“A friend loves at all times, and a brother is born for a difficult time.”

‭‭Proverbs‬ ‭17:17‬ ‭HCSB‬‬

What does it look like to you for a friend to love you at all times? What does it look like for you to love your friend at all times? What happens if both parties are going through very difficult seasons which are so energy absorbing there is nothing left to give your hurting friend? Sometimes we have to adjust our thinking about what friendship looks like. One person may climb inside a safe cocoon and keep people out during rough times. Another may do the very opposite and reach out a great deal. And, as people grow and change, the way they respond to stressors changes. Are you a friend whose skin is thin and fragile, easily irritated when others don’t respond the way you think they should to your needs? Or do you set aside your own issues to see that your friend may also be dealing with problems you know nothing about?

There will be seasons in most friendships. Warm “sunny” days of laughter and play, and cooler more remote seasons of hibernation while regrouping from a frosty trial. A true friend may have to confront you and hold you accountable instead of tickling your ears with what you want to hear. And the very best kind of friend will point you to the cross of Christ in good times and bad.🚦

#Friend #Brother #AFriendLovesAtAllTimes #ChangingSeasons #SeasonsOfAFriendship #DevotionalsForWomen #ChristianWomen #ChristianDevotionals #StoplightDevotionals #Devotionals

“Clap your hands, all you peoples; shout to God with a jubilant cry. For Yahweh, the Most High, is awe-inspiring, a great King over all the earth.”

‭‭Psalms‬ ‭47:1-2‬ ‭HCSB‬‬

Why would people clap and cheer in church? Not because a band or singer has provided great entertainment. Our Heavenly Father is great and mighty and worthy to be praised exuberantly. He lifts us up out of the miry pit and sets us at His right hand. Why wait until the weekend? Won’t you give our Lord God the honor and praise due Him today?🚦

#Worship #HeIsWorthy #ClapYourHands #ShoutToGod #DevotionalsForWomen #ChristianWomen #ChristianDevotionals #StoplightDevotionals #Devotionals

“But now be so kind as to look at me.”

Job 6:28a NIV

“Look at me when I’m talking to you!” My mom said it to me, and I’m guessing yours said it to you. How many times have you and I pretended to listen to someone as we mentally tuned out? As I consider the hurtful behavior of another in completely ignoring me, I’m confronted with the many times I’ve perhaps done worse; I behaved like Job’s friends who refused to hear him, really listen to his agony and suffering, and instead accused him. The most valuable thing we can do for a person, other than sharing Jesus, is to be present with them and for them. That’s what it is to be like Him.🚦

#LookAtMe #ListenToMe #SeeMe #BeJesus #LiveLikeJesusLoves #DevotionalsForWomen #ChristianDevotionals #Devotionals #StoplightDevotionals

“Now without faith it is impossible to please God…”

‭‭Hebrews‬ ‭11:6‬ ‭HCSB‬‬

Do you know anyone who is constantly running from one volunteer activity to the next, building up their personal resume of good deeds? While many people will be very impressed at the list of noteworthy accomplishments, God is interested only one thing—your faith. No matter how many sick people you sing “Amazing Grace” to, and no matter how few speeding tickets you get, you cannot earn a spot in heaven. Grace is a free gift which cannot be bought like a cheap souvenir at a roadside stand. It is given to those who believe God, who believe His promise of eternal life through Jesus’ substitutionary death on the cross as the full payment for their sin debt. Has your sin account been settled, covered in full by Jesus?🚦

#Faith #YouCannotEarnIt #Grace #PaidInFull #DevotionalsForWomen #ChristianWomen #Devotionals #StoplightDevotionals

“Against all hope, Abraham in hope believed and so became the father of many nations, just as it had been said to him, “So shall your offspring be.””

‭‭Romans‬ ‭4:18‬ ‭NIV‬‬

Abraham had hope because of his belief. Even though he was close to 100 years old, and Sarah’s womb was closed, he believed Gods promise to make hiM the father of many nations. By human standards this was “against hope” or against all odds that Abraham believed. In this same faith, Abraham obeyed God’s calling to leave his comfortable life behind and face an unknown future.

James 2:26 tells us faith without works is dead, and Abraham’s faith was demonstrated by his obedience. Has God ever given you a message or instructions you found difficult to believe or irrational to follow? How did you respond? When we try to project our finite, human understanding onto our infinite God, we land in the cesspool of worldly reason. 🚦

#Hope #AgainstAllHope #Abraham #FaithWithoutWorksIsDead #ObedienceDemonstratesFaith #DevotionalsForWomen #ChristianDevotionals #StoplightDevotionals #Devotionals

“If perfection could have been attained through the Levitical priesthood—and indeed the law given to the people established that priesthood—why was there still need for another priest to come, one in the order of Melchizedek, not in the order of Aaron?”

‭‭Hebrews‬ ‭7:11‬ ‭NIV‬‬

“Jill” fastidiously prepared the devotional she was to give to her women’s group. The details of her talk were meticulously typed and the lesson precisely timed. The irony was not lost on her that the topic was “perfectionism.”

Many of us get caught up in trying to portray a perfect life through carefully planned photos depicting one happy moment after another, projecting personas that just are not real. Our sin inclination inside us causes perfection tendencies to go awry. If true perfection were attainable there would be no need of a Savior. Because He IS perfect, He covers our imperfections. We can drop our guard; we don’t have to pretend to be something we simply cannot be. Isn’t it time to lay down that burden?🚦

#Perfect #Perfection #Perfectionism #Burden #GetReal #OrderOfMelchizedek #DevotionalsForWomen #ChristianWomen #Devotionals #StoplightDevotionals

“There remains, then, a Sabbath-rest for the people of God; for anyone who enters God’s rest also rests from their works, just as God did from his.”

‭‭Hebrews‬ ‭4:9-10‬ ‭NIV‬‬

Growing up, nearly every business was closed on Sunday, the widely accepted day of rest. I only understood that God worked six days then rested after He created man, and He told us to do the same. For many years I did just that, but the repeal of the “Blue Law” in Texas gradually wore me down, and I became as busy as everyone else.

What is so special about Sabbath rest, anyway? This rest is a special haven specifically for those who know and love God. As followers of Christ we enter a different level of rest, secure in knowing we’ve been freed from the burden of trying endlessly to do work our way into earning the approval of our Heavenly Father. He tells us in 1 John “I write these things to you who believe in the name of the Son of God so that you may know that you have eternal life.”

‭‭(1 Jn 5:13) He doesn’t give us a “hope so “ or “I think so” kind of faith. He gives us a “know so” faith we can hang our coats and hats on, so that we can sit down at His feet and take a load off. THIS is Sabbath rest.🚦

#Sabbath #SabbathRest #RestFromWork’s #SitAtHisFeet #BabyTakeALoadOff #DevotionalsForWomen #ChristianWomen #Devotionals #StoplightDevotionals

This week at a Bible study I’ve been in with a faithful group of women, we were challenged to write a personal declaration for our lives. I changed the tone from “I will” to “I am” because I need to speak this over myself right here, right now, in the season I am in. Maybe you need this too. (The scriptures are at the end today.)

“No matter the swirl of crazy whirling around me, I choose joy. I seek and find the good gifts of God in every situation. I consider it joy to walk through the valley of the shadow of death knowing that the path of righteousness winds right through it. I keep my eyes fixed on Jesus who gives and perfects my faith as he answers me in all inspiring works and gives me hope and purpose that reaches the ends of the earth.”

“Consider it pure joy, my brothers and sisters, whenever you face trials of many kinds,” James‬ ‭1:2‬ ‭NIV‬‬

“He refreshes my soul. He guides me along the right paths for his name’s sake. Even though I walk through the darkest valley, I will fear no evil, for you are with me; your rod and your staff, they comfort me.” Psalms‬ ‭23:3-4‬ ‭NIV‬‬

“fixing our eyes on Jesus, the pioneer and perfecter of faith. For the joy set before him he endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.”

‭‭Hebrews‬ ‭12:2‬ ‭NIV‬‬

“You answer us with awesome and righteous deeds, God our Savior, the hope of all the ends of the earth and of the farthest seas,”

‭‭Psalms‬ ‭65:5‬ ‭NIV‬‬🚦

#FixingOurEyesOnJesus #ConsiderItAllJoy #SwirlOfCrazy #ChooseJoy #WalkThroughTheValleyOfTheShadowOfDeath #PathOfRighteousness #HeRefreshesMySoul #YouAnswerUs #DevotionalsForWomen #StoplightDevotionals #ChristianWomen #Devotion

Cast all your anxiety on him because he cares for you.

1 Peter 5:7 NIV

“They lay their crowns before the throne and say: “You are worthy, our Lord and God, to receive glory and honor and power, for you created all things, and by your will they were created and have their being.””

‭‭Revelation‬ ‭4:10-11‬ ‭NIV‬‬

Right now, as we walk through these earthly struggles Jesus calls us to cast those weighty cares upon Him. We were never meant to carry these burdens. He bids us to take His yoke so that He can shoulder the load. As we go through our Cross training, we learn through repetition to keep our eyes fixed on Him, building our spiritual endurance, so that one day He will reward us with the crown of life. Isn’t it just like Him to provide for us the only gift suitable for us to lay at the feet of the King of Kings? 🚦

#CastYourCaresUponHim #HeCaresForYou #CrownOfLife #AtTheFeetOfJesus #DevotionalsForWomen #ChristianWomen #Devotionals #StoplightDevotionals

“The Lord is close to the brokenhearted and saves those who are crushed in spirit. The righteous person may have many troubles, but the Lord delivers him from them all;”

‭‭Psalms‬ ‭34:18-19‬ ‭NIV‬‬

You finally let yourself have a dream. You dared to think about what could be…but now that hope is gone. Your world has shifted off its axis and may never be the same again. How could God let this happen?

He knows. He knows, and He is there with you in the thick of it. We don’t know the answers to “why,” but we do know He knows what it is to say goodbye to the way things could have been. We were created to live in communion with Him, but we chose to break fellowship through our sin. God sent His Son to take on all the sin of the world so that we could once again walk with Him. When Jesus took on all our sin at the cross, God could not even look upon him, because a perfect and holy God cannot look upon sin. How devastating that must have been for Him to be separated by that chasm.

Yes, He knows. He is very near to you in your pain, and He will deliver you.

“Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest.”

‭‭Matthew‬ ‭11:28‬ ‭NIV‬‬🚦

#ComeToMe #Brokenhearted #Troubles #BrokenDreams #NoHope #TheLordIsCloseToTheBrokenhearted #GodIsNear #HeIsWithYou #DevotionalsForWomen #ChristianDevotionals #Devotionals #StoplightDevotionals