Give us today our daily bread. — Matthew 6:11 My short-term memory and my long-term memory could not be more different. I can remember minute details of stuff that happened in the 1980’s. I’m one of those weirdos who has really distinct memories of things I shouldn’t be able to remember. I can describe houses…
Even When You’re Worn Out: Always Enough, Never Too Much
Even When You’re Worn Out by Jess The LORD is my shepherd, I lack nothing. He makes me lie down in green pastures, He leads me beside quiet waters, He refreshes my soul. — Psalm 23:1-3 Shepherds are tough mamma-jammas. There are still shepherds today — did you know that? There aren’t too many in America,…
The Good Work of Turning Around
Every time you make a choice you are turning the central part of you, the part of you that chooses, into something a little different from what it was before. And taking your life as a whole, with all your innumerable choices, all your life long you are slowly turning this central thing either into…
Cutting New Paths and Taking New Ground
Sometimes you just have to memorize and meditate on the good news loops out of obedience in order to start to make the correct synapses. Memorize it, and then repeat the good news to yourself over and over. I’ve realized that the three kinds of false belief—I can’t do this, I’m not enough, and nothing is ever…
Quit Negative Thinking and Preach to Yourself
Can I be honest for a second? It’s easy for me to get stuck in my head. I’ve always had a noisy mind, when I was little I couldn’t fall asleep unless I was lulled by the endless drone of talk radio. That whooshing and whirring, loud and purring brain of mine can feel like…
You’re Invited to the Preach to Yourself Book Club
“We know Christ came to speak life — so why does our inner critic keep showing up and stealing the mic? If we’re honest, she’s a harsh one, saying things we’d never dream of saying to others…” – Hayley Morgan, Preach to Yourself Do you struggle with negative self-talk? Do you often feel like you…
Comparison Distorts
A couple of years ago, I was asked to speak at a local outlet of a national conference. I gave a short talk on the civic engagement of millennial women and then joined a small group of attendees at one of the tables that peppered the room. Everyone had been asked to discuss the topic…
A Prayer to Renew Our Minds
In order to move forward in something new and different, we need to renew our minds. To do that, our minds need a new connection. Repentance can feel like a heavy word. Maybe it’s a new word altogether for you. But repentance is the way God uses to change us. Let me show you what…
Even When You Rock the Boat
Editor’s Note: It’s Sit & Listen Saturday at Devotionals Daily. Do you ever feel like you’re not enough… but also, too much? Sometimes even on the same day? You’re not alone. But in God’s eyes, you aren’t either one of those things – you’re fearfully and wonderfully made because you are made in God’s perfect…
Even When You Feel Unseen
[Hagar] called the name of the LORD who spoke to her, “You are a God of seeing,” for she said, “Truly here I have seen Him who looks after me.” — Genesis 16:13 ESV If there is one person in Scripture I would not want to be, it’s Hagar. She was abused, unseen, and unwanted.…