Mark 4!  

If you are struggling with faith, I have been there. I’ve always believed in God & Jesus. I have not always trusted. I remember taking a spiritual gifts survey in college and being shocked that faith was my number 1. I was like, “but I have so many doubts!!!!” I lived a life believing in God and never trusting in Him. That is NOT how He wants our relationship to be. While I’m no expert, here’s what helped me grow my faith to where it’s deeply rooted like the seeds in the deep soil.

1️⃣ I spend time daily in the word. I did not know where to begin, so I joined a Bible study–BSF. I started out with only 10 minutes a day.  While the 10 minutes helped to an extent, I’ll be 100% transparent and share that it was not until I started spending an hour a day that I began to not only grow in faith but also see positive changes in myself.  I now spend an average of an hour reading the Bible, journaling and praying over it. Some days it’s 2 hours, others only 30 minutes, but outside of church and Bible study meetings, I spend about 7 hours a week alone in the Word. Please do not be overwhelmed by this. Start small and adjust as needed. This is what I need in my current season on life.

2️⃣ I joined multiple Bible studies both in person and on line. I would recommend finding one where you feel comfortable talking and sharing–you should not feel that there are right or wrong answers, you should feel you can be open and honest. Fellowship with others helps us process what God is trying to show us. We can only do so much alone. If you are in a group and don’t feel you can be your whole self, I would try some other groups. I have been in both kinds. While I still learned a lot about the Bible from the “right answer, everyone pretend all is perfect” groups, I did not feel it helped me grow as much or contribute as much.

3️⃣ When my faith was tested, I put feet to my faith. I used to fly all the time, no problem, no fear. I even flew back from Spain on a flight that was turbulent for 7 of the 9 hours and still flew without issue. Then on a flight back from my friend’s wedding, I had a panic attack. This led to a flying phobia that limited my world from 2007 to 2015. I knew that flying last fall was my opportunity to show God that I trusted Him–and He got me through it. I had 2 turbulent flights during which I listened to worship music on repeat and worked on a Bible study that I bought specifically for the flights. God even placed a kind woman next to me who talked me through the first take off. What you may not know is that I flew in 2014 and it was not great. My dear friend was convinced that God would use those flights to get me over my phobia and grow my faith. BUT, I was not trusting God. I wanted Him to do just that, but I did not trust Him to do it. Faith means nothing without action. It was a disaster. I did not trust God, I wanted to, but let the devil play on my every fear. After that experience, I was terrified about trying again. Nevertheless, this time I was ready to rely on God as I had already been doing for months. When I chose–free will, man–to depend wholeheartedly on God, I felt Him with me. He got me through those flights and I had a moment of clarity. I wondered, “was the devil limiting my world so that He could limit what this outspoken women could accomplish for God?” Only time will tell, but I have my suspicions.  

4️⃣ I found a church home that feeds me weekly. I loved the church I grew up in. I still do. It’s 40 minutes away and hard for us to participate in anything but church on Sundays. After being invited for almost a year, I finally attended my new church home for a women’s conference after listening to all the sermon podcasts while driving back and forth to work. The church you attend will impact your faith. My new church is a place where we feel welcome, expected and are encouraged to be 100% ourselves. I know I can share any struggle and I will receive love, prayer, encouragement and support without judgment. I’ve never felt that way about church before.

 
It’s amazing how a year or even 6 months can change everything. It’s amazing what God can do during that time. A year ago, I spent maybe 10 minutes a day with God. Now, I work on my relationship and faith everyday. I give all glory to God in the highest for the words of this and every post and for not giving up on my despite my lifetime of complacency and lack of trust. I pray for you who reads this that you have faith like the seeds in good soil and that if you don’t, God helps you put feet to your faith so that you too will experience His awesomeness.

   
Mark 2 gave me lots to think about!

1️⃣ We must humbly recognize our need for Jesus.

2️⃣ We must accept and believe that Jesus died for us even though we know and feel our unworthiness.

3️⃣ When we feel we are doing “well,” we must never think we are “better” than anyone else. We are all sinners, sometimes we go through seasons of big time sinning and other times we go through seasons of small time sinning. No matter what, we are all sinners and should never feel superior to anyone.

4️⃣ Finally, it’s worth noting that Jesus and His disciples were not just chilling in the Temple interacting with only believers. They were out engaging their world. While fellowship with believers is crucial, we too must go out in the world and engage people. We need to love them as Jesus would until they ask us why. 

Mark 3 
❤️”If a kingdom is divided against itself, that kingdom cannot stand. If a house is divided against itself, that house cannot stand.” Mark 3:24-25❤️

Once again I suspected I would have many verses to choose from, especially when I opened my my Bible and saw a few already underlined or highlighted. Nevertheless, I read the chapter closely only to discover that I was drawn to 2 verses I had not marked in prior reads. I chose verses 24-25 where Jesus is explaining that He cannot possibly be possessed by a demon because that would mean Satan was driving out his own minions–which makes no sense! These verses struck a chord with me because of all the political posts that litter my Facebook newsfeed. What we must remember as we disagree over issues and candidates is that we all want the same thing: an improved nation. We simply cannot seem to agree how to achieve that. We also rank our priorities differently and cannot always see eye to eye. That does not make people who don’t agree with me evil or deserving of disrespect. That does not make me evil or deserving of disrespect. I love Jack ‘N The Box tacos. Many people don’t. Am I evil for liking them? Are others evil for not liking them? No! When we bring insults into an argument, we forfeit even if our original point was valid. Every person is created in the image of God. When we insult another person, we insult God. I feel personally convicted by this and remind myself daily when I feel hurt or offended. We must recognize that we are on the same team with different ideas of how we all can and will “win.”