Encouragement grounded in Scripture
Rooted in truth. Anchored in Christ.
New reflections weekly.
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In the Silence
The TV is blaring. The dog is barking in the background. Vacuum cleaner is roaring. Your phone is dinging and pinging. It is hard to get away from all the noise.
But-it is actually what Jesus commands.
Sure, it was probably much easier for Jesus. No phones. No vacuum cleaners. No TV. Yet, in the call to become more like Jesus, we begin to practice His ways. One of these is quiet.
In the times of Jesus, sound was used as a primary tool for survival. The brains of our ancestors were fine-tuned for hunting and traveling in the wild. As civilization evolved, wilderness transformed into cities, and rustling bushes morphed into planes, trains, and automobiles. Our brains became accustomed to all the background noise, so much so that we have adapted to it.
While we can filter out threats from general, every day noise; we have become a little too used to all the noise that makes up our day to day lives. It is now harder to detect a real threat, and also for us to quiet our minds (and devices) long enough to hear small, less audible sounds.
Like the still, small voice of God.
As I trekked out on my morning walk earlier this week, I had no choice but to be and think about what it means to be quiet. While I find it easier when away to take leisurely strolls along the shoreline, I also usually take my headphones and my workout playlist.
On this day, my headphones were chilling hundreds of miles away, and my backups were taking a break to recharge.
So I walked. And listened. No background music to put pep in my step. Just me. The waves. The gulls. And Jesus.
I could actually hear the wind. Hear the shore and the ocean coming together. Kids laughing and splashing in the distance. And the small voice that whispered to me: “Did you really need those headphones? Could they actually be a distraction?”
I encourage you, as Jesus encouraged his disciples long before all the background noise became a part of life, to go somewhere quiet and simple listen.
Listen for the birds chirping.
The trees rustling.
The wind blowing.
Simply listening until you hear the voice of God.
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Make the Time
The trees are finally green with leaves. Flowers are in bloom. The temperatures are above 60 degrees in most places, and it isn’t getting dark until 8pm.
This is the time of year I always believed I thrived. Since the dark days of winter often leave me moody and low, I was anticipating longer, brighter, enjoyable days come spring.
But this time of year also seems to bring with it a flurry of activity. The time between Easter and summer brings with it spring birthdays. Various holidays. Every school event and school concert needs to be packed in before the end of the year, and it often feels like we are running a race against time, trying to catch up to get to the finish line and finally just rest.
I now have more daylight hours to cram in another school activity. Another late-night dinner. Another celebration. Another task.
You know what I don’t race to add to that list? Time with Him. And let’s be honest with each other-aren’t many of us here?
Our to-do lists are growing. Our springtime tasks and events are overflowing. We are booked, and sometimes overbooked. And the time that goes to the bottom of that growing list? Time with God. God takes a lesser seat to all of the other things vying for our time.
I get it. I do. There just never seems to be enough time.
In the very first Psalm of David, we are challenged to think about the way we spend our time. In the second line of the author’s very first verses, David gives us the prescription for joy and righteousness in our lives: But they delight in the law of the Lord, meditating on it day and night. Psalm 1:2
If we begin to reflect on the life of David, we come to see that he battled with his own distractions. Those that could have certainly reduced his time spent in the “law of the Lord.” Chosen as the future king at a young age, he spent his time in the fields, watching over sheep, spent some time as a soldier, and then spent some time as a worship leader for King Saul. If we read more about how he spent his time, we also see that he spent many years literally running for his life from the same king. Yet, he is also known to have spent hours upon hours communing with His Father.
Likely scared. Likely worried. Likely stressed to the max, but focusing on maintaining his relationship with God.
A man after God’s own heart. Not after his own desires. After God. And it began with time.
We do have more distractions today than David, and our top distraction is often sitting next to us on our bedside table. Propped up by our keyboard as we work. Likely in your hand as you read this. It is our phones.
We are running for our lives daily, not because we are in danger, but because many of us feel as if we are running a marathon race with time that never ends.
Even marathon runners need to stop and recharge. Even kings fleeing danger need time for prayer and worship. And so do we.
If I want the time to recharge. To pray. To worship. I have to truly examine my habits. And if I truly held myself accountable? If I had to answer the question of whether my time with God is truly a priority, my screen time is probably a great indicator. Sunday, I spent 3 hours on my phone. I picked it up 37 times. Yet I spent a total of 30 minutes with God (not counting church service).
I do have time. I think it is safe to say-you do, too. Perhaps the next time you want to check your Facebook feed, your Insta stories, or what is brewing on X; you choose to pick up the Word instead. Perhaps, instead of zoning out with TikTok or YouTube, prayer could become your go-to “relaxation” strategy.
Here are some practical ways I am committing to spending more time with Him, and things you can do as well.
Take steps to stop waking up WITH your phone. About a year ago, I purchased an alarm clock. Yes, the old-fashioned kind that plugs in. Instead of using my phone as my alarm, I now place it in another room so it is not the first thing I am tempted to engage with upon waking. It hasn’t changed my morning phone habits totally, but it has helped me actually get out of bed and begin my day, instead of spending 20 minutes at the start of it already racing against time.
Keep a devotional with you at all times. For years, I have kept a short daily devotional book in my car. Before work. In the long pick-up line. The long Starbucks line. While waiting for someone to show up for a meeting. Instead of picking up my phone, I read this devotional. It takes about 5 minutes, but it sets the tone for the interactions I will have with my child, my co-workers, or the Starbucks cashier.
Do you walk? Workout? Listen to the Bible on audio. Listen to a podcast or sermon. You can even complete a Christian workout class on YouTube. Sunshine Pilates or Grow with Jo are two of my picks.
Use your device to hold you accountable. Yes, our phones CAN be tools to help us get focused on Him, if we utilize them this way. Set alarms or reminders for prayer and quiet time for specific times of day. Try apps that limit screen time (I recommend Bible Mode), or use your device to set a screen time limit with a label to remind you to “read the Bible,” or “pray.”
Ask for accountability. Once we name our struggle and our goal to overcome it, we are more successful when we share it with someone else. Ask a trusted friend or mentor to encourage you and remind you to spend quality time with Him. Change happens in community. How can your community help you?
Time if one of those things we consistently feel we need more of, and it is also something we cannot get back. More importantly, our time with Him is never wasted and always fruitful. What steps can you commit to today to spend more time with Him?
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Coming out of Hiding
There’s many a lesson among those letters in red. Many decisions He calls us to make among the confusing stories He tells.
In Matthew 5:15-16, Jesus shares with us the importance of not hiding:
No one lights a lamp and then puts it under a basket. Instead, a lamp is placed on a stand, where it gives light to everyone in the house. In the same way, let your good deeds shine out for all to see, so that everyone will praise your heavenly Father.
Our hiding has a purpose for us. For our very human experiences. We hide because of fear. We hide because…well, isn’t it all rooted in that? Fear? Fear of criticism. Fear we will not be accepted. Fear we will be misunderstood. Fear we will fail. Not live up to the expectation from ourselves. Others. We hide this glorious light under a huge basket of fear of what others will think.
For several years, I’ve done the same. I told myself I was disengaging from social media because it was “toxic.” Not good for me. Took too much of my time. And yes-it does/is those things. But so is Netflix. So is endless hours of crocheting. So is hiding in a book. They all result in one thing-hiding His light under a basket.
Why did I find it easier to hide? To not tackle the fear head on?
To squelch the voices that wanted me focused on numbers, likes and follows. If I didn’t post, I couldn’t be concerned with these things.
This focus, in turn, creates comparison and envy; something I am constantly battling against. Removing myself from it, I thought, would squelch this. It just turned outwards to actual people I began comparing myself to in real life.
It has greatly impacted my own creative processes, because what used to be a source of shining light, I hid. I haven’t written in probably three years. Aside from sermon writing, I don’t remember the last time I simply wrote what God had shown me in living this everyday life.
In an effort to silence the noise of the world, and my head in general…I’ve silenced my voice altogether.
In the 4th Chapter of Esther, the author warns about the danger of remaining silent. Mordecai urges Esther to be bold. Speak up. The people she loves and from whom she came are at risk.
“If you keep silent at a time like this, deliverance and relief for the Jews will arise from some other place, but you and your relatives will die. Who knows if perhaps you were made queen for just such a time as this?” Esther 4:14
It is tempting to retreat. At times, yes-even peaceful. In some ways, retreat has been good. It has created balance, rest, and restoration that have been much needed.
However, retreat has also created a stirring that has been present for a time. In contrast, I am very restless. There’s a bubbling tension under the surface that simmers. A need to let the “light” out. A constant nagging for “more.”
The “more” I believed was God telling me to do more, serve more, be more…and yes, that is partly true. But really…it was about Him. More of Him. More people to know Him. More courage to speak. More light in the darkness.
It’s time.
Time to stop retreating and calling it rest.
To move from reluctance and fear, towards action and faith.
Time to stop hiding under a basket.
The light will shine in the darkness
You’ll see more of this.
More messages of His grace.
More thoughts grounded in Scripture. Less hiding and more of Him.
More light. His light.
Welcome to Grace and Grounds. May we journey together to be bold-and most importantly graceful in sharing the One who grounds us.
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Bearing the Light in the Darkness
For once you were full of darkness, but now you have light from the Lord. So live as people of light! For this light within you produces only what is good and right and true. Ephesians 5:8-9, NLT
The world has been filled with things that are not of God for thousands and thousands of years. Pick up the Bible and read the passages in the Old Testament, and you can read stories of those who crafted and bowed down to false idols, and rejected God’s teachings and way of life. Who encouraged others to do the same; and this still occurs today. In fact, Satan works overtime to ensure this happens. It pleases him to turn people away from God. It pleases him when people reject the message of Jesus and the Gospel. He will do whatever he can to prowl around in darkness, and tempt people away from a godly way of life, and he uses the most desirable things to do this-wealth, fame, and all things to do with it.
See, apparently the Grammys aired last Sunday. I say, apparently…because I only know about it from the commentary and opinions that I have seen posted on the internet and social media since then. And we are a week in. If there is anything I know about Satan, I know he uses the mind to influence. The senses. The eyes, and the ears. So, everytime a video has been posted, an image of his likeness or message has also been displayed for everyone to take in…once again. Garbage in. Garbage out.
The realm of darkness now has a much wider audience thanks to social media, the internet, and the vast number of people to whom Satan can broadcast his message of evil. It is broadcast all over, seen for days, viewed by millions, and paraded in the public square for all to see. Then shared again on social media pages for critquing, viewing, and partaking in whether we ever wanted to see it or not, and the message is often the same from evangeligical circles: “Condemn this evil. Rebuke these rituals. How dare anyone who calls Jesus, Lord, be in the presence of those sinners!” But, I wonder at times, if the way in which we are responding, is the answer? Are we missing one part of Jesus’ message in John 3:16…perhaps we skip verse 17: For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him. If Jesus didn’t condemn, who exactly are we to?
Ephesians 6 talks about this Satan that was put on full display last Sunday evening. This one we portray in modern stories and pictures as a red demon with horns. We are reminded who he is: For we are not fighting against flesh-and-blood enemies, but against evil rulers and authorities of the unseen world, against mighty powers in this dark world, and against evil spirits in the heavenly places (Eph 6:12, NLT). People are not our enemies. The people who are wrestling with evil and darkness are not our enemies. In fact they are people, loved by God. Those He desires to be saved. Captured by THE enemy, not OUR enemies. So why do we condemn as if they are?
And how do we respond differently? Ensuring we are Jesus, not condemning as He didn’t come to do, but also rebuking and pointing them to the way, as we are called to do?
On Wednesday, Asbury University in Wilmore, Kentucky had its regularly scheduled chapel service. Several days after the Grammys aired. Several days after people continued to talk about the “deplorables” of the world that gathered on and around that stage. They worshipped. They repented. They prayed. They shared testimonies. And as of today, they continue to.
“I have told you all this so that you may have peace in me. Here on earth you will have many trials and sorrows. But take heart, because I have overcome the world.” John 16:33, NLT
When evil is paraded in the town square, it is our human response to react with anger. I am filled with righteuous anger. However, condemnation and hate filled opinions of the people who either speak against or don’t is not the answer. Condemnation against those who attended the “parade” is not the answer. Neither is it for those who orchestrated the “parade.” Remember, our fight is not against people, it is against the enemy. Against evil. And God has overcome evil. With His light.
He has placed this light inside of us. His children. And the fact remains that He loves ALL people. Yes, even those who walk in darkness, and His desire is to reconcile them to His amazing light. Condemnation will not do this. Responses like those in Wilmore can.
So what do we do with evil?
We realize it for what it is: a scheme of Satan and not a fight against each other. We have got to stop fighting against each other, and start praying for each other. Brothers and sisters of Christ, and for those that are lost to their wayward lifestyles. Pray we will walk in unity as a church. Pray for those that are lost in sin. Pray their eyes will be opened to the light of Christ. Pray for salvation.
Carry your “light” wisely. What do I mean? Do not use it as a method to wield judgement and condemnation on others who simply sin differently than you do. A general rule here: Remember how you came to salvation in Christ. Was it through a message of grace? Or a mesage of fire and brimstone? It was likely the first. Use that to reach people, always seasoning your message of holiness with grace.
Last, but certainly not least:
He is patient with you, not wanting anyone to perish, but everyone to come to repentance. 2 Peter 3, NIV
God desires that everyone come into His Kingdom, and so this should be our greatest desire as well. If we see the evil of this world, and we know a person is drowning in it, our next action should be to bow down and pray for their deliverence, their protection from the enemy, and their safety. That God would be revealed to them. This is what pleases our Heavenly Father and stops the schemes of Satan.
Remember, friends…God has already conquered evil. He overcomes darkness again and again and again, and we get to participate. Let us remember that once we were in darkness, and look back on the message we needed to be removed from its grips. It was not a message of shame, but one of love, compassion, and grace. He has placed this message of light in us, and given us the authority to go and draw others near to Him. We have a holy responsibility as Christ ambassadors to make His light so bright that its flame is too bright to miss. Too bright to put out. It’s the one others are drawn to over all others.
Let’s ensure that our words, deeds, and actions spark the light that shines so bright that darkness simply flees. What changes do you need to make in your words or actions to be a light in the darkness today? How do you need to ensure that others see Jesus in you?
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Thankful for what isn’t
Be thankful in all circumstances, for this is God’s will for you who belong to Christ Jesus. 1 Thessalonians 5:18, NLT
In 1990, country music artist Garth Brooks released a song titled “Unanswered Prayers.” In it, as with most country hits, he reflected on an old flame he once prayed to God would be his, but undoubtedly was not to be. Ending each chorus with this refrain: “Some of God’s greatest gifts are all too often unanswered prayers.”
On this day, we will sit around tables. We will write posts. We will reflect on all the ways in which we have been blessed. During this month of “thanks,” we will focus on gratitude, and most often the ways in which God has answered our prayers, and given us what we have wanted. Made us laugh. Times we have felt joy. Times we have known love. Things of which we can know without a shadow of a doubt were “good.” We will not reflect on those things that God did NOT do for us.
But what if He is also calling us to give thanks for these, and be grateful for those things He doesn’t give us. Those prayers that go unanswered. Those times when we were struggling, full of despair. Grief. When it looked like all we kept meeting were barriers upon barriers. When He removed people from our lives, and we didn’t know why.
See, we often see these as obstacles. Even at times punishment. And they can be. If we are not being obedient to God, He can provide struggle to disrupt us, and move us back to the right path.
But He can also allow struggle for growth. To refine us and make us more like Him as the word says in Romans 5:3-5. He can use these trials to “help us develop endurance. And endurance develops strength of character, and character strengthens our confident hope of salvation.”
We can see barriers as “no’s,” when often they are placed there to teach us to persevere.
We can see removals as rejection, when often God knows that person can’t go where we are going. He knew they wouldn’t be able to walk in the room He wanted us to walk into.
What we deem as “unanswered,” God is working for good, but in the midst of the suffering. The pain. The rejection. We don’t often see this, and we certainly are not thankful.
It’s why Paul reminds us in 2 Corinthians 12:9, Each time he said, “My grace is all you need. My power works best in weakness.” So now I am glad to boast about my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ can work through me. So can we boast about what He has not allowed to happen in our lives? The unanswered prayers? The ways in which we have endured suffering?
The person He removed, because it taught us to forgive, and to honor the relationships we do have?
The suffering we endured because it produced faith and a reliance on God we didn’t have before?
The setbacks and barriers He placed in our path; because it taught us not to give up on His purpose for us?
Today, as we reflect on all that God has done that yes…is certainly oh so good, may we also reflect on the things that have not been, but how He has turned them for the best.
For His unanswered prayers.
About Me
I am January! Wife, mother, meemaw, pastor, and mental health provider who makes it through the day with my coffee, my journal, and my God. A simple human, navigating life through the messy and sometimes chaotic. All focused on Him.
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