Infinite possibilities

By Jessica Brodie (From the Advocate, April 2017)

I haven’t always been a daily Bible reader, and last Lent, I decided that needed to change. It proved to be a spiritual awakening.

This Lent, I was led to a new spiritual discipline: morning quiet time with God. Instead of immediately reaching for my cell phone in the predawn light, scrolling through emails and headlines, now I sink to my knees for a few moments of silent meditation. I try to be still and bask in His love, and then I reach for my devotional (right now, “Jesus Calling”—wonderful!). It’s a nice start to the day, a time of spiritual nourishment that sets the pace and tone for all that is to come. It has allowed me a new kind of peace in and attentiveness to creation, and later that morning when I read and journal about Scripture, that early-morning foundation makes my understanding richer, fuller and far deeper than ever before.

Before, I used to hear people talk about being “hungry” for the Word, and I truthfully didn’t know what they meant. Now I do. It’s an amazing feeling.

Not just that, but I find that by starting my day in the Lord and committing to daily prayer and Bible reading, in essence I’ve put on my spiritual armor for the day. No matter what comes my way, it’s OK.

And oddly, I’ve found it has actually freed up my time, which is possibly my most challenging issue in this season of my life and the thing that used to stop me from committing to daily Bible time. I literally don’t stop from morning to night between juggling work, family and fitness. Yet I’m finding that the more time I give to God, the more time I actually seem to have! The math doesn’t equate, but God’s bigger than math; He makes it so.

It’s like the person afraid of tithing because he didn’t think he could afford to spare any of his slim wages, then started and found he had plenty after all—only, for me, I was afraid of tithing more time, and now look. There’s plenty. Shame on me for being so stingy with my time before, but lesson learned, and now I’m excited about what God’s going to show me next.

See, when we turn over our lives to Him and really mean it, amazing things happen. When we decide “God’s way, not my way,” He uses us and transforms us in beautiful, breathtaking ways we could never have even fathomed on our own.

As we approach Easter, I pray that God continues to help me—and you—embrace and unleash the new creations we are in Him. The possibilities are infinite. Happy Easter, friends!