Love Letters from God — Daily Devotionals

  Day 111: A Love Letter from God About  Making a Hard Decision JAMES 1:5 My child, You've been standing at a crossroads for longer than you'd like to admit. You've made the pros and cons list, talked it over with everyone you trust, replayed every possible outcome in your head, and you're still no closer to knowing what to do. The fear of choosing wrong has kept you frozen, as if one wrong move might ruin everything.I want you to hear this: you don't have to decide alone, and you don't have to decide perfectly. If any of you lacks wisdom, you should ask God, who gives generously to all without finding fault, and it will be given to you. Notice that I give wisdom generously, without finding fault. I'm not annoyed that you don't know what to do. I'm not waiting for you to figure it out first. I'm inviting you to ask, and I promise I will answer.Sometimes wisdom arrives as a sudden clarity. Sometimes it comes as a quiet peace about one option over ...

  Day 110: A Love Letter from God About Praising Him in the Storm ACTS 16:25-26 My child, You're in the middle of something hard, and the last thing you feel like doing is worshiping. Someone might tell you to just praise your way through it, as if gratitude could erase the weight you're carrying, and a part of you resents that. You're not pretending this isn't painful. You don't have the energy to put on a song you don't feel and smile through it. I want you to know I'm not asking you to fake anything. Praise in the storm was never about pretending the storm isn't real. It's about declaring, even in the middle of it, that I am still who I say I am, regardless of what your circumstances look like. Think of Paul and Silas, beaten and thrown into a prison cell, their feet fastened in stocks. About midnight they were praying and singing hymns to God, and the other prisoners were listening. Notice what happened next. Suddenly there was such a violent ear...

Day 109: A Love Letter from God About Feeling Unworthy of Good Things EPHESIANS 2:8-9 My child, When something good comes your way, a quiet voice rises up almost immediately: you don't deserve this. A kind word, an answered prayer, an unexpected blessing, a moment of ease — instead of simply receiving it, you brace for the other shoe to drop, or you wonder what you did to earn it, or you feel strangely guilty for having it at all. I want you to hear this: good things were never meant to be a reward you had to qualify for. For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith — and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God — not by works, so that no one can boast. Everything I've ever given you started with grace, not merit. That wasn't a one-time rule that applied only to salvation. It's how I relate to you in everything. If you could earn a gift, it wouldn't be a gift anymore. The whole point of grace is that it comes without a price tag you have to pay ba...

  Day 108: A Love Letter from God About Spiritual Dryness PSALM 63:1 My child, Prayer feels flat lately. The Bible feels like words on a page instead of something alive. Worship doesn't stir what it used to stir. You keep showing up to the practices that used to feel close to Me, and instead you feel strangely distant, wondering if something is wrong with you, or worse, wondering if I've pulled away. I want you to hear this clearly: I have not moved. Spiritual dryness is a real and common season, not a sign that your faith has failed or that I've grown distant from you. Even the psalmist wrote honestly about this — O God, you are my God, earnestly I seek you; I thirst for you, my whole being longs for you, in a dry and parched land where there is no water. He named the dryness directly to Me instead of pretending it wasn't there, and I met him in that honesty. Feelings are real, but they are not always reliable measures of what's true. You can feel distant from Me a...

  Day 107: A Love Letter from God  About Feeling Lost PROVERBS 16:9 My child, You don't know which way to go right now. Not in a small, specific decision, but in a bigger way — like you've lost your sense of direction for your whole life, unsure what you're working toward or why. You keep waiting for a clear sign, a sudden clarity, something that will make the fog lift so you can see the path again. It hasn't come yet, and the not-knowing is exhausting. I want you to hear this: feeling lost does not mean you actually are. In their hearts humans plan their course, but I establish their steps. You don't have to have the whole map figured out for Me to be guiding you. I am not waiting for you to find clarity before I start working. I am already directing your steps, even in this exact season that feels aimless to you. Sometimes clarity doesn't come before the next step. It comes after you take it. I don't always show you the whole road. I show you enough light ...

  Day 106: A Love Letter from God About Feeling Like You're Failing LAMENTATIONS 3:22-23 My child, You feel like you're failing lately — not at one thing, but at everything, all at once. The house isn't together, the work isn't where you want it, the relationships feel strained, your patience is thin, and the voice in your head keeps score of every place you're falling short. You're tired of feeling like you're barely keeping up with a life that other people seem to manage effortlessly. I want you to hear this: feeling like you're failing is not the same as actually failing, and even if you are struggling right now, struggle is not the same as failure. You are human, living a full, complicated life, and you were never meant to do all of it flawlessly at the same time. Some days are simply harder than others. That's not a verdict on your worth. It's just what being human looks like. His mercies are new every morning. That means today's struggl...