First of all, if those verses didn’t make you excited to cultivate a relationship with Jesus, I’mma need you to go back and read that again. Okay, now that you’ve re-read those juicy promises from the Lord, I want you to take a second to close your eyes and remember the moment you decided to ask Jesus into your heart. Fully immerse yourself in that memory of the Holy Spirit tugging you into a love you didn’t fully understand, but wholeheartedly wanted to know. What did it look like, sound like, feel like? Was anyone else there with you, leading you in a prayer, or were you totally by yourself?

In this fast-paced life, it is so easy to get distracted, go off course, become overwhelmed by all our responsibility, and stop believing in ourselves. Lately, God has really been showing me what pure, true, and genuine belief is. I have been learning that when you truly believe in something, like God’s power in you, you are close to unstoppable. It seems like at this point in my life everyone is in a race to get the best GPA or the best job or find that perfect relationship, but God is saying a little something different to me.

Wait. It’s the one command from God that none of us want to hear. We’re taught from a young age to be busy, because sitting still means we’re anti-social, lacking drive, and building an unimpressive resumé. We’re hard-wired to believe that forward motion is the only avenue to success. It’s the only way to feel satisfied. So when God says “Wait,” we automatically see it as the proverbial kiss of death or a test of our will.

For some of you guys this morning, this might be the 100th time you’ve heard the gospel, but for others, this might be the first time you discover it for what it truly is. For the ones that have heard this story 100 times, I pray that this 101st time reawakens your passion and love for what Jesus has done. I feel like many people wonder– what’s so great about this Jesus guy that He started this whole revolution of followers and miracles? The answer is simple. The legacy He left is undeniable and it’s beautiful to see how He continues to change lives with the power of His compassion and love, which just as strong today as it was in the days he walked this earth.

If there’s one thing I know, it’s that youth LOVE talking about Netflix. It seems like every week they come to meetings and discuss what they’ve been watching, quote funny or notable parts, and hash out their fan theories. Recently, one show in particular dominated their weekly Netflix review. Upon finding out I had no opinion to add because I don’t watch it, they wanted to know why. Usually, I’m up on stuff like that, so for me to say, “Oh, I don’t watch that, and I don’t plan on it,” was a rare occurrence.

Growing up, I know I truly found myself in Christ, but I could never get away from feeling extremely unworthy. This has been my struggle my whole life. Though my relationship with God has been strong, there are so many times I have found myself trying to find my worth in something other than my Savior.

I remember stepping out to center stage in my high school auditorium, lights in my eyes, and every chair empty but three. I was a bright-eyed freshman who wanted nothing more than to make the student-run spring musical. I thought it was a big deal because, unlike the faculty-supervised winter musical, not everyone that auditioned made it. Only the best made that coveted cast list, and I had been practicing for days to make sure that my name was on it, no matter the part.

At the start of a new year, we tend to think that we should be living amazing lives. If you are, that’s great! If you aren’t, I want to first tell you that it’s okay, but I also want to challenge you with a question: What are you measuring your success by?

Prayer is my jam this week. Why? I was challenged by a new friend to take part in a seven-day prayer challenge, designed to deepen and enrich prayer life by focusing it past all the requests and drivel that tends to bog down our time with God. Over the past few days, changing and repurposing certain details of my prayer time has reignited my desire to share my heart and time with Jesus.

In this season of New Years we are all seeking and expecting some sort of change. As a society we are eager for results and satisfaction. We see a common trend of people pursuing the change they want right after the turn of the new year and putting all sorts of work in, but than more often than not, most give up or their desire fades out.

Millennials, we’ve all heard it before: in a world of constant connection, we’re disconnected, we’re transient, and we’re disjointed. And those that are looking to hurl the first stone resoundingly blame technology. But here’s the thing, it’s not just millennials. The struggle to connect seems to be the common theme for all of us. Trust me, I get it. There’s not a day that goes by that I can avoid the newsfeeds; especially when most of my young career has centered around social media and new tactics to be seen in a world of endless content.

Most of the time, just by first glance we think that we have someone all figured out. In our own minds, we convince ourselves that we are intelligent enough to see right through a person even when we know so little about them. When we do that, we often miss out on a great opportunity to challenge ourselves or experience a great friendship. I think we can all pinpoint one person in our lives that we thought we had all figured at first, but once we got to know them, they were completely different than we thought. This is what the people of Jesus’ day and age did from the day he was born to the day they thought they silenced Him for good. Unfortunately, due to the pride, judgement, and pettiness of people, they never got to develop a relationship with Jesus that would have satisfied and changed them forever.

When I was younger, my church always put on these big, elaborate Christmas plays that always required all hands on deck– or maybe more appropriately, all hands on altar. The Christmas cantata took many forms over the years, telling the same Christmas story through so many different perspectives: from the fictional viewpoint of the Little Drummer Boy or a modern-day family to the real, relatable accounts of those core roles we know and love.

I am sitting down writing this devotional in Starbucks with a grande coffee next to me and an overwhelming to-do list bouncing around in my brain. Yet, in the midst of all my unchecked tasks, my mind longs for is some much-needed rest. If you know me you know I love my sleep, so when I say I am longing for “rest,” I am talking about 12 hours of deep sleep. I have gotten to the point in my life where I am used to the fast pace world we live in, and I can tell you honestly, I am not a fan. It feels as if is there not enough silence to rest and hear the Lord.

Step into Mary’s shoes for just a moment. She recently heard from an angel that she was chosen out of all women to give birth to Jesus, the One the prophets and scriptures spoke about, the One her nation has waited for since its very beginning. Yet ever since this wonderful and mind-boggling news was shared with her, it was the source of a few stressful predicaments. Her husband-to-be pulled away from her emotionally, despite her promises that she was still a virgin.

We all wonder about the future. Whether that be what you’re going to eat in thirty minutes, the extensive amount of things you have to do tomorrow, or where your life will be in ten years. There are numerous questions that linger in our heads left unanswered, and sometimes it feels as if we have to actively do something to get these answers. It can so easily feel like we are doing something wrong.