For the Journey Literature

Time for another 30-Day Devotional highlight!  My fourth one was “Serving God and Others” and was originally released in April of 2021.  I had a harder time settling on a devotional to highlight from it.  I got caught up rereading parts of the study and remembering the circumstances and situations that inspired some of the illustrations.  So, I wound up spending more time choosing than I probably should have.  I finally settled on the one below probably because I’ve had a very low tolerance for complaining lately.  Thus, I needed the reminder that, as Christians, we are called to love and serve even those who will never be happy and who will always find something to grumble and complain about.  And, even if you haven’t struggled lately with whining grating on your nerves more than normal, I hope you enjoy the read.

Constant Grumbling

“And the children of Israel said unto them, Would to God we had died by the hand of the Lord in the land of Egypt, when we sat by the flesh pots, and when we did eat bread to the full; for ye have brought us forth into this wilderness, to kill this whole assembly with hunger.” –Exodus 16:3

Exodus 5:20-21; 14:10-12; 16:1-3; 17:1-4

When I read the account of the exodus and the Children of Israel’s wilderness wanderings, I can’t help feeling sorry for poor Moses. After all, he was far less than eager to take on leading his people to begin with and tried, albeit unsuccessfully, all kinds of excuses to get out of it. Then, he had to deal with the Children of Israel’s constant grumbling at every turn.

In the very beginning, after Moses and Aaron’s first encounter with Pharaoh, they were just making everything worse. On the shore of the Red Sea, Moses had brought them out of Egypt just to die. Then the people were starving… Then they were thirsty… At every turn, they should have stayed in Egypt where they had food and water. Slavery was so much better, and it was all Moses’ fault for bringing them out…at least according to them.

Still, in spite of all their grumbling, Moses continued to faithfully lead and serve his people. He continued to take their complaints to the Lord, continued to intercede for them and be the leader God called him to be. Was he perfect? No. Did he make mistakes? Yes. But, he did keep serving even when it was often a thankless job.

Today, our world is full of people who, like the Children of Israel in Moses’ day, grumble and complain a lot. We need to serve them anyway. We need to, in love, strive to do all we can even for people who are never going to think we did enough or did what we did in the right way and who are always going to have a new complaint the next week (or possibly the next day). We need to be like Moses and serve as we’re called to serve even when we feel underappreciated because we don’t answer to those grumbling and complaining about what we did and how we did it. We answer to God, and He’s called us to love and serve even those who make that difficult.

Serve even the grumblers.

I feel like February is always a bit of a whirlwind. It’s a short month anyway and one that includes printing orders for me, so it always seems to be gone before I know it.

Speaking of printing orders, this month’s were printed on a new printer. I don’t know if this is true for everyone or just my less than tech-savvy self. But, setting up and using a new printer never goes smoothly. That means printing February orders was not without its challenges. But, the orders got printed, and I still have hair, so I’m going to count that as a win.

Other than orders, I did make time for some fun VBS crafting on a snow/ice day and am very pleased with the results.

I also worked a bit more on my next 30-Day Devotional. It’s progressing–slowly.

And, at the end of the month, I squeezed in a bit more work on my next Bible Study Guide. It’s also progressing–slowly. That seems to be how everything is going lately. It’s a little frustrating for someone who tends to rush around and run 90-to-nothing at all times, but focus has been a serious struggle lately… I’m praying that improves sooner rather than later.

I had to finish my adult study from the parables of Jesus before printing orders and then started a new adult study from Deuteronomy. It’s the first time I’ve ever written from Deuteronomy for any age group, and that’s always a special experience for me. In fact, both of the short devotional posts for my For the Journey Facebook page this month came about from outlining Deuteronomy lessons. I don’t know which one was my favorite. I needed them both. If you missed them, visit the page and check out “Remembering and Believing” and “Ouch!” I also worked on a couple of middle school lessons from Genesis this month.

There was more trivia fun, and Monday morning verses for the Facebook page this month were taken from the key verses from teen lessons from Romans. I also highlighted my third 30-Day Devotional “In the Waiting.” If you missed that post, just keep scrolling after you finish reading this one.

That just about covers February. Can’t wait to see what March has in store!

My third 30-Day Devotional “In the Waiting” was not a project I undertook with great enthusiasm. And, being honest, it’s the only writing project I look back on with real regret. Don’t get me wrong. The end result wasn’t bad. It has merit and was actually one of my more successful devotionals. But, I still look back on it with regret because I wasn’t quite obedient when writing it, and not quite obedient is the same as disobedient. I don’t like waiting, and it’s a deeply personal struggle for me. Thus, I don’t want to talk about it, and I don’t want to write about it. Hard pass! 

So, as I was writing a devotional study about waiting because I felt led to even if I didn’t want to, there were times I would purposefully change illustrations to be less personal, or there were times when I wasn’t as honest or open as I knew I should have been. And, the few times I was obediently open, I did so begrudgingly at best. That’s why I look back on the project with regret. I can’t help wondering what more God might have had for me in the experience of writing it if I had been more obedient and possibly what more He might have had for those reading it. Needless to say, those wonderings do not evoke warm and fuzzy feelings. (I know, some highlight this is turning out to be…) 

At the same time, I’m sort of glad I have that one project I can’t remember without a twinge of regret because it nudges me to be obedient, to get over myself and follow the Lord’s direction, when the non-sharer, closed-book part of me who’s more open in writing than in conversation but still struggles with that wants to tweak illustrations and hold back, to not be quite honest. Sometimes I need that. I don’t want another project that I know I didn’t go about with the right attitude or write the way I should have. So, I’m genuinely grateful for “In the Waiting.” After all, hard lessons are still lessons.

As with the highlights from “Do You Believe?” and “Standing Strong,” below is one of the devotionals from “In the Waiting.” It’s one that the pessimist in me really needed to go back and reread as I was trying to select one for this post, and I hope it blesses you too.

Days without Hope

“My days are swifter than a weaver’s shuttle, and are spent without hope.” -Job 7:6

Job 7:1-21

Recently, I’ve been studying Job in my personal Bible study. Everyone is really familiar with the beginning of Job and of course the ending. The middle, however, sort of gets lost.

Our passage for today comes after Job has lost everything—his livestock, most of his servants, all his children, and his health. It also comes after his incredibly supportive wife urges him to just curse God and die, and after Eliphaz becomes the first of his “friends” to tell him his suffering is the result of some secret sin in his life. Thus, Job is, understandably, in a place of complete despair. His days are spent without hope (Job 7:6). He believes he’ll never see good again (Job 7:7). His spirit is in anguish, and his soul in bitterness (Job 7:11). Even in sleep, he finds no escape, no comfort or relief (Job 7:13-14). And, he’s waiting—but not for things to get better, not for physical healing or any kind of restoration. No, he has no hope of that. At this point, Job is waiting for death. In his complaint to God, he makes the statement: “…my soul chooseth strangling, and death rather than my life. I loathe it; I would not live always: let me alone; for my days are vanity” (Job 7:15-16). Later, he adds, “…for now shall I sleep in the dust; and thou shalt seek me in the morning, but I shall not be” (Job 7:21).

Job honestly thought all hope was gone. He honestly believed he was nearing the end of his life, that he would never know joy or happiness again. But, Job was wrong. There was so much going on behind the scenes that he didn’t know about, and God had a far better ending to his story in mind.

My point: When you feel like your days are without hope, when you’re bitter and broken and tempted to give in to despair and believe things will never get better, choose instead to wait in hope. Choose to believe God is at work behind the scenes writing a better ending. Even when it’s hard, even when it hurts, choose to hope because, as long as there’s a good God in Heaven (and there always has been and always will be), there will never be so much as a single day that is truly without hope.

Wait in hope.

So, January was a month of doing a little bit of everything.  I might have accomplished more if I had focused on one or two things, but oh well.  Instead…

There was some crafting for Sunday School lessons and VBS.  

Sometimes my crafts actually turn out the way I imagined them in my head, and I just love it when that happens! The one above may be one of my all-time favorites.

I also worked on my next Bible Study Guide a little, which is on Ephesians.  Working on it started out a little rough.  The flow just wasn’t there like I wanted it to be, but I’m starting to get excited about it.  So, hopefully, it will continue to progress.

I started my next 30-Day Devotional study “From the Writings of Paul” what feels like forever ago.  Unfortunately, devos has been listed on my weekly to-do list every week since then, but week after week, I haven’t checked it off.  So, it was nice to get back into it again and write a few devotionals this month.  I’m still nowhere close to releasing it, but I’m closer.

You know it’s been awhile since you recorded a podcast episode when the software has completely changed and you have to basically relearn everything.  The episode “When the Journey is Filled with Waiting” published this month was not all that long, but it felt like it took forever.  The English major in me enjoyed the fact that it was inspired largely by a Longfellow poem, but I tried not to be too much of a lit nerd in the episode.  If you missed it, the link is shared on my For the Journey Facebook page, so you can go back and give it a listen if you’d like.

I guess I was a bit of a slacker on short devotional posts for the Facebook page this month.  I only wrote one, but it was a tremendous blessing to me.  If you missed “Keep Turning to the Cross,” go back and check it out.

Most of the Sunday School lessons I wrote this month were adult lessons from Jesus’ parables.  I have really enjoyed writing them and am sort of sad to almost have the study wrapped up, but it’s a good thing because I have to finish it in time for orders next month.

January was also the second month of honoring 10 years of For the Journey.  The Monday morning verses were taken from key verses for adult Sunday School lessons from Psalms.  I do think I succeeded in making the trivia question a little bit easier this month.  And, I highlighted my second 30-Day Devotional “Standing Strong” on the website.  You can keep scrolling after reading this month’s review if you missed it.

That pretty much sums up January.  It was an a-little-of-this-and-a-little-of-that kind of month, and while that seemed to mean less noticeable progress, I had fun doing all the things.

Last month, I highlighted my first 30-Day Devotional “Do You Believe?” as part of celebrating 10 years of For the Journey Literature.  I followed that devotional up with “Standing Strong.”  I don’t have very many vivid memories from writing it like I do from writing the first one.  I originally released it in August of 2020, so COVID was changing the world.  (Yuck!)  I do remember managing to squeeze in an illustration using one of my all-time favorite figure skaters.  That was fun for me.  And, one of the devotionals in “Standing Strong” is definitely among the most memorable of all the devotionals I’ve written.  It challenged and convicted me so much that it still haunts me in a good way to this day.  However, that is not the one I’m sharing in this highlight because I’m pretty sure I’ve shared it before.  I went with a different one, which I hope you enjoy reading for the first time or rereading it if you purchased and read “Standing Strong” back in 2020.

Success Will Come

“And I am sure that the king of Egypt will not let you go, no, not by a mighty hand. And I will stretch out my hand, and smite Egypt with all my wonders which I will do in the midst thereof: and after that he will let you go.” -Exodus 3:19-20

Exodus 3:16-22

In today’s passage, God gives Moses the task of gathering up the elders of Israel and going before Pharaoh with them to ask Pharaoh’s permission for them to journey into the wilderness and sacrifice to the Lord. Then, God tells the already very reluctant Moses that Pharaoh’s going to say no. Yep, He tells Moses his first mission before Pharaoh will fail, adding that Pharaoh will not let the Children of Israel go until after He stretches out His hand and smites Egypt with all His wonders. God promises that then, and only then, will Pharaoh let the Israelites go and that they will even spoil the Egyptians as they leave. Thus, God promises Moses success, but He also promises it won’t be immediate. It won’t come easy.

Though we didn’t read that far into the narrative, if you’re familiar with the story of the Exodus, you know things get much worse for the Children of Israel after Moses’ first interaction with Pharaoh, and you know they don’t like Moses very much because of it. However, Moses continues to seek God and follow His instructions, and eventually, success does come just as God promised it would. Moses and the Children of Israel leave Egypt in victory. But, to get there, Moses had to stand strong even when that was hard, even while watching his people suffer and quite possibly feeling like he caused it.

In life and in ministry, immediate success is nice, but it’s also pretty rare. Most of the time success comes only after hard work and after suffering a few bumps and bruises and going through some rough patches. Therefore, we can’t expect everything to be easy, and we can’t give up after one failed mission. We have to stand strong and keep putting one foot in front of the other even when that’s hard. Just think of all the blessings Moses would have missed if he had run back to his life of keeping his father-in-law’s flock when Pharaoh said no that first time. We’ll miss out on a lot of our own blessings if we’re too quick to give up and quit when it comes to the work God has for us to do. Even when success is slow in coming, stand strong and keep working.

Stand strong even when that’s hard.

It’s been a whirlwind, crazy busy kind of month, but honestly, it was also kind of wonderful.  I feel like this month, even though there were late nights and days when I was completely exhausted, the work held more joy and excitement than it had for a long time.

I’m going to get a little more personal than I usually do, which makes me uncomfortable, but here goes anyway…  The day after the night I cried my eyes out writing last month’s review, I started writing a short story.  It was like a compulsive thing I had to do.  Over the next few days, when I wasn’t working on it, I wanted to be working on it because the flow was there, and I just had to get it out on paper.  Now, I don’t really write short stories.  I did as a teen.  They were never any good.  I wrote a couple in college.  One of them I don’t think I ever even typed, and I know I didn’t let anyone read it, but I sort of think it saved my life or at least my sanity.  I’ve maybe written a couple of others since then.  But, as much as I would like for it to be, as much as I long for the free time to give it a fair chance, fiction isn’t really my thing, unless you count church skits.  That’s why it’s kind of odd that God used a short story to make me really passionate about writing again, but I’m so grateful He did–grateful and maybe even a touch hopeful.  

Moving on, the first part of the month included printing a couple of orders, which always makes my heart happy.  The writing is my favorite part, but it can’t touch hearts if it’s never in the hands of others, so orders are always a blessing to me.

This month was also the first month for some new things in honor of 10 years of For the Journey.  That included Monday morning verses, which were taken from some of the key verses of adult Sunday School lessons from a study on James.  (Have I mentioned James is one of my favorites?  But, I have a lot of favorites.)  I also did a monthly trivia question; however, I was informed that it was a little hard.  I do find it slightly ironic that the person who told me it was difficult was also the slave driver about homework, grades, and my GPA growing up, but I’ll try to make it a little easier next month.  Maybe…  (Love you, Mom!  I just also love to harass you.)  And, I highlighted my very first 30-Day Devotional “Do You Believe?” by sharing a little about writing it and one of the devotionals.  Keep scrolling after reading this post if you missed it.

Also (and this is huge), around the middle of the month, thanks largely to a weekend dog-sitting Abby for my sister and brother-in-law, for the first time in longer than I can remember, I was caught up on typing lessons!  There was no stack of hand-written lessons hanging over my head that I needed to make time to type.  Not a single one.  It was so exciting.  (It lasted for all of 24 hours, but we’re not going to dwell on that…)  Even more exciting was the fact that wading through the pile inspired my favorite short devotional post to the For the Journey Facebook page and Instagram this month, which was titled “Some Kind of Faith.”  It challenged and convicted me in the best of ways, and I really think it would be worth your time to go find it if you missed it.

Other than that, there was another short devotional post on the Facebook page titled “Unchanged by Forgiveness” early in the month and, of course, Sunday School lessons.  I’m really excited about the new adult study I’m working on currently from the parables of Jesus.

At the end of the month, I devoted some time to children’s lit crafts and illustrations. 

Fun fact:  That was attempt #5 or 6 on the ram.  Regarding the other attempts, think less little-kid-cute and more terrifying to small children, which is why they were promptly crumpled and tossed.  Sometimes my artistic abilities are a little lacking…

So, that was December.  It was fun.  It was exciting.  And, especially considering the fact that it’s like the busiest month of the year because of Christmas and all the Christmas-related activities and events, I would say it was pretty productive.  It was nice to end the year on a positive note, and I can’t wait to see what 2025 will hold.

In my review of last month, I warned you there would be some trips down memory lane in celebrating 10 years of For the Journey Literature, and I guess that starts here…

I don’t think I’ve ever played the role of annoying little sister better than when I was writing my very first 30-Day Devotional study “Do You Believe?” I was nervous about how it would turn out and about whether I could complete it. That meant the only person who knew what I was working on pretty much until I had finished writing it was my older sister. So, she was constantly receiving updates via text messages. I would just randomly send her, “I’m up to Day 12!” or “I’m halfway there!” or “I only need to write five more!” until the day I finally got to text her, “I have 30 days!!! That means I’m finished! Well, I have to proof it and edit it and print copies and all the things, but it’s written!!!” She probably thought my enthusiasm was a bit over the top, but she was always encouraging, and it was fun (at least on my end) to share the writing journey with her.

At the time I was writing it, I needed the excitement of something new, something different, but I also needed the way it challenged me to grow in my faith, the challenge to believe without wavering.

I don’t know that I would say it’s the best of the 30-Day Devotionals I’ve written or even that it’s my favorite. But, as the first, it definitely holds a special place in my heart, and from a purely statistical standpoint, it performed the best (for what that’s worth). I’ve included an excerpt below for readers who maybe weren’t familiar with For the Journey back in May of 2020 when “Do You Believe?” was originally released. It’s actually Day 30, so the devotional I wrote right before I got to send that crazy excited “I’m sort of finished!” text to my sister.

Count the Cost

“And whosoever doth not bear his cross, and come after me, cannot be my disciple.” -Luke 14:27

Luke 14:25-33

Today’s is a somewhat difficult passage. It plainly states that if our love for God isn’t so strong it makes our love for our own family seem like hate, we can’t be a disciple of Jesus. It teaches that we have to hate our own life and also states we must bear our cross and follow Jesus. Um, besides the fact that crosses are heavy and awkward to carry, in Jesus’ day, people carried a cross to die on it… Just let that soak in for a minute.

This passage teaches that we have to be like the builder who knows he can finish the tower because he counted the cost and like the king who knows whether or not to go to war because he counted the cost. We have to count the cost before we can follow Christ. Jesus isn’t interested in disciples who aren’t prepared to finish the journey, disciples who are going to turn back when things get rough. He wants disciples who have counted the cost, who believe it’s worth the cost, and who are going to follow to the very end.

Make no mistake, following Jesus comes at a cost. It may be your future plans. It may be your hopes and dreams. It may be relationships. Someday it may even be your life. Believe it’s worth any cost and follow anyway. I promise you, when you stand before God and hear, “Enter in my good and faithful servant,” if the cost crosses your mind at all, it will only be to think that it was more than worth it.

Believe following Christ is worth the cost.

Well, it’s the end of the month again, so time for a quick review… 

November included quite a bit of printing. One of the orders was for the church where my sister attends. We happen to work together, (It’s great…most of the time…) so I just asked her at work one day if there were any changes to their order. She made a point of looking at the date in the lower right-hand corner of her computer screen before saying, “Wow! You really are behind. You usually have it done by now.” Needless to say, that did wonders for my stress-level… Even if I cut it a little closer than I normally do, I can, thankfully, still say I’ve never missed a deadline…

Other than printing, there were a couple of short devotional posts for the Facebook page. My favorite by far was “Human in the Waiting.” I don’t think I can express how much I needed that night in my office typing a lesson I’d written weeks earlier. Check out the post if you missed it! 

I also wrapped up a two-part adult study from 1 Samuel. The final lesson was a special blessing to me in that it provided inspiration for a new blog post for the website. You can keep scrolling after you finish reading this post and read “Love and Kindness” if you didn’t see it earlier this month.

That’s about it for the monthly update, so now for the “and more” part… The first quarter I ever wrote literature for was the winter quarter. So, when November rolls around and I start printing orders, I know I’ve survived another year. I hadn’t given that much thought this year. I was too stressed about running behind. One night, I was over at my parents’ house, and I told my Mom I thought I was about to give it up. It was stress and exhaustion talking. I was really just blowing off steam, not being super serious. 

Still, after I said it, I couldn’t help wondering if it might be for the best. I always sort of thought callings were for life, and at 17, when I felt called to write Sunday School literature, I certainly didn’t imagine making every subsequent decision based on that, pursuing it, and then hanging it up in my 30s. Then again, at 17, I didn’t know much about life. Besides, maybe hanging it up wouldn’t necessarily mean I was wrong about the Lord’s direction or made poor choices. Maybe it would just mean a long chapter was closing, and there would be other ministry opportunities in a new chapter.

A couple of days later, I happened to look at my Facebook memories for the day. I say that I happened to look at them because I usually make a point of avoiding Facebook memories. The older ones from when I was in school remind me how miserable I was with the added twinge of bitterness at knowing the chronic perfectionism and over-achieving was a waste. And, the ones from happier seasons tend to make me sad in the present. So, it’s just better for my mental health to avoid them altogether. 

For whatever reason, that day I looked at them and saw the post from two years prior celebrating seven years of For the Journey Literature. My first thought, which was not super-spiritual or inspiring by the way, was, “Who would work so hard for nine years and throw it away at year 10?”

That gradually led to the decision to commit to one more year and then reevaluate next November. Now, my hope and prayer is something happens in the next year allowing me to break through the spiritual, mental, emotional, and physical exhaustion currently plaguing me and that I’m ready for (I don’t know) at least 10 more years of For the Journey by next November. If not, maybe reevaluating will look like going back to college for a more practical degree in pursuit of a better life. Maybe it will look like upgrading my wardrobe from flannel shirts and boots, setting aside my love for home, and moving to a city with more career opportunities with the not-super-practical degree I have. Maybe it will look like still pursuing writing, just differently. I really don’t know. I can’t fathom walking completely away, but I tried scaling back only to discover that I’m apparently an all-or-nothing kind of person. And, I also can’t fathom another decade of life as I know it. So, basically, I’m just glad I have a year to pray about it all, and if you want to pray about it too, that would be most appreciated. 

That’s enough on the depressing/uncertain front, so let’s move on… I’m really not usually one for celebrating because I like to keep everything pretty low-key. Still, 10 years seems pretty special. And, while I won’t deny that the past 10 years have been filled with hard work and lots of it, God has blessed me so much and amazed me in so many ways. So, between now and next November, there will probably be some trips down memory lane, and I’m toying with a few other ideas to maybe make the Facebook page a little more fun and interactive. I hope you will stay tuned to see how it all turns out!

Last Saturday night, I was sitting at my kitchen table wrapping up the last lesson in a two-part study of 1 Samuel. I do have a perfectly nice, if a bit cluttered, home office, but there’s a more conveniently located plug-in for the space heater by the kitchen table, and my Bible’s always there from my morning Bible study anyway, so a lot of times, I wind up working at the kitchen table. Moving on… 

The final chapter of 1 Samuel is a bit depressing. Saul dies, along with three of his sons. The Philistines are victorious over the Children of Israel, God’s people.  It’s just a bit of a downer. Yet, unexpectedly, while studying and writing from 1 Samuel 31, I was struck by the kindness of God, and it’s stayed on my mind ever since.

Saul was horrid–absolutely horrid.  In a list of Biblical heroes and villains, he would be firmly established in the villains column.  I mean, he blatantly disobeyed the Lord. David did him absolutely no wrong, yet he relentlessly pursued him, trying to kill him over and over again. If not for apparently having really bad aim (After all, Saul had already failed with David–twice.), Saul would have killed or severely wounded Jonathan, his own son, with his spear. Added to all of this, the fact that he was troubled by an evil spirit from the Lord is mentioned more than once, and that says a great deal about how wicked Saul had become for the Lord to judge him in such a way. Oh, and there’s that fun episode right at the very end of his life where he consults a medium when he can’t receive an answer from the Lord. (Why try humbling yourself and good old-fashioned repentance when you can just find a medium?) 

And, what’s worse is Saul knew how wrong he was. He knew God’s will was for David to be king after him. He knew it was wrong to consult a medium. He was the one who had removed them from the land in the first place… Saul’s life and reign were, in a word, tragic. The man he became is, quite frankly, terrifying.

Yet, even though Saul made so many mistakes and was so downright evil at times, even though scripture doesn’t give us a great deal of hope for his eternal state, 1 Samuel concludes with a reminder of what was perhaps Saul’s finest moment. Soon after being anointed king, Saul came to the rescue of the men of Jabesh-gilead. So, after Saul’s death, all the valiant men of Jabesh-gilead risked their lives to recover his body and the bodies of his sons to spare them further indignity and give them a proper burial. God ordained that this be penned in scripture so that their act of loyalty to Saul would remain a lasting memorial. Thus, a bright spot in Saul’s legacy is honored at the end of 1 Samuel. For all his mistakes, Saul’s life mattered. He did some good. And, clearly, God didn’t want us to leave 1 Samuel celebrating Saul’s demise and thinking he finally got what he deserved. 

That’s what I meant when I said I was struck by the kindness of God. Saul had consistently disobeyed the Lord and acted in ways he knew weren’t pleasing to the Lord, yet God was kind in writing the ending of Saul’s story. 

In Matthew 5:44, Scripture commands, “…Love your enemies, bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate you, and pray for them which despitefully use you, and persecute you.” Saul had fallen so far that the Lord had turned away from him and become his enemy (1 Samuel 28:16). And yet, God loved him. God loves and values even those who tragically reject Him and spiral deeper and deeper into sin. To be clear, His love doesn’t outweigh His holiness. If they don’t come to Him for redemption through the blood of Jesus, they have no hope for eternity. Period. Still, when God commands us to love our enemies, He’s not asking us to do anything He doesn’t do. There’s not a soul, no matter how wicked, no matter how lost, that He doesn’t love.

It’s easy to deal with our enemies by simply cutting them out of our lives altogether. It’s easy to avoid the lost, especially those steeped in certain sins we’ve never been tempted by and have therefore self-righteously decided are just really, really bad or those who are downright mean and evil like modern-day Sauls. It’s easy, but it’s not the call. The call is to show them love. The call is to treat them with kindness. The call is to share the truth with them. That’s the call.

It feels like October started two days ago, so I’m not really sure how it’s time for this post, but according to the calendar, it is…

I have this whiteboard in my office, and every week, I write down all of these For the Journey tasks I hope to accomplish that week.  It’s always way over-adventurous.  I’ve never, nor will I ever, mark all the items off in a week’s time.  My hope is simply that if I’m shooting for an impossible amount, I’ll at least accomplish quite a bit each week.  That did not work for me in October, not at all…  I put red asterisks by the top priority items every week, and in October, there were weeks I didn’t even check off the top priority items.  I was letting personal struggles, worries, and the busyness of life impact my ministry, so I’m praying for a better November because I have some serious catching up to do.

So, there was no new podcast episodes or blog entries for the website this month.  I don’t think I wrote a single devotional for the 30-Day Devotional I’m currently writing.  (Although, can I say I’m currently writing it if I haven’t touched it in weeks?)  I did start a new Bible study guide, but by start, I literally mean I wrote one section from one chapter.  I didn’t work any on next year’s VBS.  I did write a couple of devotional posts for my For the Journey Facebook page.  My favorite was probably “Love God More.”  (Check it out if you missed it.)  Mostly, I did my best to stay caught up on adult Sunday School lessons from 1 Samuel to be prepared to print November orders, so there was a fair amount of writing and proofing and editing on those.  I also squeezed in some children’s lit crafting at the end of the month, which is always fun, especially when the craft turns out almost the way I was picturing it in my head.  (Trust me, that does not always happen…)

  

Oh, since I was writing for the winter quarter, I wrote a Christmas lesson.  I wouldn’t say it’s the best one I’ve ever written or my favorite, but it was a really neat experience for me because I thought I was just writing a Christmas skit.  Then, after it was written and I was going over it a little more, I caught myself thinking, “There’s your Christmas lesson.”  So, the skit idea turned into inspiration for the lesson, and it was a double blessing.  I love it when God does things like that.

I shared at the start that October wasn’t a great month for me, but one thing I’ve really been working on in my life for a while now is seeing and focusing on God’s goodness even in rough seasons and struggles.  I think where I saw His goodness the most this past month was in His timely encouragement through those He’s placed in my life.  There were sweet and encouraging comments to posts.  One day at work, I waited on someone at the register, and before she left, she said, “And keep doing what you’re doing.”  From knowing her outside of work, I had a pretty good idea she wasn’t referring to manning a cash register, but when she added, “I read every one of them,” I knew for sure she was talking about my writing, not my day job.  Then, a dear lady from the church where I grew up sent me a card after she finished my 30-Day Devotional study “Women of the Bible,” telling me how much she enjoyed it.  Their encouragement would have been precious to me if I was having the best month of my life, but it was all the more precious because of how much I needed it at the time.  That’s how God works.  He is so good, and He sends us what we need when we need it.  One of the 1 Samuel lessons I worked on this month was from 1 Samuel 23, in which God did this for David.  By this time, David had been living on the run for a little bit.  He had left his parents in Moab for their protection.  Eighty-five priests plus women and children of the city of Nob had died in part due to David’s actions, so he had felt the weight of that.  Then, in chapter 23, Jonathan, his beloved friend, was able to come visit him, and when he arrived, he encouraged David in the Lord and affirmed the promises God had made to David.  It’s no coincidence that, right after this, Saul came closer to capturing David than ever before.  But, when it looked like he and his men were completely surrounded, Jonathan’s words were fresh in David’s mind.  God sent him that encouragement at the moment he most needed it.  God knows life is hard.  He knows our flesh is weak.  Thus, He encourages us in our journeys, and I’m so grateful for that.  I’m also grateful for those who listen to His nudges and are willing vessels of encouragement, and I hope I can be that for others.

So, was October the best or most productive month of my life?  No.  But, God is still good, and it certainly had its moments.