Category: Gratitude

  • Walk WITH Him: Growth Begins by Staying Close

    Walk WITH Him: Growth Begins by Staying Close

    Walk With Me — It’s Time to Grow

    “Abide in me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit by itself, unless it abides in the vine, neither can you, unless you abide in me.” — John 15:4

    Last week, we began with an invitation:

    It’s time to grow.

    Not simply to know more about Jesus, but to allow what we believe about Jesus to increasingly become the way we live.

    But where does that kind of growth begin?

    Do we need to study more? Pray more? Serve more? Try harder? Become more disciplined?

    Those things can certainly be part of spiritual growth. But I don’t think they’re where it begins.

    Growth begins with relationship.

    Before we can walk LIKE Jesus, we have to learn to walk WITH Jesus.

    It’s possible to know a lot about someone without actually knowing them very well. And if we’ve been Christians for a while, I wonder if we can sometimes do the same thing with Jesus.

    We know the stories. We know the verses. We know the right answers.

    We may begin our morning reading Scripture and talking with God—and then close our Bible, get up from the chair, and spend the rest of the day operating as though everything depends on us.

    We make decisions. We solve problems. We respond to people. We carry our worries. We plan our futures.

    And somewhere along the way, Jesus can unintentionally become Someone we spent time with that morning rather than Someone we’re walking with throughout the day.

    But Jesus didn’t simply say, “Learn about Me.”

    He said, “Follow Me.”

    That’s an invitation to a life lived together.

    I love the idea of having a quiet time with Jesus in the morning. There is something precious about opening God’s Word before the noise of the day begins.

    But walking with Jesus can’t end when we close our Bible.

    What happens during the other twenty-three hours?

    What happens when the phone rings with news we weren’t expecting?

    When someone says something that hurts us?

    When we’re trying to make a decision and don’t know what to do?

    When the answer we’ve been praying for still hasn’t come?

    When we’re irritated, disappointed, afraid, tired, or overwhelmed?

    What happens when we’re folding laundry, driving to work, sitting in a waiting room, making dinner, answering emails, caring for someone we love, or lying awake at 2 a.m. with thoughts that won’t stop?

    That’s where discipleship becomes real.

    Walking with Jesus means learning to recognize that He is present in those moments too. And instead of immediately reacting, fixing, controlling, worrying, or relying on ourselves, we begin learning to turn toward Him.

    Jesus, You’re here. What does it look like to walk with You in this?

    Maybe that’s one of the simplest prayers of discipleship.

    I’ve been thinking about walking with Jesus in three simple movements:

    WITH Him → AWARE of Him → RESPONSIVE to Him

    First, we learn to live with Him.

    We stop dividing life into “God time” and “everything else.”

    Jesus comes with us into all of it. Then, as we walk with Him, we become increasingly aware of Him. We begin noticing what His Word says about the situation we’re facing. We become more aware of what is happening in our own hearts.

    Why did that comment bother me so much?

    Why am I trying so hard to control this?

    Why am I afraid?

    Am I responding from truth—or from fear?

    Am I trying to get my way—or am I willing to surrender?

    And as we become more aware, we learn to become responsive to Him. Sometimes responding means moving. Sometimes it means waiting. Sometimes it means speaking. Sometimes it means remaining quiet.

    It may mean forgiving when we’d rather hold onto the hurt. Apologizing when we’d rather defend ourselves. Trusting when we’d rather control. Serving when we’d rather be served. Obeying when our feelings are telling us to do something completely different.

    That is growth.

    Not perfection.

    Practice.

    We’ve talked about seeking Jesus. We’ve talked about following Him. We’ve talked about abiding in Him.

    But here’s what I’m realizing:

    We never graduate from those things.

    A new believer seeks Jesus—and a mature disciple still seeks Him.

    A new believer learns to follow Jesus—and a mature disciple still wakes up every morning needing to follow.

    A new believer learns to abide—and maturity may actually teach us just how desperately dependent upon Him we really are.

    Jesus gives us such a beautiful picture of this in John 15. A branch doesn’t produce fruit by deciding to work harder. It doesn’t grit its teeth and say, Today I’m going to be more fruitful. It remains connected to the vine.

    Jesus said:

    “Apart from me you can do nothing.” — John 15:5

    That’s humbling. But I also find it incredibly freeing. Because spiritual maturity isn’t Christian self-improvement.

    God isn’t asking us to transform ourselves into the image of Jesus through sheer determination. He’s inviting us to remain close enough to Jesus that He transforms us.

    Have you ever spent enough time with someone that you started picking up some of their mannerisms? Maybe you started using one of their phrases. Laughing at the same things. Responding in similar ways.

    There’s something about proximity that changes us. I think there’s a spiritual truth tucked inside that idea. The more time we spend walking with Jesus, the more His heart begins shaping ours.

    We begin seeing people differently. Our reactions begin changing. The things that once seemed incredibly important may start losing their grip.

    Compassion grows.

    Patience grows.

    Humility grows.

    Trust grows.

    We begin wanting what He wants. Not because we’ve mastered a list of Christian behaviors. But because we’ve been walking with Jesus.

    And slowly, sometimes so slowly we don’t even recognize it at first, He changes us.

    Maybe you’ve been thinking about spiritual growth and feeling overwhelmed. There is so much you don’t know. So much you still struggle with. So many places where you wish you were further along.

    Can I remind you of something?

    We’re not learning how to finish the journey. We’re learning how to faithfully take the next step. So don’t worry about ten steps from now.

    Bring Jesus into this one. The conversation you’re about to have. The decision you’re trying to make. The worry you’ve been carrying. The relationship that’s difficult. The prayer that hasn’t been answered. The ordinary responsibilities waiting for you today.

    Instead of asking only, “What should I do?”

    Maybe begin asking:

    “Jesus, how do I walk with You in this?”

    And then stay close enough to listen.

    This Walk With Me season isn’t about leaving behind everything we’ve already learned. We’re going deeper. We’re going to keep seeking. Keep following. Keep abiding. Keep choosing joy. Keep inviting others along.

    Because eventually, walking WITH Jesus changes the way we walk THROUGH life.

    And the more we walk with Him, the more we begin to walk LIKE Him.

    Eventually, someone else may see what Jesus has done in us and need us to turn toward them and say:

    “Walk with me.”

    But we’re not there yet.

    For today, let’s simply begin here:

    Walk WITH Him.

    Stay close.

    Notice His presence.

    Listen for His voice through His Word.

    Respond when He leads.

    And faithfully take the next step.

    Because maybe spiritual growth isn’t about trying harder to become like Jesus.

    Maybe it’s about staying close enough to Jesus that He changes us.

    A Question for the Journey

    As you move through your ordinary day, ask yourself: Am I simply believing in Jesus—or am I learning to live my everyday life WITH Jesus?

    Then choose one situation you’re facing today and pray: Jesus, You are here. Help me walk with You in this.

    One situation.

    One prayer.

    One faithful step.

    And tomorrow?

    We’ll walk with Him again.

    Adventure awaits — will you Choose Joy?

    With love and joy,

    Laura

  • Walk With Me: It’s Time to Grow

    Walk With Me: It’s Time to Grow

    “But solid food is for the mature, who by constant use have trained themselves to distinguish good from evil.” — Hebrews 5:14

    Let me ask you a question.

    Are you growing?

    Not—How long have you been a Christian?

    Not—How many Bible studies have you completed?

    Not—How many sermons have you listened to?

    Not even—How much Scripture do you know?

    But is what you know about Jesus changing the way you live with Jesus?

    That’s a different question.

    And it may be one of the most important questions we ask as we continue learning what it means to walk with Him. Hebrews 5:12–14 gives us an interesting—and somewhat uncomfortable—picture of spiritual maturity.

    The writer compares spiritual infancy to needing milk and spiritual maturity to being ready for solid food. His concern wasn’t simply that his readers needed to learn more. They had already been taught truth.

    They needed to grow in their ability to live it. And tucked into verse 14 is a phrase I don’t want us to miss:

    “trained by constant practice.”

    Those words tell us something important about spiritual growth. We aren’t transformed simply by accumulating Christian information.

    We are transformed as God’s truth moves from our heads, settles into our hearts and begins changing the way we live. We have to practice it.

    My sister Sara had a phrase that has stayed with me for years:

    “Change is inevitable. Growth is intentional.”

    Sara knew quite a bit about change.

    Her life changed in ways she never would have chosen. Illness eventually took away her ability to work, travel and even leave her home.

    Those changes happened to her. But what she did with them?That was something different.

    Sara once wrote a blog post about one of her life goals: to be intentional in all things. She believed that everything we do—even the smallest things—has an impact.

    A smile. A compliment. Stopping what we’re doing long enough to really listen. Paying attention to someone else’s need. Choosing the way we speak to ourselves when we wake up in the morning. Responding when we feel God tugging at our hearts.

    None of those things seem particularly dramatic. But they are the places where growth happens.

    Sara wrote:

    “The way for me to make sure I’m living intentionally is to first be sure I’m really present in the moment.”

    Present in the moment. Maybe that’s where intentional growth begins. By paying attention.

    Are We Paying Attention?

    Sara admitted that as her physical world became smaller, it would have been easy to let the world pass her by. Instead, she made another choice.

    She wrote:

    “But it’s my intention to be open to whatever God has in store for me.”

    And then she said something that has always struck me:

    “My biggest fear is that He has a purpose for me and if I’m not paying attention, I’ll miss it.”

    What if spiritual maturity requires us to pay attention?

    Pay attention to God. Pay attention to His Word. Pay attention to our thoughts. Pay attention to the person standing in front of us. Pay attention to the little opportunities to obey. Pay attention to that nudge to encourage someone, forgive someone, call someone, serve someone or simply stop long enough to listen.

    Maybe we sometimes miss opportunities to grow because we’re waiting for God to teach us something new while He’s giving us opportunities to practice what He’s already taught us.

    Think about some of the truths many of us already know.

    We know God is trustworthy. But then something happens that doesn’t make sense.

    Now we get to practice trust.

    We know Scripture tells us to forgive. Then someone hurts us.

    Now we get to practice forgiveness.

    We know we’re supposed to take our thoughts captive. Then fear starts telling us everything that could possibly go wrong.

    Now we get to practice replacing lies with truth.

    We know we’re supposed to love others. Then God puts someone difficult in our path.

    Now we get to practice love.

    We know we’re supposed to obey God. Then obedience requires something uncomfortable.

    Now we get to practice obedience.

    This is where truth moves from our heads into our lives.

    And I think this is exactly what Hebrews means by being “trained by constant practice.”

    Believe It. Think It. Do It. Live It.

    Throughout our Walk With Me journey, we’ve been talking about a simple progression:

    Believe Right.
    Begin with biblical truth. What does God say?

    Think Right.
    Allow that truth to shape the thoughts and desires of our hearts.

    Do Right.
    Choose obedience—even when our feelings haven’t caught up yet.

    Feel Right.
    As our hearts and minds are continually brought under God’s truth, we begin experiencing the contentment and peace that come from walking His way.

    Growth happens as truth travels through that process again and again.

    We believe.

    We think.

    We choose.

    We practice.

    And little by little, through the work of the Holy Spirit, we change.

    That’s discipleship. That’s maturity. That’s growth.

    Growth Isn’t Perfection…

    There’s one more thing Sara said in that post that I think we need to hear.

    After describing her desire to live intentionally, she admitted:

    “I drop the ball on it all the time… I mess up with the best of them. But my intention is to always keep trying.”

    I love that honesty.

    Because intentional growth is not perfection.

    It’s practice.

    You will get distracted. Practice coming back.

    You will respond poorly. Practice apologizing.

    You will believe the fearful thought for a while. Practice replacing it with truth.

    You will miss an opportunity to obey. Pay attention when the next opportunity comes.

    We aren’t earning God’s love by getting everything right.

    We’re walking with the One who already loves us, allowing Him to train us as we follow.

    And training requires repetition.

    Again.

    And again.

    And again.

    Constant practice.

    So maybe the question this week isn’t:

    What do I need to learn?

    Maybe it’s:

    What has God already taught me that I need to practice?

    Is it trust?

    Forgiveness?

    Gratitude?

    Patience?

    Generosity?

    Encouragement?

    Surrender?

    Taking your thoughts captive?

    Being fully present with the people God has placed in front of you?

    Taking that step of obedience you’ve been putting off?

    Don’t make a list of twenty things you need to change.

    Ask God for one.

    Lord, what truth have You already taught me that You want me to practice today?

    Then pay attention.

    Because the opportunity to practice may show up in a conversation you weren’t expecting. An interruption you didn’t want. A person who tests your patience. A thought that needs to be captured. A prompting that would be easier to ignore. Or a circumstance you desperately wish God would change.

    And perhaps right there—in that very ordinary moment—God is growing you.

    Sara was right.

    Change is inevitable. Growth is intentional.

    But Hebrews helps us take it one step further.

    Growth requires practice.

    Not just knowing truth. Not just agreeing with truth. Not just highlighting truth in our Bibles.

    Living it.

    And perhaps spiritual maturity isn’t always God giving us something new to learn. Sometimes it’s God giving us another opportunity to practice what He’s already taught us.

    So this week, let’s pay attention. Let’s listen. Let’s obey. Let’s practice.

    And when we drop the ball, let’s get back up and practice again.

    Because we’re not trying to arrive at perfection.

    We’re learning to walk with Jesus.

    And as we walk with Him, it’s time to grow.

    Change is inevitable. Growth is intentional. Practice is how intention becomes transformation.

    Walk with me.

    With love and joy,

    Laura

  • Invite Others Along

    Invite Others Along

    Joy Was Never Meant to Stop With You

    “The next day Jesus decided to leave for Galilee. Finding Philip, he said to him, ‘Follow me.’ … Philip found Nathanael and told him, ‘We have found the one Moses wrote about in the Law… Jesus of Nazareth.’ ‘Nazareth! Can anything good come from there?’ Nathanael asked. ‘Come and see,’ said Philip.” — John 1:43–46

    Over the past five weeks, we’ve been on an incredible journey together.

    We began by learning to seek Jesus with our whole hearts. We discovered that when we intentionally pursue Him, He faithfully reveals Himself.

    Next, we learned to follow faithfully—taking the next step of obedience even when we couldn’t see the entire path.

    Then we talked about what it means to abide deeply. Not simply visiting Jesus when life becomes difficult, but remaining with Him every day, allowing Him to shape our thoughts, our decisions, and our hearts.

    Last week, we celebrated the beautiful fruit of that relationship—experiencing joy. Not happiness based on our circumstances, but the unwavering confidence that Christ is with us no matter what life brings.

    Now we arrive at the final step.

    Perhaps the most important one.

    Invite others along.

    Because joy was never meant to stop with us.

    Faith Was Always Meant to Be Shared.

    One of my favorite passages in Scripture is found in John chapter one.

    Philip had just encountered Jesus.

    He didn’t attend seminary.

    He didn’t have years of Bible study under his belt.

    He couldn’t answer every theological question.

    What did he do?

    He found his friend Nathanael and simply said,

    “Come and see.”

    Those three words have always challenged me.

    Philip didn’t argue.

    He didn’t pressure.

    He didn’t pretend to know everything.

    He simply invited someone else to experience what had changed his own life.

    Sometimes we make sharing our faith much more complicated than Jesus ever intended.

    We convince ourselves that we need all the answers before we can tell someone about Him.

    But maybe God isn’t asking us to have every answer.

    Maybe He’s simply asking us to extend an invitation.

    You Already Have a Story.

    One of the enemy’s greatest lies is this:

    “You’re not qualified.”

    Maybe you’ve thought:

    • I don’t know enough Scripture.
    • My past disqualifies me.
    • I’m not a speaker.
    • Someone else could explain it better.
    • What if they ask me something I can’t answer?

    Friend, none of those things stopped Philip.

    None of those things stop Jesus from using ordinary people.

    Your story matters because it’s your story.

    No one can argue with what Christ has done in your life.

    You don’t have to tell someone everything about Jesus.

    You simply have to tell them what He’s done for you.

    The Most Powerful Invitations Are Often the Simplest.

    Inviting others along doesn’t always look like standing behind a pulpit.

    Sometimes it looks like saying:

    “Can I pray for you?”

    “Would you like to come to church with me?”

    “I’m reading something that’s encouraging me. Would you like to read it together?”

    “Let’s grab coffee.”

    “How are you… really?”

    “You don’t have to walk through this alone.”

    Those simple invitations have eternal impact.

    Many of us can trace our faith journey back to someone who simply cared enough to invite us.

    A parent.

    A grandparent.

    A Sunday School teacher.

    A neighbor.

    A friend.

    Someone left room at their table for us.

    Now it’s our turn to leave room for someone else.

    An Empty Chair.

    I love the image of a porch.

    Porches invite people to slow down.

    To talk.

    To laugh.

    To rest.

    To belong.

    There’s often one more chair waiting for a guest.

    I wonder if our lives could look more like that porch.

    Not closed off.

    Not hurried.

    Not so full that no one else can enter.

    Just one more chair.

    One more conversation.

    One more prayer.

    One more invitation.

    One more person discovering that God deeply loves them.

    Imagine what could happen if each of us asked the Lord to show us who belongs in that empty chair this week.

    Not to fix them.

    Not to rescue them.

    Simply to walk beside them as we both follow Jesus.

    The Adventure Continues…

    As we close this series, I hope you realize something.

    This was never about completing five weeks of reading.

    It was about becoming people who seek Jesus daily, follow Him faithfully, abide deeply in His presence, experience His joy, and then invite others to experience the same.

    That’s the rhythm of the Christian life.

    And that’s the heartbeat of Choose Joy Adventure.

    Because adventures are always better when we travel together.

    So today, ask God one simple question:

    Who are You inviting me to invite?

    Maybe it’s a family member.

    A coworker.

    A neighbor.

    A friend who’s quietly struggling.

    Or maybe it’s someone you’ve been thinking about for weeks, but fear has kept you silent.

    Don’t wait until you feel perfectly prepared.

    Philip didn’t.

    Simply say:

    “Come and see.”

    And perhaps those three words will become the beginning of someone else’s greatest adventure.

    This Week’s Challenge…

    Before next Monday, ask God to place one person on your heart.

    Pray for them every day.

    Encourage them in a tangible way.

    Invite them to coffee, church, Bible study, or simply into a conversation.

    You don’t have to have all the answers.

    You only have to be willing to leave one more chair at your table.

    Because someone is waiting for an invitation.

    And Jesus is still changing lives, one “Come and see” at a time.

    With love and joy,

    Laura

  • Experience Joy: The Fruit of Trust

    Experience Joy: The Fruit of Trust

    “These things I have spoken to you, that My joy may be in you, and that your joy may be full.” — John 15:11

    We’ve spent the last several weeks walking through three simple invitations:

    Seek Jesus.

    Follow Faithfully.

    Abide Deeply.

    Each one is a step closer to the heart of Christ.

    But what happens when we seek Him? When we faithfully follow His leading? When we remain close to Him day after day?

    We begin to experience something the world cannot explain.

    We experience joy.

    Not the kind of joy that depends on circumstances.

    Not the kind that disappears when life gets hard.

    Not happiness that comes and goes with good news or difficult days.

    The joy Jesus offers is something much deeper.

    My sister, Sara Frankl, understood this kind of joy perhaps better than anyone I’ve known. Though she lived with unimaginable physical suffering, she once wrote these words as her personal definition of Joy that continue to challenge and encourage me:

    “The unwavering trust that God knows what He is doing and blessed me with the opportunity to be part of it. Not despite what is happening in my life, but because of it. When everything earthly feels heavy, He gives me an internal lightness that can’t be touched.”

    What a beautiful definition.

    Notice that Sara never says joy is pretending life isn’t hard.

    She doesn’t ignore the heaviness.

    She acknowledges it.

    “When everything earthly feels heavy…”

    She knew heavy days.

    She knew unanswered prayers.

    She knew physical pain.

    She knew disappointment.

    Yet she also knew something greater.

    She knew the One who carried her through every moment.

    I’ve often said that joy is a focus, not a feeling.

    The more I think about it, the more I realize joy is also the fruit of trust.

    When I trust that God is who He says He is…

    When I trust His timing…

    When I trust His wisdom…

    When I trust that He is writing a story greater than I can see…

    Joy begins to grow, even when my circumstances don’t change.

    That doesn’t mean we always feel joyful.

    There were days during my cancer journey when I didn’t feel joyful.

    There are still days when life feels heavy. When tears spill over.

    But joy was never dependent on how I felt.

    Joy came from knowing that Christ was walking with me.

    Jesus told His disciples in John 15 to abide in Him, just as branches remain connected to the vine. Then He immediately spoke about joy.

    That isn’t an accident.

    Joy isn’t something we strive to produce.

    Joy is the natural fruit of remaining connected to Jesus.

    The closer we stay to Him, the more His joy becomes our strength.

    So perhaps today the question isn’t, “How can I be happier?”

    Perhaps the better question is, “Where is my trust?”

    Because wherever trust in Christ grows deeper, joy follows.

    Not because life suddenly becomes easy.

    But because Jesus is enough.

    No matter what adventure lies ahead.

    This Week’s Challenge

    Instead of asking God to remove every difficult circumstance, ask Him to deepen your trust.

    Watch for moments where He reminds you that He is present, faithful, and working—even when you cannot yet see the whole picture.

    You may discover what Sara discovered years ago:

    That even when everything around you feels heavy, Christ can give you an internal lightness that nothing on earth can touch.

    Choose Joy.

    Not because life is easy.

    But because Jesus is faithful.

    Reflection

    • Where is God inviting you to trust Him more deeply today?
    • What circumstance have you been measuring by your feelings instead of His faithfulness?
    • How might abiding in Christ change your perspective this week?

    May we continue to seek Him, follow Him, abide in Him…

    …and discover the joy that only He can give.

    With love and joy,

    Laura

  • Seek. Follow. Abide.

    Seek. Follow. Abide.

    Part 3 – Abide – Stay With Me

    “Abide in Me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit by itself unless it abides in the vine, neither can you unless you abide in Me.” — John 15:4

    For the past two weeks, we’ve been walking together through one invitation from Jesus.

    First, we asked ourselves:

    What am I seeking?

    Then we asked:

    Will I follow where He leads?

    Now Jesus offers one final invitation—one that may be the most life-changing of all.

    Will you stay with Me?

    The word abide isn’t one we use very often. Depending on your Bible translation, it may also be translated as remain, continue, or simply stay.

    I love that word.

    Stay.

    There is something comforting about it. Something peaceful. Something deeply personal.

    Jesus isn’t inviting us into a destination. He’s inviting us into His presence.

    Our world loves movement.

    We celebrate promotions.

    New homes.

    New ministries.

    New adventures.

    Even in the church, we often applaud those who take bold steps of faith. We tell stories about missionaries who crossed oceans, believers who left successful careers to answer God’s call, and ordinary people who courageously stepped into the unknown.

    And we should.

    Those stories remind us that God still calls people to go.

    But I wonder…

    Do we celebrate the people who stay?

    The mother who faithfully loves her family every day.

    The caregiver who quietly serves without recognition.

    The believer who keeps praying long after others have given up.

    The friend who faithfully walks beside someone through a painful season.

    The person who continues to trust God even when nothing seems to be changing.

    Sometimes staying requires just as much faith as going.

    Sometimes it requires even more

    If we’re honest, many of us spend more time living in tomorrow than we do trusting God today.

    We wonder…

    What if this never changes?

    What if I fail?

    What if things get harder?

    Before we know it, we’ve carried tomorrow’s burdens into today’s heart.

    But Jesus gently calls us back.

    Stay with Me today.

    Stay another hour.

    Stay another day.

    God has never asked us to carry a lifetime of grace all at once. He gives us today’s grace for today’s needs.

    When tomorrow arrives, His grace will be there too.

    One of the things I love most about Jesus is that He never seemed to be in a hurry.

    He stayed long enough to heal those who came to Him.

    He stayed at a wedding and turned ordinary water into extraordinary wine.

    He stayed with children while others tried to send them away.

    He stayed with those society overlooked.

    He stayed long enough to forgive those who believed they had gone too far.

    He wasn’t rushing through life.

    He was fully present with every person the Father placed before Him.

    Love is never in a hurry.

    Neither is Jesus.

    One story has always challenged me.

    When Lazarus became sick, Mary and Martha sent word to Jesus.

    Surely He would come immediately.

    Instead, Scripture tells us that after hearing the news, Jesus remained where He was for two more days.

    To Mary and Martha, it must have felt like silence.

    Like delay.

    Like disappointment.

    But Jesus wasn’t absent.

    He wasn’t indifferent.

    He was trusting the Father’s perfect timing.

    Sometimes abiding means trusting God when we don’t understand His timing.

    Sometimes faith isn’t believing that God will hurry.

    It’s believing that He is never late.

    Jesus said,

    “I am the vine; you are the branches.”

    Branches don’t strain to produce fruit.

    They don’t anxiously compare themselves to other branches.

    They don’t worry about whether they’re doing enough.

    They simply stay connected to the vine.

    The life of the vine flows through the branch.

    The fruit is the natural result of the relationship.

    How often do we exhaust ourselves trying to produce what only Jesus can grow?

    Our culture tells us to try harder.

    Jesus tells us to stay closer.

    What a beautiful invitation.

    Over these past three weeks we’ve talked about seeking Jesus, following His call, and now abiding in His presence.

    I’ve come to realize something.

    Where you go isn’t nearly as important as where you stay.

    You may travel across the world or remain in your hometown.

    You may stand before thousands or quietly serve one person.

    You may be in a season of great joy or one of deep sorrow.

    Wherever life takes you, never leave the place where your soul finds life.

    Stay with Jesus.

    Remain in His Word.

    Rest in His love.

    Trust His timing.

    Walk closely with Him.

    Because the greatest adventure isn’t found in the places you’ll go.

    It’s found in the Savior you’ll never outgrow.

    Three weeks ago, we began with a question:

    What are you seeking?

    Then we learned that following Jesus often means trusting Him one obedient step at a time.

    Today we’ve discovered that the deepest joy isn’t found in reaching the destination.

    It’s found in remaining with Christ.

    We began by seeking Him.

    We learned to follow Him.

    Now let us abide in Him.

    Because joy isn’t found in the destination.

    Joy is found in the presence of Jesus.

    Prayer

    Lord, thank You for inviting me into a relationship with You. Teach me not to chase the next thing so quickly that I miss Your presence today. When life is uncertain, help me stay. When I am tempted to run, remind me that my strength comes from remaining connected to You. Grow in me the fruit that only Your Spirit can produce, and help me find my greatest joy in simply abiding with You. In Jesus’ name, Amen.

    This Week’s Invitation

    Don’t rush to tomorrow.

    Don’t strive for what only Jesus can produce.

    Simply…

    Abide in Him.

    With love and joy,

    Laura