After a second recommendation from a CCCA board member, this week I purchased the daily devotional book Jesus Calling by Sarah Young. Based on Bible study and time spent praying and listening to God, she writes each daily thought from the perspective of Jesus speaking to us. Yesterday’s devotion came so close to what I’ve been reading, thinking and writing about, I thought perhaps this was what Margaret Feinberg calls a “sacred echo,” one of those messages God really wants me, and maybe you, to imbed firmly in our minds.
For Oct. 5, she writes, “Do not judge a day as devoid of Joy because it contains difficulties. Instead, concentrate on staying in communication with Me. Many of the problems that clamor for your attention will resolve themselves. Other matters you must deal with, but I will help you with them. If you make problem-solving secondary to the goal of living close to Me, you can find Joy even in your most difficult days.”
Seriously, what’s more important right now—to make that nagging problem go away or to get and stay close to Jesus?
Earlier today, we concluded our weekly staff prayer time in which we share personal prayer requests and those of members whom we’ve called during the week to ask how we can pray for them. This week there were so many requests involving accidents, cancer, death, injury and illness, it was a sobering time for us to realize the uncertainty of life. We also prayed about the challenges provided by a lagging economy, with a number of camps threatened with closure.
And yet, I’m confident that if we heed the words of Jesus to remain in Him, if we make our top goal to live close to Him, we can still experience joy in the journey—a deep, filling joy that won’t be stolen by circumstances.