Devotionals

If you know me, you may or may not know that I really enjoy writing and teaching. In the baseball world there is a wonderful ministry called Baseball Chapel that, among other things, provides a daily devotional for women. Over the past few years I have had the opportunity to write several, and I thought I might as well start sharing them here to add in with the rest of my "digital scrapbook." Hope you enjoy!


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Always & For Everything
Ephesians 5:19-20 “Addressing one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody to the Lord with your heart, giving thanks always and for everything to God the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ.”


The Lord has really been teaching me to take control of my own attitude and emotions over the past year or so. At the end of the day, I and I alone can control how I feel- I can’t control my circumstances, so why should they be allowed to control my day??


It is so easy to slip into an attitude of selfishness and get wrapped up in how we feel about a situation rather than staying firmly in a place of thankfulness. We are instructed to give thanks to the Lord always and for everything. For me, this requires an intentional perspective shift towards having a grateful, positive heart and attitude. When I step back, I can see that God is truly at work in every single little detail of my life, and that is a reason to rejoice!


There are a few things I do that help me to stay rooted in a place of thankfulness and joy. I love telling my little Alexa speaker (seriously great little device haha) to play praise and worship music. Making a melody to the lord with your heart sure is easy when you are literally singing praises! I have a few playlists I like to alternate between, but my current favorite is to shuffle all songs by Christy Nockels. Another thing I do is to start and end the day praying specific thanks for God’s presence and sovereignty in my life and in that day. I know that it sounds simple and obvious, but making it very habitual to do these things each day does make a big difference for me. Finally, when I find myself slipping into a bad or selfish attitude, I have a few dear friends I can call to tell me to snap out of it. There are few things more valuable than friends who will lovingly tell you that you are being ridiculous ;)


God is so good and faithful to meet our every need, abundantly more than we could even ask for, we when are living according to His word. The Holy Spirit gives us the ability to live each day with joy and thankfulness despite any circumstance that we may face, what a blessing!