongs to Sarai as her servant. But Hagar belongs to God! While her positioning seems less important, she is of tremendous importance to the God who created her and chose her. He sees her. He hears her. And he has good plans her.
Hagar got caught in the middle of Sarai’s bad idea born from a sick and broken heart. Sarai so desperately wanted her promised baby that she steps in and tries to help God. Anyone else ever try to “help” God? I mean surely God has his hands really full trying to handle the problems of the whole world and he would appreciate my help with my problems. I’ll just help myself and save God the trouble.
You’ve heard it said, “God helps those who help themselves.” Hmmmmm, totally NOT in your Bible. For real, that’s not at all scriptural. God helps those who call on him, those who trust in him, those who are hurting and weak. NOT THOSE WHO HELP THEMSELVES. Those who help themselves instead of seeking God’s help create messes. The self-sufficient eventually become self-destructive. Why? Because self-sufficient is sin.

Have you ever wanted something so bad, but you couldn’t get it? Have you ever desperately longed for something to change, but it still wasn’t changing? Your whole body begins to ache. When there’s this one thing you truly want but it’s left unfulfilled, eventually even the good areas of your life have a dark heaviness over them. When what you’re hoping for isn’t happening, you hurt. That’s natural. You’re human.
Proverbs 13:12, “Hope deferred makes the heart sick.” Meaning when what you hope for is continually delayed, your heart becomes sick. And my sister, when your heart becomes sick, you are in danger of doing really stupid things to make you feel better.
Have you ever done something you knew wasn’t right, but it was the only way you had a chance of getting what you wanted? You cheated. You twisted things. You ran right through the caution tape and ignored every red flag. You rushed it. You forced it. You got your way. And your way ended up being a mess. You were temporarily happy, then sorely disappointed.
Hope deferred makes the heart sick, and a sick heart is very susceptible to bad choices. Desperation is not a place from which to make plans for the future. Desperation is a place for your knees to hit the floor and seek God. Your heart cannot be trusted here, but God’s can.
Let’s continue our study of the book of Genesis, picking up in chapter 16. Abram and Sarai are now in their 70’s and 80’s and they’ve never had children. Back then, being barren was a social stigma. You were looked at with curious eyes, wondering why you were being punished. If you weren’t blessed with children for your lineage, then surely you were cursed. Cursed for what, became the question everyone had when they looked at you. Surely you had some sort of hidden sin, some sort of disobedience to bring this deep shame upon you.
Everyone knew Abram and Sarai had prayed for a baby, and as the years went on and on and on, it was an added shame to know God wasn’t answering them. Sarai felt cheated. She felt punished for some unknown sin she didn’t know how to fix. All she had hoped for was a baby, and now at 76 years old, her heart had grown sick from all that hope being deferred. Waiting and waiting until now, all hope was gone. It was too late.
Hopeless. Heart broken. Sick-hearted. Desperate. And susceptible to any idea that might fix her problem and change the situation. Again, this is a dangerous place to be.
So Sarai gets an idea. An idea born from a sick heart. Genesis 16: 1-2, “Now Sarai, Abram’s wife, had not been able to bear children for him. But she had an Egyptian servant named Hagar. So Sarai said to Abram, ‘The Lord has prevented me from having children. Go and sleep with my servant. Perhaps I can have children through her.'”
That’s a broken sick heart talking. That’s an idea born from a place of brokenness. And it was a bad idea.
Abram sleeps with his wife’s servant, and that woman does become pregnant. What follows is straight out of a Jerry Springer episode. Chaos. Drama. Division. Jealousy. Disaster.
Why? Because a sick and hurting heart was bearing ideas and making the decisions.
If you’re in a place of dark hopelessness, hurting because what you’ve wanted simply isn’t happening, please know this – God wants to hold your heart. He wants to heal your heart that has become sick from the continual delay of what you’ve been hoping for. And he CAN HEAL THIS. Somehow, someway, he will make this okay.
Psalm 147:3, “He heals the brokenhearted and bandages their wounds.” We are the sheep and he is the good Shepherd. We desperately need him to bandage our wounds and heal our hearts. If your leg were broken, I wouldn’t judge you because you’re walking with a limp....

God is in covenant with you. He has spoken a promise over your life, one he will not break. He is in agreement with how he will care for you, how he will bless you, and the future he has waiting for you. The crazy thing is, you may not be in agreement with him – you may be fighting him. You may not even believe him. But that does not change God’s covenant with you.
We really don’t talk about covenants much today. Now, we sign contracts for our agreements. And we often break our contracts and cancel our agreements. Yeah, I thought I wanted to stay here for a full year, but now I don’t, so I’m breaking this lease. I thought I wanted to be married to you for the rest of my life, but nahhhh, I’m not feeling it now, let’s get divorced. Contracts are now something we scroll through to simply get to the bottom of the page, click agree, and submit a digital signature. They don’t even mean anything to us anymore.
But a covenant – a covenant was sealed with blood. A covenant is irreversible and forever. And God has a covenant concerning YOU. He made that covenant with Abram, and it was a promise for all his descendants. 4,000 years later, you and I are his descendants. We are among the counted stars God promised him so long ago. My sister, YOU ARE INCLUDED. You were included then and you are included now.
A blood covenant was a seal of a promise, and while the scene of a covenant would look quite gruesome to us today, in the day of Abram, it was quite familiar. Animals would be killed, and their carcasses would be split in half. The two halves would then be laid out on the ground with a narrow path between them. So, essentially, you would have the left side of cow on one side of the path, and the right side of the cow on the other side. The same with a goat. Each animal split in half, divided with a narrow path between them. Then, the parties going into agreement with one another would walk that path together, often holding hands. They would recite the terms of their agreement together as they passed through the slain and divided animals. Each would make a commitment that if they broke the promise to the other, they themselves would be torn apart like these sacrificed animals. Blood would be on them and their families if they broke their promise.
A covenant was never made with the thought of breaking it in the future if something changed. A covenant was never a decision made in the moment like a midnight wedding in front of Elvis in Las Vegas. A covenant wasn’t a “let’s give this a whirl and see if we like it” kind of thing. A covenant was an all-in commitment with agreed upon non-negotiable terms.
If you and I walked hand and hand through a path of split animal carcasses, making a covenant to go into business together – You and I were in business together forever. No loop holes, no expiration, no addendums. Done deal.
Hmmmm, imagine if weddings today looked like true covenants. Animal carcass is a very different color choice than most are going for these days. And that level of commitment is hard to find too, huh?
So, remember how God makes a promise to Abram that his descendants will be as many as there are stars in the sky, and while Abram and his wife are now old and can’t have children, he dared to BELIEVE GOD, and because of his faith he was counted as righteous. That was an awesome moment of faith. Wow.
Then, God makes another promise to Abram. (And that’s really how God works. If you can believe him for one promise, then he’ll make more promises to you. If you trust God with one thing, he will trust you with more.) So God sees that Abram will trust him with something as impossible as children at this point in his life, so God starts making more promises. Genesis 15:7, “Then the Lord told him, ‘I am the Lord who brought you out of Ur to give you this land as your poss...

Do you have something you’re believing God for, but you’re still battling for it to make sense in your mind? Some days it’s easy to believe what could be, and other days you wake up to current reality so hard that you can barely get out of bed. What do you do on those days? On the days when what you believe God CAN do and what is happening right now seem to be a world apart. On days when the gap between what you’re believing for and what you’re going through is a massive divide. What do you do on those days?
You get real with God. Yes, just be honest. God wants to fill that gap, so don’t hide it from him in shame, invite him into it! Lord, I believe you can do anything, but right now nothing seems to be happening, so come fill this gap. I hear you, Lord – but I don’t see you, Lord. I need more help from you here.
That’s the kind of relationship God is calling you into. A real one where you’re honest and you hold nothing back from him.
There was once a father who’s son suffered from convulsions and seizures. The father brought his son to Jesus for healing and says, “Have mercy on us and help us, if you can.” Can’t you hear the desperation in the father’s plea. Have mercy. Please, if you can help us, I’m begging for your help. And Jesus says this in reply, “What do you mean, ‘If I can?’ Anything is possible if a person believes.”
Mark 9:24, “The father instantly cried out, ‘I do believe, but help me overcome my unbelief!'”
There it is. That’s what you do on those days. On the days when you’re believe what could be, but your reality nearly cripples you. On the days when you believe what God CAN do but it’s a world apart from what is happening right now. On the days when there’s a massive divide between what you’re believing for and what you’re going through. On those days, you cry out to Jesus with all your belief and all your doubt, all your knowing and all your questioning, all your surrender and all your desire to still control it – “Jesus, I do believe, but help me overcome my unbelief!”
What? You think God would be disappointed if you admitted you struggle with part of you not believing he can get it right? You think God would be hurt by your questioning? Girl, God knows exactly how you really feel. He knows precisely how you’re struggling to fit his promises and your reality in the same box. He knows about that gap between what you’re believing for and what you’re going through, and all he wants is for you to stop hiding it from him and invite him into it.
Lord, here’s the gap I’m struggling with – the things I don’t understand – the things I can’t see even being possible at this point – and I’m inviting you into this gap where my unbelief resides. Here’s my unbelief, help me to overcome it. I believe you, God, but I’m still struggling.
You don’t have to hide in shame over your unbelief, you have to ask God to help you in it. You don’t have to be ashamed of the desires of your heart that are a far cry from current reality, you just have to invite God into the gap between the two.
The father cries out to Jesus in honesty, “I do believe, but help me overcome my unbelief!” And do you know what happens next? Jesus commands the spirit to come out of the boy, takes the him by the hand and helped him stand. As the father was struggling with holding both his belief and unbelief, Jesus healed his son.
Jesus doesn’t need your belief to be perfect and without wavering. What he’s asking of you is to acknowledge the part of you that still struggles to believe and just invite him into it. Help me here, Jesus, where I still don’t get it. I believe you can get it right,

What do God’s rewards look like? They look like impossible things being made possible. They look like things you could have never even dreamed up in your own mind. God’s rewards are bigger, better and sweeter than what you even asked for. They are exceedingly great.
And God rewards the ones who have messed things up. He rewards the ones who have failed along the way. The ones who thought their plans were better than God’s instructions, so they did their own thing their own way. God doesn’t cancel his rewards for the less than perfect, he leads them right to his rewards with grace and mercy. He covers us, forgives us, guides us, teaches us, and redeems us. Again and again, he rewards us in ways we could never be good enough to earn.
Yesterday as I was wrapping Christmas gifts for my family, I realized God’s rewards in my life. Is my life perfect – no. There are some messy uncertainties, hurts and unhealed wounds. There are some struggling relationships and painful distances. Each of those gifts will be shipped in boxes today because no one is coming home … and I’m okay with that. We will be alone for Christmas, but fully aware of God’s exceedingly great rewards.
I don’t get to share everything with you here because some things are private. But sometimes things need to be shared so God’s glory is made known. In the past year, we’ve walked a path with both of our daughters that seemed hopeless. Just this last Christmas, not only did they not come home but they wouldn’t even call. I didn’t tell you that. Every morning I was charged with the task of showing up here with a new devotional to share in pure delight as our family was broken. God has taught me how to walk through hard times and still be filled with joy. He’s taught me how to walk through the dark valley while talking about beautiful promised mountaintops. And let me tell you, HE’S NEVER FAILED ME ONCE.
Last year at this time, one daughter’s marriage had fallen apart and she was walking away from her husband and her 2 year old son. That’s the truth. It didn’t look like it could EVER be okay again. The other daughter was going her own way in darkness, leaving a trail of disaster behind her and blaming us for most of it. She was caught in a world of chaos, bouncing from couch to couch and struggling to buy food. But God did not fail us. He didn’t walk away and leave us to try and fix it. In fact, we had nothing to do with fixing it. We prayed – God worked. We’re still praying – and he’s still working.
But let me tell you how radically different our family looks this year. In one year, the daughter who was leaving her husband and 2 year old son is with her little family, they’re in Church and they’re seeking God. She sent me 2 texts this week. 1 text was of the 3 of them in matching Christmas pajamas all piled up on the couch together. That’s a miracle! Their divorce is cancelled! The 2nd text was telling me how they caught their little boy talking to himself and then realized he was praying. He was saying, “Thank you for Poppy and Franny.” (I’m Franny!). She told me they’ve been praying together as a family, and he’s started repeating them. Y’all that’s an exceedingly great reward! I didn’t do that – GOD DID THAT!
My other daughter now has a baby girl of her own, and she’s the most perfect thing you’ve ever seen. Their life is not easy, but they have their little family together and they’re trying to give their baby girl the best they can. Yesterday she sent me a video of my smiling grandbaby as she absolutely lights up over her mama’s voice. It’s a miracle. I didn’t even know this was possible 1 year ago!
And here I am, wrapping presents to ship to the homes of my children which Go...