Wanting People

“God did not create people out of need but because He wanted to, just for the love of it. Strictly speaking, I do not know that I am needed in this world. But as God’s child I do know that I am wanted. It seems to me that the world could carry on quite well without me. Would it make any difference if there were one less star in the heavens? No, that extra star is not there because it is needed, but because it is wanted. It is there because Someone wanted it.

Knowing I am wanted, both by God and by other people, is more mysterious and freeing than being needed. Similarly, it is better for me to want God and to want people than to relate out of need. Want is a purer and a higher [ … ]

Heal Through His Love

“I plead with you. Let love uncover your past, and let the balm of grace heal it. God, in His omniscience and sovereignty, allowed you to experience what you experienced. His intent was not to destroy you because His thoughts toward you are precious. Rather, His purpose was to use it all to mold and to make you into His child, a child upon whom He would delight to pour out His love. A child who would serve Him in the fullness of His grace.”

Excerpted from Lord, I Need Grace to Make it Today by Kay Arthur

---

Daily Reflection: How can you accept God’s grace today?

Fear & Hope

From the pages of Embrace Grace…

From the moment we’re born, we’re afraid: of loud noises, of cold air, of falling. While trust begins to build as the months go by, new fears surface: of dark rooms, of meeting strangers, of being alone.

We conquer those fears as we mature, but at the deepest level we never forget them. Old fears continue to color our emotional responses and produce feelings of doubt and uncertainty.

For all those dark times, here’s a word of hope: God meets us where we are. Even if we aren’t looking in his direction, he is always looking in ours.

“From his dwelling place he watches all who live on earth—he who forms the hearts of all, who considers everything they do.” Psalm 33:14-15

---

Daily Reflection: How might it comfort and encourage you today [ … ]

It Belongs to You

How can any of us hate and devalue ourselves when God “did not spare his own Son, but gave him up for us all”? (Romans 8:32). I hope and pray that you can come to accept this divine mystery of how much God loves you just as you are, unworthy, yet deeply valued.
Unable to earn the love but knowing there is no need to earn it.

All you have to do is accept it. Don’t be like those who know of God’s love but have never experienced it. Experience it!

For it belongs to you.

Excerpted fromMore Jesus, Less Religion by Stephen Arterburn and Jack Felton

---

Daily Reflection: Have you truly accepted God’s love and grace?

Let Your Life Count

God created you to be you and placed you—with your skills, interests, and life experiences—at this precise moment in time for a reason; don’t thwart His plan. Be yourself.

Excerpted from Let Your Life Count by Donna Partow

---

Daily Reflection: How have you embraced being yourself for God?

A Change to a More Confident You

“…You don’t have to know why you do the things you do to know that they’re not working for you. If you get stuck focusing on the “why,” you may never move forward. Understanding why can help you respond better and can even help you heal, but it’s not necessary to changing your behavior. In order to change your behavior, you simply need to identify the beliefs that limit you and undermine your self-esteem and self-confidence.”

Excerpted from Why Not You? by Valorie Burton

---

Daily Reflection: Have you identified a limiting behavior? How can you take action today to change? 

From Ordinary to Extraordinary

“Not that finding Moses was all that difficult for God. He didn’t have to do a Google search. He knew exactly where to find him. For even though Moses was on the “backside of nowhere,” the nowhere he was on the backside of was a place called Mt. Horeb—a name which means the mountain of God. Moses probably thought he was alone with the flock for another dusty day, stranded in the wilderness, just counting the days in the closing chapters of his life. Little did he know that he was tending his sheep in God’s neighborhood, or that he was about to be invited to play a major role in God’s deliverance plan.”

Excerpted from I Am Not But I Know I Am by Louie Giglio

---

Daily Reflection: In His all-knowing power, God knows where we [ … ]

God Moments

Everyone has pivotal experiences of God’s loving activity in their lives. I call them God Moments. You’ve had such moments. You may not have recognized God in the moments, but He’s been there. Think about it.

Have you ever had a narrow escape from a tough situation by some strange protection? It probably was God who rescued you.

Have you ever steered away from trouble and toward something more noble because something inside you quietly craved purity? Only God makes people want to be clean.

Have you ever received a blessing that you know you didn’t earn? God is the giver of all good gifts.

Have you ever made a good decision that took you in a surprisingly good direction just because you “felt led”? That was probably God speaking to you.

Have you ever gone through a hard time [ … ]

The Lord’s Embrace

From the pages of Embrace Grace…

Wherever you are spiritually, whatever you have been through emotionally, you are already wrapped in the Lord’s embrace. Held close by nail-scarred hands. Enfolded in the arms of One who believes in you, supports you, treasures you, and loves you.          

He is waiting for you to embrace him in return. To accept the gift he’s offering you. To listen for the whispered words you’ve longed a lifetime to hear:
You are loved. All is forgiven.

Incredible, isn’t it? To imagine God’s love reaching across the boundaries of time, encircling us in his ceaseless embrace.

“You are forgiving and good, O Lord, abounding in love to all who call to you.” Psalm 86:5

Excerpted from Embrace Grace by Liz Curtis Higgs

Join Liz for her Embrace Grace Bible Study online through February [ … ]

Ruts

On days when it feels as if the walls are caving in on you and your backside is caked in mud, remember that God can do amazing things with a little bit of mud. He created Adam from it. He healed the blind man with it. The woman caught in adultery found freedom as she read His inscriptions in it. I wonder what surprises He has in store for those of us who are pooped-out parents today. The rule of grace says that His blessings can be found even at the bottom of a rut.

Excerpted from Espresso for Your Spirit by Pam Vredevelt

---

Daily Reflection: How will you show yourself grace while in your next rut?