Do you find that your busy schedule doesn’t allow time for you to spend in the Bible each day? Are you or someone you know overwhelmed with sorrow or sickness?
It’s hard in these scenarios to sit with Jesus in His word for any length of time. The demands of life try to distract and block out what’s actually vital for sustaining you.
I struggled for years to be consistent in my daily time with Jesus. I knew it was important, but I was so busy serving Him that I didn’t have time to be with Him. My heart was for Him. I wanted to grow in Him but life kept getting in the way. Then I wondered why I made wrong choices and couldn’t feel like I heard His voice or direction.
I finally had enough in the fall of 2015 during a YouLead and Beth Moore conference I was attending. I was on a break from the YouLead sessions sitting outside on the stairs of a portable classroom. I was completely burned out from taking on too much.
“Lord, I am so done with all of this. I need You! I know I need to be in Your word. I’m sorry for trying to be in control and run everything by my own wisdom. I will quit all of the ministries I’m involved in right now if that’s what it takes make time for You. Show me the way. I’m tired of this life without You being in the center of it all. Please help me to be disciplined in time with You and in the Bible every day. I need Your sustenance. I love You. I’ll do whatever it takes. I just need more of You.”
I cried out to God during the YouLead portion and He answered me during Beth Moore’s portion of the conference. She was speaking on Isaiah 55. The part that He used to answer me was verses 7, 10-12:
“Let the wicked one abandon his way
and the sinful one his thoughts;
let him return to the Lord,
so he may have compassion on him,
and to our God, for he will freely forgive.
“10For just as rain and snow fall from heaven
and do not return there
without saturating the earth
and making it germinate and sprout,
and providing seed to sow
and food to eat,
11 so my word that comes from my mouth
will not return to me empty,
but it will accomplish what I please
and will prosper in what I send it to do.”
12 You will indeed go out with joy
and be peacefully guided;
the mountains and the hills will break into singing before you,
and all the trees of the field will clap their hands.”
God called out to me and asked me to come “home;” to stop striving and rest in Him. He promised compassion and forgiveness to me.
By this passage, He showed me the power and importance of being in His word each day. I appreciated the imagery of rain and snow as my elementary science class came back to mind. The cycle of rain falling, nourishing the land so it would produce its fruit, and then the moisture returning to the sky to start the cycle over again. Like the rain and snow, by reading His word each day, my spirit would ingest it. It would do its great work within me, helping me to grow, and then would return its value to the Lord in praise, worship, and greater intimacy between Him and I. I especially loved that it would “prosper” in what He sent it to do. God wouldn’t just do whatever was minimally necessary. No, He would produce an abundant harvest. Then joy and peace would be added to my life and the land would celebrate as well.
Isn’t that such a powerful thought? Our devotion to God and His word will affect ourselves, our intimacy with the Lord, others, and the land! God’s purposes are so interconnected, way beyond our comprehension.
With this passage in my heart, I came home and started reading a chapter of Isaiah every day. Through learning that discipline, the Lord gave me the next topic He wanted me to study… and then the next. And He and I haven’t stopped since.
In fact, He eventually asked me to get up earlier so that we could spend more time together. I am not a morning person, so this was a big ask, but I did it because He had placed a greater desire in me for more of that precious time. And you know, I still had energy for the day. God has given me the strength and stamina throughout each day. He’s now my oxygen. I can’t afford not to spend time with Him. I’m a whole lot of ugly if I don’t.
My heart and passion for discipleship has grown through understanding the critical importance of being devoted to His word. This is why I create all of the tools we offer at Hope Through Hard Times. It’s why I designed these verse packs for the purpose of helping others get the Bible into their daily lives in a convenient way. I know many people struggle to take time with Jesus. I was burdened to find a way to help with that, knowing the power that God’s word holds to affect change in our lives.
I also know that going through times of grief and illness are very exhausting and difficult, which is why I created the themed verse packs. That way, if someone is overwhelmed by sorrow or sickness, they can have applicable verses to meditate on in their time of need when anything bigger seems too much to handle.
I had a friend visit a while ago. She was pregnant and struggling with exhaustion. She wanted to spend time with Jesus, but had no energy. This led to her mental health declining a bit. I had a prototype of the verse packs in my office, so I gave her one and encouraged her to meditate on one verse a day until the exhaustion lifted. She messaged me a few weeks later saying that the verses helped lift her spirit and now she’s back into her routine of daily Bible time. This greatly encouraged my heart and is the very reason I created these in the first place!
The Lord will bless your efforts of becoming disciplined in His word, even it it’s little moments throughout the day versus one bigger chunk of time. By starting small, He’ll help you learn to take more time with Him as you grow. Starting small is way better than not at all!
Bonus is they’re only $4.00 each! You could buy a few of them and place them around areas you frequent often (ex. Kitchen, car, work, bathroom, purse, etc). Flip them over each day to the new verse to meditate on and/or memorize.
