Suggested Reading: 2 Corinthians 4:1-18
Some of you noticed I’ve been MIA (Missing in Action) ever since I posted “Can I Be Sad and Still Have Strong Faith?” on March 2, 2022. Thanks to those who reached out to check on me.
I’m back! Praise the Lord! I can hardly wait to share all that God has been doing in what looked like my stillness or absence. Hallelujah!
Over the last seven months, God blessed me with nine incredible ministry opportunities that have kept me busy, along with my monthly contributions to Our Daily Bread.
- I was invited to join a diverse team contributing to a brand-new The Message Devotional Bible for women.
- My first children’s picture book, the 2021 ECPA Children’s Book Finalist Different Like Me, is now available in Spanish, Dutch, and Simplified Chinese.
- In 2024, WaterBrook & Multnomah Kids will be releasing TWO of my children’s picture books that, like Different Like Me, celebrate diversity and inclusion through representation.
- I’ll be hosting a new series and sharing interviews with some of my favorite Christian authors on my Pause for Prayer YouTube channel, starting Sunday, November 13, 2022. Subscribe to my blog and order your copies of Waiting for God: Trusting Daily in God’s Plan and Pace.
- I’ve been invited to join the diverse group of women contributing to the God Hears Her Blog and have devotions included in God Hears Her (2017), God Sees Her (2020 ), and God Loves Her (2022).
- I signed the contract with Our Daily Bread Publishing for my second devotional, which will release in 2024. No spoilers!
- I’ve been invited to write a few extra articles for Our Daily Bread special editions, including a book on Ecclesiastes for women.
8 & 9 are secret projects that God entrusted to me. I’m still working, praising God, and praying for readers as He leads me on these incredible adventures. To God be the glory, the honor, and the praise!
If you’re connected with me on Instagram or Facebook, you may know that I’ve had a few health setbacks that have limited my mobility more and increased my chronic pain and fatigue.
My husband, who serves as my caregiver, has also had a few unexpected health issues. And Callie the Service Dog has had two operations. By God’s grace, her tests came back cancer free.
Our transition from Wisconsin back to California in September 2020 has been difficult, but we’ve seen God working in amazing ways through the trials on this side of eternity. Hallelujah!
We’re in our new home, a miracle story I’ll be sharing in an upcoming devotional. Oh, I hope you’re ready to praise God!
Our son Xavier got married and had a beautiful baby boy this year! My stepson, AJ, is engaged to a young lady with three lovely girls. They had a son together. So, that means I’m a grandma to five! My grandbabies call me Lolli and my husband Pops.
To God be the glory, the honor, and the praise, praise, praise!
With all of this going on, I’ve kept on writing and making deadlines through the power of the Holy Spirit.
My awesome editors extended grace when needed, too. But over the last week, I’ve been struggling. I knew I had work to do, but I couldn’t get up from the sofa. I didn’t want to get up. I didn’t want to do anything. I felt . . . empty.
I couldn’t deny my physical, emotional, or mental weakness. As I asked God what He wanted me to share, besides giving an update to explain where I’ve been since March, He led me to the following verse:
“Therefore, since through God’s mercy we have this ministry, we do not lose heart.” 2 Corinthians 4:1
As the pain and fatigue increased, God nudged me deeper into His Word to consider what came before and after that “Therefore” in verse 1.
“Now the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom” (2 Corinthians 3:17). Amid that freedom, the Holy Spirit transforms us to reflect the image of Christ (v. 18). God expects us to fulfill the great commission and greatest commandment in different ways, using the variety of gifts He’s entrusted to each of us. However, God has never said we need to be strong enough on our own.
True freedom and strength requires submission to the Holy Spirit, who is always working to make us more like Jesus.
After we’ve “renounced,” or confessed, our “secret and shameful ways,” aka our sins (v. 2), we can stand firm in the freedom of Christ that is only possible when we build on God’s infallible truth and live in surrender to His Holy Spirit.
“For God, who said, ‘Let light shine out of darkness,’ made his light shine in our hearts to give us the light of the knowledge of God’s glory displayed in the face of Christ. But we have this treasure in jars of clay to show that this all-surpassing power is from God and not from us” (2 Corinthians 4:6-7, NIV, emphasis mine).
The treasure, the light of the gospel, is the Good News that we’re commissioned to share to the ends of the earth, the message of Jesus that changes lives through the power of the Holy Spirit.
Yes, the Holy Spirit dwells in us so we can shine for Jesus! So why would Paul compare our earthly bodies to jars of clay that were common, of minimal value, and easily broken into useless pieces? Because he is affirming where we derive our strength. In our self-centered pride and fear, we often hinder the Holy Spirit from working by claiming we just need a little help from Him instead of admitting we can do nothing without Him.
God knows we’ll be stretched to our limits and acknowledges the sufficiency of His presence and power.
We will be “hard pressed on every side, but not crushed; perplexed, but not in despair; persecuted, but not abandoned; struck down, but not destroyed” (vv. 8-9). The tension of surrendering and accepting God’s grace never ceases (vv. 10-14).
“All this if for your benefit, so that the grace that is reaching more and more people may cause thanksgiving to overflow to the glory of God” (v. 15).
It’s all about Jesus and sharing His Good News as we love God and each other! Hallelujah!
“Therefore, we do not lose heart. Though outwardly we are wasting away, yet inwardly we are being renewed day by day” (v. 16).
Our weakness doesn’t surprise God or make us ineffective in His Kingdom.
Rather, when we embrace that weakness, we’re ready to admit we need God to be our everything. When we can’t get up, when we can’t handle one more thing, when we can’t even imagine taking one more step . . . that moment is when we can experience the promised freedom of surrender to the Holy Spirit.
“For our light and momentary troubles are achieving for us an eternal glory that far outweighs them all. So we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen, since what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal” (vv. 17-18).
Even the strongest believer is limited by human frailty.
Before we’re running on fumes, God invites us to place our trust in Him alone.
We can’t, BUT by God’s mercy and faithful goodness He continually affirms that He can, He always could, He always has and He always will.
“Therefore, in order to keep me from being conceited, I was given a thorn in my flesh, a messenger of Satan, to torment me. Three times I pleaded with the Lord to take it away from me. But he said to me, ‘My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.’ Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ’s power may rest on me. That is why, for Christ’s sake, I delight in my weaknesses, in insults, in hardships, in persecutions, in difficulties. For when I am weak, then I am strong.” (2 Corinthians 12:7-10, NIV, emphasis mine)
Hallelujah!
Holy Spirit, please empower us to surrender to You so that we can experience the freedom of total reliance on You today and every day. In Jesus’ name, Amen.
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SPECIAL EVENT
I’ll be joining over 40 authors at the Bridgeway Church Pop-Up Book Fair on November 18, 2022 at 5-9 pm at Bridgeway Christian Church, 8150 Industrial Blvd., Roseville, CA 95678. For more information, please click here.
I’ll be selling and signing copies of Different Like Me, Diferente como yo, and Waiting for God: Trusting Daily in God’s Plan and Pace.
I’ll be doing a special reading with Callie the Service Dog and will have lots of exclusive giveaways at my table. I look forward to seeing you there! To check out my Special Event Author Page with details about prices and giveaways, please click here.
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Dear sister in Christ,
Your honesty and vulnerability with your struggles reaches into the deep places of our hearts. We do not lose heart, as the Bible (and you) remind(s) us, and your heart is surely one filled with Christ’s love. Bless you, and your beautiful family, too!
Love,
Kathy
Kathy, you have been such a wonderful encourager. Thanks for blessing me with your ongoing support. To God be the glory! I look forward to growing with you, Sis!
Thank you! God is blessing me with your writing. I have so many days when I just can’t…but I come across a devotion you’ve written and God shows me I’m not alone. God bless you 🙏 ❤️
You are not alone, Sis. I thank God for reminding me of that truth every time I need a gentle reminder, like tonight through your message. To God be the glory! I thank the Lord that we’re connected here and pray you will continue keeping in touch. I’m currently working on my next devotional that explores that space . . . “when I just can’t!” Oh, but God! Hallelujah! I love you and am praying for you, beloved Sister.
Xochi:
I love reading your work. Like you, I also struggle with chronic pain and disability. Few in the Body of Christ understand this daily conflict, and I am always so encouraged when I read your powerful writing about it. It makes me feel like your sister in the shared struggle, and it helps me to persevere despite the difficulty.
Thank you for making time to bless me with your kind words of encouragement, Sister. I am so sorry you’re hurting. Through this painful learning journey, God has blessed me with a deeper sense of compassion for those who are hurting. Though we can’t take their pain away, we can pray and offer encouragement and support . . . just like you did for me through your message. I am glad we’re connected here and pray you will continue connecting with me as we seek and serve God one day at a time. As you well know, we need God and each other on this journey, Sis! I love you and am praying for you as I write this note.
Thank you for you ODB devotions. I have 2 chronic illnesses which have truly gut punched me again for over a year now.
I have been losing my hope but reading your devotions and reading your bio helps me realize I am not alone in pain and illness.
Thank you. My circumstances are no different, I may lose my home as I try to find financial help while trying to get my disease back in remission. Maybe praying with you through devotion will bring breakthrough.
Thanks for sharing your heart with me, Lori. I’m so sorry you’re hurting, Sis. Yes! You are correct! You are not alone! God is with us in all circumstances, still faithful and good, still able and available, still full of mercy and mighty in power. Hallelujah! I’m so glad you are going to be on this journey with me. I hope you will join me in reading the Bible in a Year in 2023. I’ll be sharing details soon. I’m looking forward to growing with you, Sis. Oh, what a glorious God we serve! Lord Almighty, please help Lori feel Your constant presence and rest in Your unconditional love as she trusts You to provide for all she needs. Please reveal Yourself to her in ways she has never experienced before. You are our eternal hope, our everlasting peace, our limitless Power Source. Help us walk in Spirit-empowered courage and confidence, trusting Your plan and Your pace and Your purpose. May Your name be glorified as Your power is magnified in and through our weaknesses. We can do nothing without You, Lord. In Jesus’ name, Amen
As I read “Waiting for God”, I realize I’m not alone. I am so glad the Lord has led me to you. I am encouraged by your words, and learning more how to live a life of more of Him and less of me. I thank God for you, I pray for you and ask that you please remember me in your prayers. Dios Te Bendiga
Thank you for these kind words, Sister. You are not alone! God is so good and compassionate in the ways He deals with us and brings others into our lives to remind us that He is with us and we are members of a greater community–His beloved children. I am grateful that He led you to become a member of my blog family. I look forward to growing with you. It is my pleasure and privilege to pray for you. You are loved!
I love reading your work. I am grateful that God led me to become a member of your blog family. I look forward to growing with you.
Thanks for your kind words of encouragement, Brother Evan. To God be the glory!