Monday, July 19, 2010

Jesus Calling

I have a new favorite purse-sized daily devotion: Jesus Calling: Enjoying Peace in His Presence by Sarah Young. While it is no substitute for in-depth Bible Study, this is a terrific resource for encouragement from the Word that is easy to pick up as you wait in car line, brew your coffee or stand in front of the toaster in the morning.

I first heard of it while waiting in the hospital hallway, keeping vigil as Sweeney passed from this life into the next. My friend, Beth, read various portions from it aloud as night turned to morning. Every word seemed to speak life into my weary bones--as Scripture so often does. While I found it beautiful, I forgot about it in light of mourning our friend.

A couple of weeks ago, my sweet neighbor, brought a copy to my back door and I have been hooked. It is nontraditional, in that the author wrote these devotions after frequent 'listening times' of prayer and meditation. She beautifully communicates encouragement she received as she listened to the Lord. At the conclusion of each 2-3 paragraph devotion she lists the Scripture references that affirm her writing.

It is so beautiful and applicable to life that I struggled to even find a passage to share as an example. There are all so poignant.

Here is one I think we can all identify with:
"Do not worry about tomorrow! This is not a suggestion but a command. I divided time into days and nights so that you would have manageable portions of life to handle. My grace is sufficient for you, but its sufficiency is only for one day at a time. When you worry about the future, you heap day upon day of troubles onto your flimsy frame. You stagger under this heavy load, which I never intended you to carry.

Throw off this oppressive burden with one quick thrust of trust...Enjoy my presence continually by trusting me at all times."
Matthew 6:34, Corinthians 12:9, Psalm 62:8 (NKJV)
-July 15, Jesus Calling by Sarah Young

P.S. If you are a friend who normally receives a Christmas gift from me, you can hold off on buying one...They were the first purchase for my 2010 Christmas gift closet! :-)

9 comments:

Jill said...

Thanks for the link and for *just* the Word I needed to hear to night! The planner in me tends to try to figure it all out, so this was a great reminder.

Kelly @ Love Well said...

My Mom bought this for me (and for my siblings) this spring. She was given the book as a gift when she and my Dad retired from the church where he was senior pastor. It's meant so much to her over the last 9 months, she wanted to share.

I completely concur that the Holy Spirit can use this book to reorient our minds. I read it before I go to bed, because that's when I'm awake. But I think it would mean even more if you could read it at the start of the day. Wise words written by a servant of God.

Wander said...

Yes....I have that same book and I LOVE IT!!
Enjoy...and definitely share it!

Carlin said...

A children's edition will be available in November; how awesome!

Liz said...

Several of my blogging friends have posted about this book recently. I'm so glad it's getting around. I did a blog post where I reviewed this book about a year ago when it first started hitting stores. I loved it, too!

Sunni said...

I am doing this devotion right now, as well. I've also done 'Dear Jesus' by the same author. It was wonderful!

I'm so excited to hear there is a childrens version coming!

storey said...

i love it too! i've had it for almost a year. i always want to keep reading onto other days just to hear more of such truth, but stop myself and try to soak in all one day has for you. i am looking forward to reading the other one by here at some point. love you guys!

Joanne@ Blessed... said...

Yep...me too! I'm a "Jesus Calling" girl myself.

It sits right beside my Streams in the Desert devotion. I read them once I've finished reading my Bible.

Good stuff.

Christian - Modobject@Home said...

Thank you for this recommendation. I picked up a copy yesterday while waiting for my son to finish up with speech therapy. I intended it to be a gift for my mother whose birthday is approaching, but in the past 24 hours I think I've read too much of it and enjoyed it too much to giveaway. I'll have to buy another copy give and keep this one for myself. I think this little book has found a home right next to my favorite devotional book, Morning and Evening by Charles Spurgeon!