2014

Yay, Daddy!

Megan Breedlove March 17, 2014 0Comment

Clapping hands It was a cool, overcast Sunday afternoon. Phil and I and the kids were in the minivan on the way back from Phil’s parents’ house. The four older kids were playing their DS’s or reading, Phil was driving, and I was working on a cross stitch project (there will be a devotion about it later). Timmy was sitting peacefully strapped into his seat watching the world go by. All was quiet, until….

“Yay, Daddy!” Timmy shouted, clapping. “Yay, Daddy!”I turned and looked at him, surprised by this out-of-the blue enthusiasm. Timmy grinned. “Yay, Daddy!” he repeated, continuing to clap.

“Thank you, Timmy,” Phil said.

Timmy shouted again, “Yay, Daddy!”

Several times, Timmy repeated his cheer for Daddy, clapping enthusiastically. It didn’t seem to have been brought on by anything in particular except Timmy’s general good mood. But my husband enjoyed hearing it, and I did, too.

God feels the same way when He hears us praising Him, I realized. Especially when it’s not due to anything in particular except the overflow of our heart.

Often, we spend the majority of our time talking to God in asking Him for things. It’s not bad to ask God for what we need and desire; the problem comes in when we do so to the exclusion of praising Him for His marvelous attributes and actions. Hardly ever do we (even figuratively speaking) clap and say, “Yay, God!”

Yet repeatedly in Scripture we are exhorted to praise God with abandon (see many of the Psalms). We’re even told that God has ordained praise from the mouths of children and nursing infants (see Matthew 21:16). Why are we to praise Him? Why has He ordained for us to do so? Not only because we need to be reminded of how wonderful He is, but also because He loves to hear it.

You know how you feel when your children say, “You’re the greatest mommy in the whole world!” Well, God loves hearing it when we tell Him how great He is! And not just when He’s just granted a request, but any time. For no reason at all other than just because.

How much time do you spend praising God? If your answer is “Not very much,” then wouldn’t you love to bring gladness to God’s heart by praising Him? Don’t you want to bring joy to your Father by telling Him how wonderful He is?Why not tell Him right now?

Psalm 150:2—Praise him for his mighty deeds; praise him according to his excellent greatness! (ESV)

Making It Look Easy

Megan Breedlove March 10, 2014 0Comment

It’s not that Ellie doesn’t have a regular bedtime, or a regular bedtime routine. It’s not that she doesn’t have enough hours available to her for sleep. It’s just that sometimes, she doesn’t sleep well, and she winds up going through the next day tired.

We were discussing exactly this on the way home from church yesterday afternoon. “Kenny’s the one who’s good at sleeping,” Ellie said, referring to the fact that her brother never has trouble falling asleep or staying asleep.

“Yes, but when he was a baby, he was a terrible sleeper,” I said.

“Yeah, but not anymore,” Ellie said. “He makes sleeping look easy.”

I have to admit that I chuckled out loud. Sleeping is easy, I thought to myself. But then I realized that Ellie doesn’t experience it that way at all. Sleeping, though easy for Kenny, is not easy for her. That doesn’t mean Ellie should stop trying to sleep.

In a similar vein, I have friends who are great at things like cooking or making stuff you see on Pinterest. I’m not. I’m simply not that talented in those areas. What’s easy for them is not easy for me. That doesn’t mean that I have to stop making my kids’ birthday cakes (which I enjoy) just because there are people who are better at that kind of thing than I am.

God, in His infinite wisdom, has made us all different. We all have different skills and abilities, strengths and weaknesses. He has portioned these out to each of us as He determined best and necessary for His perfect plans. Yet too often, we spend our time wishing we had gifts someone else had instead of developing the ones we do have, or giving up in one area just because there’s someone in the world who can do better.

But we are not to despise the gifts God has given us. Instead, we are commanded to make use of them. He has given them to us for a reason, and that reason is in accordance with the plans He has for us. We will never fully be who God wants us to be if we spend our time comparing ourselves to others and becoming either prideful or discouraged.

You see, God doesn’t count one gift better than another. He doesn’t love one mom more just because she can sing solos in church and you can’t. He doesn’t prefer one mom over another because she throws picture-perfect birthday parties and I don’t. After all, He was the One who gave our gifts to us, and God doesn’t give substandard gifts. In other words, He gave us the gifts we have because they are valuable to Him and He wants us to use them for His Kingdom.

When we don’t use our gifts—when we decide not to use them because someone has a greater gift, or because we didn’t get the gift we wanted—God is not pleased. He wants our gifts used by us. That’s why He gave them to us. So just because another mom is better at something than you are, or just because another mom has a gift you don’t, is no reason you shouldn’t be content with your gifts and develop them to the fullest. After all, God is pleased with them, so you should be, too.

Romans 12:6—Having gifts that differ according to the grace given to us, let us use them.

No Clue

Megan Breedlove March 3, 2014 0Comment

I remember my mom’s taking me to the park when I was a little girl. We went often, because I absolutely loved it. Going to the park is one of my favorite memories of childhood. Now that I have children of my own, I take them to the park, and they love it as much as I always did.

The most recent time we went to a nearby park, Timmy surprised me. Instead of wanting to spend all his time on the swings, he decided to run around exploring the park and the play equipment. I let him roam free and followed a few steps behind, far enough away that he could feel like he was on his own, yet close enough I could step in if I needed to.

That’s because while the park is fun, there are dangers involved. A little guy like Timmy, who at the time was not quite two, is almost completely unaware of the bad things that could happen. He could fall down. He could walk too close to the front of the swings and get knocked over by a child who couldn’t stop in time. He could fall off a piece of equipment. Worse yet, an adult might pose a threat.

So, though I don’t like to think about these things, I followed close behind Timmy in case one of them actually happened. Because it was possible. Even though Timmy had no clue, I did. So I protected him.

In the same way—though far more perfectly—God protects us from a host of dangers of which we’re unaware. He does this primarily in two ways: by sticking close to us, and by warning us away from danger areas.

Just as I wouldn’t have let Timmy wander to close to the creek running through the park, God warns us away from people, situations, and places He knows are dangerous. If we insist on pushing past His boundaries, we are foolishly heading into danger. Likewise, in the same way that I stuck close to Timmy, God always stays close to us. He’s always right there with us to protect us from dangers we may not even be aware we need protecting from. As we roam freely (within the boundaries He’s laid out for us) and play to our heart’s content, God stays by our side in case we need Him.

Timmy didn’t need to be made aware of all the dangers; it was sufficient for him to go on his merry way within the appropriate boundaries I’d set for him. You and I don’t need to know all the dangers we’re being protected from; we just need to trust God that if He says “Stop!” there’s a perfect reason for it, and to obey His directions.

It’s fun following a little kid around at a park. But it’s even more fun being the little kid who gets to play. That’s what you and I are: God’s children. We’re the ones getting to have fun while God stays watchful and makes sure nothing outside His will happens to us.

The next time you take your kids to the park, think not only about how you protect them, but about God’s protection of you. Thank Him for what He’s protecting you from right this minute, whether you know the danger or not. Thank Him that He’s always on duty so you can play. And thank Him that He knows exactly the right boundaries to prescribe—boundaries that won’t keep you away from fun, but will instead provide you the largest, best space in which to play freely.

What an amazing God we have!

Psalm 121:4—Behold, he who keeps Israel will neither slumber nor sleep.

In Between

Megan Breedlove February 24, 2014 0Comment

I love the Olympics. To me, there’s something really special about the world putting aside its differences for two weeks and each country sending its best athletes to compete. If you’re an athlete, there’s really no higher honor than having an Olympic medal—especially the gold—draped around your neck.

Athletes from all over the world work, prepare, and strive for three years and fifty weeks before converging on one location where everything they’ve done will come down to a few moments in time as they compete for the coveted gold medal and the title of Olympic Champion.

These athletes don’t wake up the week before the Olympic Games and decide to compete. They have spent the better part of their lives preparing for a few-minute shot at greatness. Take, for example, ladies’ figure skating and the long program. Years of preparation leads up to a mere four minutes on the ice. Years of preparation for a four-minute chance at glory.

I imagine there are times when even the best athletes wake up and think, “I don’t want to go to practice. I’d rather stay in bed.” Likewise, there must be times when they don’t feel well, or have other things they’d rather be doing. Yet the successful athlete learns to make training a priority. Those who don’t, don’t win the Olympics.

You and I would do equally well to make our spiritual training a priority—to be willing to put in the time training in anticipation of those times we’re going to be tested. In those times, we’ll have to rely on our training. But if we haven’t been training, we’ll have very little to rely on.

The “big” moments in our spiritual lives may not come often. Those moments or periods of time when we feel stretched to the limit may not happen every day. But we’d be wise to prepare for them. Otherwise, the times of testing or temptation will come, and we won’t be ready.

Have you ever thought about what you want to happen when the rubber meets the road? In other words, when your faith is tested, or you’re tempted, what do you want to happen? Do you want to wind up standing on the podium with a medal around your neck, or do you want to be disqualified in the first round?

Of course you don’t want to be disqualified, and neither do I. But failure to train properly may very well mean that when the hard times come, we fail. Yes, we can always fall back on God. He will never leave us nor forsake us. But it’s taking Him for granted in the worst way to ignore Him for four years and then expect Him to be there for us for our four-minute effort and to help us win.

What are you doing now to prepare for the trials that will come your way? Jesus guaranteed that we would face trials—every one of us. What are you doing now to be ready then?

1 Corinthians 9:27—But I discipline my body and keep it under control, lest after preaching to others I myself should be disqualified.

#1 Mom

Distorted

Megan Breedlove February 17, 2014 0Comment

feet distorted by water I sat in the warmth of the hot tub, letting the heat and bubbles relax me. I was watching 6-year-old Jessica, who was in the adjacent pool, just to make sure she didn’t need me. But the pool was chillier than I preferred, so I watched from the hot tub.

Jessica and I were there on a “hotel night”, which Jessica had chosen to pay for with the birthday money she had recently received (she loves hotels). She paid for the room, and I took her out to supper and let her choose our activities. She got to spend one-on-one time with Mom doing whatever she wanted, and her birthday money was put to good use making great memories.

Jessica called me to join her in the pool. I stood up in the hot tub, walking slowly toward the other side. Then, for some reason, I glanced down through the clear water at my foot. At that distance, and through the water, it looked elongated. Wider. Distorted.

And I thought about how our views of ourselves are equally distorted when we look at ourselves through the wrong lens.

As human beings, we’re wired to desire a deep sense of self-worth. It’s the way God made us. We all have this hole in us that we long to have filled. And that’s okay. The problem comes when we seek an indication of our worth through the lens of others’ opinion of us.

That’s because it’s a distorted lens. Other people are mere human beings, so even the most loving of them cannot fully reflect our worth to us. Then there are those whose lens is even more distorted—those who don’t love us but should, or those who, for whatever reason, don’t think we’re worth much.

If we take our cues from human beings, the best-case scenario is that we fail to fully appreciate how valuable we truly are. The worst-case scenario is that we learn that we’re worthless and unlovable.

I spent many years of my life believing just that, because I was looking through the lens of certain other people’s views of me. In my head, I knew that God loved me, but I didn’t really “get it” that He loved me passionately. I thought it was just a “God so loved the world, and I’m part of the world, so He has to love me too” kind of love. I had some people in my life who did love me, but I couldn’t really absorb their love, because deep down, I believed I was worthless and unlovable.

It took me most of my life to begin looking at myself through the lens of what God says about me rather than what others say. When I did, I discovered an incredible truth: what God says about me is far more than what I had ever hoped others would say.

God says that I am an amazingly incredible creation of His. Not just mediocre; not even merely great. No, He says I’m marvelous! The God of all creation, who created everything there is out of His vast imagination, says I am wonderful!

Yes, He knows that I’m a sinner. But He still calls me wonderful. He doesn’t hold my past sins over my head and berate me with them. He says He has removed them from me as far as the east is from the west, and now, I am righteous and forgiven!

God even dances and sings over me (see Zeph. 3:17, below). Elsewhere in the Bible, I’m told He loves me madly and passionately, and He has committed Himself never to abandon me or leave me in the lurch.

I know it can be hard to absorb these truths when our hearts have been deeply wounded by fellow human beings. But once I began thinking about them and meditating on them, somehow, the Spirit of God ministered to my heart and helped me begin to be able to absorb His love and truly believe the words I had formerly only believed with my head.

Precious mom, He’s longing to do the same in your heart, mind, and life too. He wants you to know how amazing you are. How wonderful. How beloved.

Maybe He’ll use family or friends to minister to you; maybe He’ll use a trusted religious adviser or counselor. Maybe He’ll use all of these. But you can be sure that He will commit Himself to reaching deeply and gently into your tender soul and beginning to minister comfort and healing to you.

Are you ready to take the first step? Ask Him to heal you in the way only He can. He longs to bring healing to your soul. And Scripture tells us that if we ask Him anything according to His will, He will do it.

So ask, precious mom. Ask…and let the healing begin.

1 John 5:14-15—And this is the confidence that we have toward him, that if we ask anything according to his will he hears us. And if we know that he hears us in whatever we ask, we know that we have the requests that we have asked of him. (ESV)

Zephaniah 3:17—The LORD your God is in your midst, a mighty one who will save; he will rejoice over you with gladness; he will quiet you by his love; he will exult over you with loud singing. (ESV)

Psalm 139:14—I praise you, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made. Wonderful are your works; my soul knows it very well. (ESV)

Psalm 103:12—As far as the east is from the west, so far does he remove our transgressions from us. (ESV)

Imperfection

Megan Breedlove February 10, 2014 0Comment

I always enjoy making my children’s birthday cakes. I love the creative process, and I love their enthusiastic reactions to my creations. Even when a cake doesn’t turn out perfectly, it usually turns out pretty well, a cake I can be proud of.

That’s why it’s difficult for me to let my children help decorate cakes. When Jessica asked if she could help decorate the cake and cupcakes for her recent party, I’ll admit that I hesitated before saying yes. I could do better, I thought.

The point, of course, is not who decorates better, so of course I let Jessica (and Lindsey) help. I told them they could decorate the cupcakes, and I would do the cake. They set to work cheerfully and enthusiastically, slathering blue frosting on the cupcakes and applying sugar and sprinkles. Hiding in the kitchen with Phil, I watched them at work at the dining room table.

The blue frosting wasn’t even. The sprinkles weren’t even. The cupcakes looked like two little girls were decorating them. (What if someone thinks I decorated them? I wondered briefly.) “It’s hard for me to let them do it so imperfectly,” I said to Phil.

And then I thought to myself, I wonder if this is how God felt when He entrusted the spread of the gospel to mere human beings?

God had an important message He wanted—and still wants—to get out to the world. He’s a far better communicator than we are and could have done a fantastic job of spreading His message all by Himself. Yet He chose to entrust it to imperfect human beings who couldn’t do it as well as He could.

Beginning with the apostles and continuing down through history to you and me, God has chosen fallible men and women to proclaim His message—the good news of salvation through Jesus Christ. He didn’t have to let us help. He could have written it in the sky, or implanted it in the hearts and minds of human beings, or done some other miraculous thing far beyond what we can do. Yet He granted us the privilege of partnering with Him in His work.

Beginning in our homes with our children, God has called us to partner with Him in introducing others to Him and helping them know Him. He wants us to have the same attitude about doing His work that Jessica and Lindsey had about doing the cupcakes—enthusiastic participation to the best of our ability.

What are you doing in your home (and elsewhere) to participate with God in making His good news known? Do you have family devotions? Do you talk about God with your children, or with others? Are you at least doing something to share the gospel with those God has put within your reach?

Help Him by decorating the cupcakes. Don’t just make Him do it all Himself. It’s not only a command, it’s also a privilege that we’ve been allowed to help Him. Let’s take Him up on it.

Matthew 28:19-20—Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age.

Into the Light

Megan Breedlove February 3, 2014 0Comment

Jessica in ponytails Two days ago was my daughter Jessica’s 6^th birthday party. She chose an eclectic theme—duck cake, princess plates and decorations, and rainbow invitations. She wore a sparkly pink “Birthday Girl” shirt, and she wanted her hair put in “dog ears” (otherwise known in the part of the country where I grew up as “pony tails”).

I should have known better than to do her hair in my bedroom, where the light isn’t as bright as in other parts of the house. But that’s where I was when she found me and brought me the hairbrush. So I arranged her hair in one “dog ear” on each side of her head. She looked in the mirror and grinned.

All was well, until I saw her hair when she came into the kitchen as I stood at the counter working on making her birthday cake. Her hair looked…well, messy. The dog ears were slightly uneven, and I had missed some hair in the back. It was definitely not a party-ready hairstyle.

Fortunately, my husband wasn’t busy at the moment, so he fixed my work. He did quite a good job of it, too—much better than the I had done. Jessica bounded off to play, her hair looking just right.

It looked okay back in the bedroom, I thought to myself. But it hadn’t been fine. It had only looked that way because there wasn’t enough light to see clearly. Or perhaps I simply hadn’t been paying enough attention when I did her hair.

It’s the same way with our actions. Some of what we do, say, and think looks perfectly fine when we don’t look too closely. When we keep our actions in the dark. But when those actions are exposed—in other words, whenever we’re forced to look right at them—they look like a mess.

In John 3:20-21, Jesus told Nicodemus all about this principle. “People who do evil things don’t like the light,” Jesus said (I’m paraphrasing). “That’s because they don’t want others to know what they’ve been doing. But when people do what is right, they’re glad to come to the light.”

Is there some action, thought, or attitude that you’re trying to keep in the dark so you don’t have to look closely at it? So you don’t have to see how messy it really is? So you don’t have to realize how ugly it is and do something about it?

Go before God and ask Him to give you the courage to bring it into the light. Then look at it with Him, agree with Him that it’s wrong, and repent. In other words, turn away from it and strike out on a new path.

If I had left Jessica’s hair the way it was, people at the party would definitely have noticed. With sin, if we leave it just as it is (in the dark) and refuse to deal with it, eventually someone will notice. And even if no one ever does, God knows all about it.

Get your sin dealt with today. Make it right before God and, if necessary, before others. Let God’s light shine upon it so He can wipe it away and completely, perfectly, beautifully forgive you—and then help you walk away from it.

John 3:20-21—For everyone who does wicked things hates the light and does not come to the light, lest his works should be exposed. But whoever does what is true comes to the light, so that it may be clearly seen that his works have been carried out in God.

Finding the Best

Megan Breedlove January 27, 2014 0Comment

Seashells This past weekend, I had the incredible opportunity to spend a couple days with several of my friends whom I had previously only met online. We’ve been friends for almost ten years, and we wanted to meet each other in person. So we all converged on the Disney resort at Hilton Head, and we had a wonderful time.

One of the things some of us did was take a walk on the beach to enjoy the beautiful scenery and look for seashells. We didn’t find many shells—it was the wrong time of day—but we enjoyed peering into the sand in search of just that perfect shell.

Some of the shells I found appeared perfect because they were partially buried in the sand. But when I picked them up, I discovered that they were broken. I tossed those back to the ground and kept looking. When I found a perfect one, I rinsed it off in the ocean and put it in my pocket—and then kept looking for more.

In the same way I looked for those shells, you and I need to look for the great things our children do. We need to be willing to search through all the things our children do wrong until we find something they’re doing right, and then we need to keep looking for even more things they’re doing right.

Yes, we need to correct and discipline our children when they’re sinned, and when they’ve made a simple mistake, we need to correct that too. That’s not wrong. What’s wrong is when we focus on the negatives to the exclusion of the positives. We put all our energy into fixing the broken shells rather than rejoicing in the ones that are unbroken.

Our children’s behavior is like that beach. It’s full of shells (actions). Some are desirable, and some are undesirable. When we find an action that needs correcting, it’s okay to stop and do that. But then we need to toss it aside and go back to looking for the good things they’ve done.

You and I as moms love it when the important people in our lives notice things we’ve done well. We wouldn’t want them to harp on the negatives while ignoring everything we do right. Yet too often, that’s what we do to our kids. We take the unbroken shells for granted and spend all our time trying to convince our children to remedy the broken ones.

How discouraged or even angry our children must get sometimes, when all they hear about is the things they’ve done wrong! Harping on their sins and mistakes is one easy way to provoke them, something the Bible tells us we’re not supposed to do.

What difference would it make in our homes if we spent as much time looking for what our children do right and rejoicing in those things as we do concentrating on the negative? Would our children be more encouraged? Would we?

Why not try it and find out?

Ephesians 6:4—Fathers (and mothers), do not provoke your children to anger, but bring them up in the discipline and instruction of the Lord. (ESV; parentheses added)

Great Enough

Megan Breedlove January 20, 2014 0Comment

Have you ever been to one of those painting classes where an instructor teaches you and your group how to paint a particular painting, and you paint it right there in class? Neither had I, until this past week. A friend of mine had her birthday party at one such venue, and I thought it sounded like a lot of fun. So, despite the fact that I know I’m not a very good artist, I decided to go.

“It’s easy!” everybody said. “It’ll be fun!”

It was a lot of fun. And it was easy to follow the instructor’s directions. I listened carefully and followed her directions as best I could. Which doesn’t explain why her painting looked like a professional painting, and mine looked like…well, like exactly what it was: a painting by someone who had never attempted to do something like this before.

“It has character,” I told my husband as I was driving home. “But don’t worry: we don’t have to hang it up or anything.”

“I’m sure it’ll be fine,” Phil said. When I arrived home and displayed the actual picture, he said, “It looks great!”

What I saw when I looked at it were the places where the brush strokes were a little too wide, the grass was a little too long, or the sky was a little too blue. In other words, the imperfections.

My kids didn’t see the imperfections. “Cool!” Ellie exclaimed when I showed it to her. “Who painted that?”

“I did,” I said.

“Wow! Cool!” she repeated.

The other kids’ mouths dropped open when they found out I painted it. “That’s amazing!” Kenny exclaimed. “I didn’t know you could paint like that!”

I was actually starting to be a little proud of my painting, with its imperfections and all.

We’re going to hang that painting up after all. Not because it’s a technically perfect painting (it isn’t), but as a reminder to me that even when I can’t perform perfectly, overall, I still do a lot that is right and worthy of admiration, especially by my children.

We as moms are often hard on ourselves, especially when it comes to motherhood. When we look at the job we’re doing, all we see are the mistakes. The times we yelled or lost our temper. The times we didn’t have patience, or weren’t creative, or said something we shouldn’t. We look at our motherhood and we see a picture that doesn’t look quite right.

Our children, on the other hand, probably see something very different. Sure, they know we make mistakes, but they have an entirely different perspective. They look at the job we’ve done, and they say, “Cool!” or “That’s amazing!”

To them, it doesn’t matter whether our motherhood looks exactly like someone else’s or is technically perfect (which isn’t possible, by the way). They’re much easier on us than we are on ourselves. They look at us and see “Wow!”

True, when we sin, we need to confess it. When we make a mistake, we need to rectify it. But the fact that we make mistakes sometimes, and sin sometimes, doesn’t mean the whole picture is ruined. Instead of frantically trying to muster up our own abilities to make the picture perfect and pleasing to our God and our children—and being afraid we still won’t be able to do it—we need to trust in the perfection of the One Who has called us to motherhood and will strengthen us and equip us with everything we need to do the job well.

When I see that picture hanging on the wall near my desk, I’m going to remember the fun time I had at the painting class. I’ll probably also be tempted to see the imperfections. But I’m going to resist that temptation. Instead, I’ll remind myself how cool my children think the picture is. And I’ll remember that being a good painter—just like being a good mom—doesn’t mean that I have to be perfect.

Isaiah 41:10—Fear not, for I am with you; be not dismayed, for I am your God; I will strengthen you, I will help you, I will uphold you with my righteous right hand. (ESV)

Limmited

Megan Breedlove January 13, 2014 0Comment

Limmited Yes, I know the title of this devotional is spelled wrong. But let me explain.

This past week, my third-grade son, Kenny, participated in a spelling bee at his school. He was one of two representatives chosen from his class for his superior spelling ability. The bee contestants were third-, fourth-, and fifth-graders, all of whom had to stand before a gym packed with their classmates and parents and try to spell their words correctly.

Kenny wasn’t completely prepared. He had lost his spelling list partway through the preparation time, and it took us awhile to get another one. So he had studied some of the words, but he wasn’t as fully prepared as he could have been.

“Please, God,” I prayed, as Kenny’s first turn approached. “Please let him get through at least one round.”

It wasn’t to be. Kenny got the word “limited” and spelled it with two “m’s”. For him, the spelling bee was over.

We had told him beforehand that whether he won or lost, we would still be proud of him. I was especially proud of his attitude after he lost. He was disappointed, but he accepted the results bravely. “I’m proud of you, son,” I said, giving him a hug.

And I was—though I couldn’t help but wonder whether more preparation would have made a difference in the outcome.

It’s a relatively minor thing not to be prepared for a spelling bee. It’s much more serious when you and I aren’t prepared for the tests that come our way in life—tests that we could have prepared for, if we had only done what we were supposed to do.

I’m not saying that there is a way to anticipate everything that might happen to us, just as there is no way to prepare for every single spelling word in the English language. But Scripture promises us that we will all face trials. And when we do, it’s best to be as ready as possible.

How do we get ready for trials? How can we possibly prepare when we don’t know exactly what’s coming? Three ways.

First, we maintain a close relationship with God. Just like any close relationship, this one involves spending time with the Person we want to be close to. We need to spend regular, daily time with Him. Some of the ways to do that include prayer, Bible study, and hearing His Word proclaimed. When we encounter a trial, we don’t want to have to try to remember where we last left God, so to speak. We want to be close to Him and used to communing with Him on a regular basis.

Second, we take care of our relationships with others. During times of trial, we will need others to be close to us, to help us make it through. If we’ve allowed our relationships with family and friends to grow distant, then when hardship comes, we’ll be scrambling for support. If we are holding something against someone—or if he or she is holding something against us—we need to get that settled. Not during the midst of a trial, but right now, before the trial comes.

Third, we need to take care of our bodies. As much as possible, we need to eat well and get enough sleep. I know these two things aren’t always possible. But when they are, we need to take advantage of them as ways to keep our body strong, so that when a trial hits, we won’t fold physically under the pressure.

We may not know exactly what’s coming, but we can prepare as if we did. That way, when trials come (not if), we’ll be better able to face them to God’s glory. And maybe, just maybe, we won’t be knocked out in the first round.

James 1:2—Count it all joy, my brothers, when you meet trials of various kinds. (ESV; italics added)

2014

Yay, Daddy!

Making It Look Easy

No Clue

In Between

Distorted

Into the Light

Finding the Best

Great Enough

Limmited

You Missed

Priorities

I Wouldn’t Do That

Little Things

8 Seconds