Be careful not to make a treaty with those who live in the land where you are going, or they will be a snare among you.

Exodus 34:12

God was preparing the Israelites for the land they would enter. As he does, he reminds them that there are people already living in this land, people not of their family or faith. So, He encourages the Israelites to live in this new land but not take on the customs or beliefs of the people in the land.

When God changes your heart and calls you by a new name, he invites you into his family through the blood of His Son, Jesus. As a part of his family he realizes that we still have to live in this world, but he doesn’t want us to be like the world. He wants us to be like Jesus. God wants us to see the ways of the world and weigh them against the ways of Jesus. He desires for us to be the salt and light in the world that turns others to him, not turning us to them.

God wants us to make decisions that will make people stop and think about their decisions, their words and actions. He doesn’t want us to use their words and do their actions because when we are being like the world, why should anyone want to be like Him; why would unbelievers want to follow Jesus if those who believe are acting just like them?

Believers are called to be different and need to act out the differences, being the difference in the world not being different because of the world.

Then he called the crowd to him along with his disciples and said: “whoever wants to be a disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me. For whoever wants to save their life will lose it, but whoever loses their life for me and for the gospel will save it. What good is it for someone to gain the whole world, yet forfeit their soul?“

Mark 8:34-36

Oh, I’ve loved Jesus all my life, but I haven’t lived all of my life for Jesus. For a long time, I lived in the world being like the world. And all the world did was steal my soul. The more I lived like the world the more I disliked myself. To the point, of one day crying out to God, praying that my life would just be done. But in godlike fashion, he had me pick up my cross, And follow him. From that point on, I began living in the world but living like him. It’s been a slow transformation (He’s not done yet) but a necessary one. The more I live for Him the more others see Jesus in me.

It’s really easy to live in the world and know Jesus but when we live in the world for Jesus the world begins to know Jesus, too. And the more the world knows Jesus, the greater the chance each person will pick up their cross, too, and follow Him.

My life pre-“cross”road, (literally) may not have pointed anyone to Jesus, but I’m hoping the life I’ve lived since then has at least pointed One to Him.

The world can change us or we can change the world; be the change you want to see.

It will be a sign between me and the Israelites forever, for in six days the Lord made the heavens and the earth, and on the seventh day he rested and was refreshed.

Exodus 31:17

Moses was a busy man. Leading the Israelites through the wilderness, teaching them the ways of the Lord, being an intercessor between the people and God, and spending time with God to learn and write the 10 Commandments and the laws. He was exhausted and God could tell. So, the last thing God said to Moses up in the mountain as he was to return to the people with the 10 Commandments was…

The Israelites are to observe the Sabbath, celebrating it for the generations to come as a lasting covenant.

Exodus 31:16

God knew that Moses was exhausted and he knew that the people would exhaust themselves, always striving for more, always hoping to be one step ahead. But he also knew from experience that we would need rest and the only way to get it is to carve time out of all we have to do. So, God implemented the Sabbath, not to stop us from doing more, but to give us rest so we could be refreshed to do better at our More the rest of the week.

There’s always something to do, so we must make time to do nothing with the Lord. For when we take one day to rest with the Lord we can do something Greater with the rest of our week. On our Sabbath God fills our spirit with Peace, he cleanses our hearts and minds, and re-energize is our bodies.

Friends, I love to be busy. I thrive when I have things to do and feel accomplished as I check them off my list. I feel God truly using me in the busyness of each day and by the end of it I crash. But if I don’t get one day each week to stay home and do nothing (have nothing planned), I feel overwhelmed, exhausted, and anxious about everything coming up. I’m a BEAR. And I know it.

To get a glimpse of my life currently, I’m essentially working 4 jobs. (Only one is paying… LOL) But I consider them all four separate jobs that God has called me to do. First, I have my day job on the farm and it’s our busiest season. Hello Strawberries. Then I have my second job, preparing for our first ever strawberry shortcake booth at the Florida Strawberry Festival. Any free minute or car ride I get, I’m making lists, on Amazon, up at the festival, making phone calls, placing orders, finding employees, etc. As soon as I walk in my door of my home, I reached my third job a.k.a. mom and wife. What’s for dinner, my shirts not clean, do we have toothpaste and toilet paper, there’s no clean plates, why is our friend acting like this, can you pray with me, can I have a hug, and I get it all. And somehow in someway, God has also given me a ministry to women and some men, to lead Bible studies in my home, write daily devotions like this one, and film quick videos every Saturday, and I do it all with joy and peace. But I’m not super human, and I’m definitely no superhero; I know my limits and I need rest, so no matter what, I carve out one day to just rest and I LOVE it. Could I be doing some thing on this day, yes, do I get asked to do something every day, yes. But I have to make decisions, I have to say, No, so that I can take my Sabbath and God can give me the rest and refreshment my whole body and soul needs. To be able to do my best in the other six days of the week, I need rest.

We all need a Sabbath. We are all busy, but we have to choose a Sabbath because the world is always giving us something to do. If you want to be at your best, doing what God wants you to do, rest in His Covenant with you, take a Sabbath and experience the refreshment he will do within you.

The Lord replied, “my presence will go with you and I will give you rest.“

Exodus 33:14

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

Matthew 11:28 – Jesus

We are only doing our best, when we can take Sabbath and have our rest.

To the Israelites the glory of the Lord looked like a consuming fire on top of the mountain. Then Moses entered the cloud as he went on up the mountain. And he stayed on the mountain 40 days and 40 nights.

Exodus 24:17-18

Moses and the Israelites are finally at a place in their travels where they can rest a while and just listen to all God has to say. They’ve witnessed Gods hand at work around them and they’ve seen his presence go before them, and at this point they are fully trusting him.

When Moses went and told the people all the Lords words and laws, they responded with one voice, “everything the Lord has said we will do.” Moses then wrote down everything the Lord had said.

Exodus 24:3-4

The leaders and the people praised God. They sat at the bottom of the mountain and they worshipped the Lord together. Then Moses and the leaders went up the mountain a bit more and actually saw God. They were in awe of his presence, and they rested. Then God called Moses specifically to move on, he asked Moses to come be with him for 40 days and 40 nights to hear from him, learn from him, and be able to lead others closer to him.

You know, there’s something about 40 in the Bible…..Rain fell for 40 days and 40 nights to flood the earth. It took 40 days to embalm Jacobs body before burying him back in Canaan. The Israelite spies took 40 days to explore Canaan and decide they were too afraid to go in. The Israelites had to roam the wilderness for 40 years before going into the promised land. Both David, the king after Gods own heart, and his son, Solomon, the wisest man to ever live, reigned 40 years. And Jesus, he fasted for 40 days and 40 nights while being tempted by the devil.

In each of these 40s, either days or years, God is using the time to grow each person into a deeper relationship with him. Noah sought God and probably wondered whether he would survive on that boat. Joseph’s brothers had to learn to trust their brother Joseph as their father laid dead waiting to be buried. Moses heard and wrote the 10 Commandments to lead the Israelites after 40 days on the mountain with God. The spies witnessed great things in Canaan, but feared the people more, and had to learn over 40 years in the wilderness how to trust God. David learned how to lead well and seek God in his 40 year reign; Solomon saw wisdom and found it in his 40 years. And Jesus…he experienced all the Temptations that we would ever experience and overcame them, so he could be fully human and fully God to die for us and save us.

You know what else, there’s something about 40 in the Bible but there’s also something about 40 in the world.

When you hit 40 years old…ahem… Most of us hit mid-life. For most of us, over the first 40 years we are learning and choosing how we will live the next 40 and for the last 40 we live out our choices. Then there’s the 40 days. In 40 days, from Ash Wednesday to the Saturday before Easter, we can practice Lent, an act of fasting that reflects Jesus’ fasting in the wilderness. This 40 day fast is giving up SOMETHING to grow closer to the SOMEONE who gave up EVERYTHING for us.

No matter if our 40 is in days or years, weeks or months. We can choose to grow closer to God in our 40, to learn and grow and lead; or we can choose to ignore God in our 40, to lose ourself for the world.

My first 40 was a cycle: storm(trial), walk with God(lean in and grow), calm before the storm(comfort), storm, walk with God, calm before the storm and so on and so forth. (I can count at least 8 cycles thus far!) Friends, it started from conception and hasn’t stopped. But in my 40 I’ve continually learned from each cycle and grown closer to God. I love and trust Him more every day because of it. And one of my favorite growth periods is during my participation in Lent. (Thank you, Tommy and Tessera, for teaching me and leading me in this process years ago.)

I love 40….not 40 years old….but the growth to God in 40. Whether it be in a 40 day fast or over 40 years, God can use your 40, too. My next 40 is just getting started, and from my experience in this last 40 I can’t wait to see how God reveals himself more over the years to come and the Leaning into His love.

So HERE’s to 40, and all it brings!

*Lent starts February 17th this year, just in case you want to join me 🙌

If you take your neighbors cloak as a pledge, return it by sunset, because that cloak is the only covering your neighbor has. What else can I sleep in? When they cry out to me, I will hear, for I am compassionate.

Exodus 22:26-27

God hears all of our concerns because he is compassionate.

At this point on their journey to the holy land, Moses is explaining all the rules and regulations for the Israelites to follow. If you just hear the laws you may feel restricted and confined, like God is just being harsh, but in actuality, he gives these laws because he loves his people. God is wanting to protect and guide those who follow him so they don’t fall into harms way. He also wants to lay out laws to guide humans in social responsibility to grow in the same compassion that he has for us.

….Love thy neighbor as thy self….

So what is being compassionate? “ The Merriam-Webster definition of compassionate is having compassion — the sympathetic consciousness of others distress together with a desire to alleviate it.“

God is this. God is compassionate. He looks at us and he listens to us because of his love and compassion for us. He hears our cries even those that aren’t audible to the human ear, but are crying out from our spirit. Because of compassion, he desires to help us, heal us, and lead us onto a path that is filled with compassion for others.

God‘s laws aren’t here to restrict us; God‘s Word isn’t here to restrain us from Joy. The law and the Word fulfilled through Jesus Christ are actually here to give us ABUNDANT life. Abundant life filled with compassion, love, joy, and peace. ALL the things that Jesus’ life embodies. The life that he had planned for us before the Fall.

Through God’s compassion for us, he is sowing seeds of compassion in us. He desires to help us, so that we will desire to help others. And if we are helping others, then hurting others can’t happen because healing comes from compassionate helping. He is showing us through his compassion for us how to be compassionate for others.

So, He hears our every cry to him, even those we think are too simple for him to answer and to minor for him to care. Through His Son and the presence of the Holy Spirit, he brings peace and to our hearts, he heals wounds we thought we’d have forever, he provides for our greatest and least needs, he weeds out unforgiveness and plants forgiveness, and he sows seeds of compassion growing fields of Abundant Joy.

The next day Moses took his seat to serve as judge for the people, and they stood around him from morning till evening. When his father-in-law saw all Moses was doing for the people, he said, “what is this you are doing for the people? Why do you alone sit as judge, while all these people stand around you from morning till evening?” Moses answered him, “because the people come to me to seek God’s will.” Exodus 18:13-15

Moses, called by God, faithful and true, wanted to use the gifts he was given for every single person in the Israelite clan. Now, if we were talking about 100 people, I could see this as doable. I may be able to go as far as 1000 people, but we are talking about 600,000 men alone, not including women and children (Exodus 12:37). There was no way Moses could handle all of their problems, but he tried and he sat in front of them from morning until night. But Jethro, his wise father-in-law, saw that Moses was doing way too much and recognized that he couldn’t do his best by trying to be ALL to everyone, so he guided Moses to seek wise people to help lead the Israelites.

You and these people who come to you will only wear yourselves out. The work is too heavy for you; you cannot handle it alone. Listen now to me and I will give you some advice, and may God be with you. You must be the People’s representative before God and bring their disputes to him. Teach them his decrees and instructions, and show them the way they are to live and how they are to behave. But select capable men for all the people — men who fear God, trustworthy men who hate dishonest gain — and appoint them as officers over thousands, hundreds, fifties, and tens.

Exodus 18:18-21

Jethro didn’t denounce God‘s calling on Moses, he just helped him to see he couldn’t do it all and be able to fulfill the real call with all the other issues coming along. Moses was still the one God was speaking to and he was to teach God‘s will to the people, but after that he was to step back from the people and let others lead unless he was truly needed.

God doesn’t want one person to try and lead the whole world, that is unless that one person is His Son. Instead, He’s given each of us gifts and abilities that he desires we use to work together to lead others to His one main call.

When I was 17, and not fully following God faithfully, he placed a call on my heart to help women overcome the trials of their past and the difficulties of their present, so they could live fully for him. It’s taken years and tons of growth in him for me to recognize fully what he was saying, and I’m not completely there yet. But this one thing I do know is that he called me to minister and lead women closer to him, and that doesn’t mean every woman in the world can come to my door every day and I can sit, hear and help them all….There are too many women and too many problems. God has called me to just be obedient to the call with the women he brings into my life. If I can help one woman find healing in him, then they can help one more, and so on and so forth. In the end many lives are changed.

We can’t do this alone, but God didn’t call us to. He has placed people all over this world and given them each a specific purpose to fulfill the ultimate call… To make disciples of every nation.

Then Jesus came to them and said, “all authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.

Matthew 28:18-20

God has called us ALL for one purpose, but he’s gifted each of us individually in the call, so that none of us can do it ALL, but ALL of us can work together to fulfill the call.

As long as Moses held up his hand, the Israelites were winning, but whenever he lowered his hands, the Amalekites were winning. When Moses’ hands grew tired, they took a stone and put it under him and he sat on it. Aaron and Hur held his hands up — one on one side, one on the other — so that his hands remained steady till sunset. So Joshua overcame the Amalekite army with the sword.

Exodus 17:11-13

When times get tough and we get tired, we all need help holding up our hands.

Moses has now led the Israelites out into the wilderness on their way to the promised land. As they go, they reach one trial after another, but God always provides. Then they reach the Amalekites army, and a battle pursues. This is the first recorded battle as they head into the wilderness and Moses puts Joshua at the helm to lead the warriors. But as Joshua is leading the battle through strength by God, Moses is leading with worship and praise by raising his hands to the heavens in adoration and glory to God. As long as his arms are raised, a battle is being won, but when they begin to fall, defeat begins to come. So, Aaron and Hur come to help Moses’ arms stay raised, and Joshua and the Israelites defeat the Amalekites by Sunset.

There will be days, many days, when we are fighting our battles and our arms get too tired to praise God. We start trying to fight on our own and we feel completely defeated. We don’t know what to do, we only see loss in our future, but that’s when we need others, other believers, to come around us and help us to hold up our arms and praise Him.

When it gets so dark that we cannot see and the weight is so heavy that we have no strength, we need help to encourage us to seek the Lord, to guide us to prayer, to pray for us, to raise the banner with us for the God who fights for us.

Oh yes, there will be days that we no longer want to fight, we would rather just give up in defeat, but that’s when we need to allow others to hold up our hands for us.

And let us consider how we may spur one another on toward love and good deeds, not giving up meeting together, as some are in the habit of doing, but encouraging one another —and all the more as you see the Day approaching.

Hebrews 10:24-25

We must find our own Aaron and Hur, and we must be an Aaron or Hur for others as well. We are not alone in this fight, we have other believers around us every day going through their own battles, but when we are there for one another we can do good work, God’s work, together. We can fight together and we can win together, and when we work together, we will Glorify God.

I can promise you, there have been days that I have wanted to give up. There have been days when I’ve turned off my phone, got in my bed, and not wanted to see daylight. But thankfully, in those days, I have others around me to encourage me to seek God, to raise up my arms, to fight the battle He’s put before me. And I fight on. In some, I see the battle won, and in others, I’m still holding up my hands. But if it wasn’t for the people He’s placed around me along the way, I would never have had the strength to keep my arms raised alone.

Look for your people, and keep holding up your arms! The battle is waging, but the war has already been won! It’s not long now ❤️💙

In days to come, when your son ask you, “what does this mean?” Say to him, “with a mighty hand the Lord brought us out of Egypt, out of the land of slavery.“

Exodus 13:14

At some point in each of our lives we will find ourselves in the land of slavery.

Seven years of famine brought the Israelites to Egypt where they found food and safety at the hands of their brother and savior, Joseph. 430 years later, these same Israelites find themselves enslaved in Egypt because of others fears. God saw their struggles and pain and heard their cries, and provided another savior, Moses, to take them out of their slavery and back to their Promised Land.

I would be willing to bet, that none of us planned to be enslaved. Maybe you thought, this will be fun or one time can’t hurt. Maybe your slavery truly started by harmless enjoyment of some thing or someone. Maybe you found shelter or safety in the wrong place. Maybe all your friends were doing it or someone told you it would be okay. Maybe you were naïve, gullible, impressionable. Maybe you thought you could help your family or friends. Maybe you thought you were finding freedom in slavery. Whatever the reason, whatever the enslavement, you found yourself there and you thought there was no way out. But God sees you, he hears you, and he sent his son, the Savior, Jesus Christ, for you. He will free you from whatever you are enslaved to.

I will never forget the years I’ve enslavement I found myself in. I will never forget the flashbacks, the people that took advantage of me, the crying, the hurt, and the harm I caused myself. But more than the slavery I was in, I will never forget the freedom I found in Christ.

Jesus replied, “very truly I tell you, everyone who sent as a slave to sin. Now a slave has no permanent place in the family, but his son belongs to it forever. So if the sun set you free, you will be free indeed.“

John 8:34-36

Jesus didn’t come so that we would be enslaved, Jesus came so that we could live abundantly.

The thief comes only to steal, kill, and destroy; I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full.

John 10:10

God wooed me for years. Since a small child, I knew him, I believed in him, but it wasn’t until I chose to truly follow him that I became free. My past had me in so much bondage and it weighed heavy on my present time. It was in my early 20s that I knew my marriage wouldn’t last with all the chains that I wore. So, I gave it all over to God, and I began to seek him fully and daily.

Through Moses’ relationship with God the Israelites found freedom. Through Jesus’ relationship with the Father, we find freedom, but to have this freedom we must be like him and have a relationship with Him, too.

We can’t just believe and have freedom, even Satan believes. We must have a relationship, and to have a relationship we must talk and listen.

Moses talked to God, first in a burning bush and then in daily prayers. Jesus conversed with God through prayer daily and by going to the temple to listen and preach. When I found freedom, I started by talking to him daily in prayer, listening to him through His Word daily, and choosing to worship in at a Bible preaching church weekly with fellow believers and under preachers and pastors who were filled with wisdom.

If you are tired of being in slavery and you really want to be free to live the life that God has for you, start by seeking him daily. He’s there and he’s waiting on you. You can’t be too far gone. There’s nothing you’ve done that he won’t forgive. He wants for you to live abundantly in his promised land.

Moses said to the Lord, “pardon your servant Lord. I have never been eloquent, neither in the past nor since you have spoken to your servant. I am slow of speech and tongue.” The Lord said to him, “who gave human beings their mouth? Who makes them deaf or mute? Who gives them sight or makes them blind? Is it not I, the Lord? Now go; I will help you speak and will teach you what to say.” But Moses said, “pardon your servant, Lord. Please send someone else.“

Exodus 4:10-13

God calls Moses to lead the Israelites out of Egypt by going to Pharaoh first, telling him, to let his people go.

Fear immediately began to attack Moses his heart, not fear of dying or fear of being enslaved but fear of inadequacy for the call. He didn’t believe he had what it took to do what God wanted him to do. And fear of inadequacy is actually not trusting God. It’s not trusting that he will do what he says he’s going to do, not trusting who he created us to be, and not trusting that what he we see as impossible he already sees as completed.

Then the Lord’s anger burned against Moses and he said, “what about your brother, Aaron, the Levite? I know he can speak well. He is already on his way to meet you, and he will be glad to see you. You shall speak to him and put words in his mouth; I will help both of you speak and will teach you what to do. He will speak to the people for you, and it will be as if he were your mouth and as if you were God to him. But take the staff in your hand so you can perform the signs with it.”

Exodus 4:14-17

God gets frustrated when we don’t trust him and think his call is impossible. For if he has called us, if he has opened a door in front of us, he will equip us to fulfill the work he has called us to. To Moses he gave Aaron. God told Moses, that he would be with him when he went to Pharaoh, but Moses’ fear of inadequacy had him stopped in his tracks. So, God, even frustrated, still loved Moses and wanted to use him, equipped him with the tools he needed, and in this case it was Aaron’s eloquent speech.

10 years ago I remember God calling me out of one place and into something new. He called me from something that I had known all of my life and asked me to do something different, to step out in faith. I walked out of one door and I walked into a completely new door. On my first day at the Florida Baptist Children’s Homes, I remember thinking, what am I doing? How am I supposed to raise money? Did I really hear God tell me to do this? And the answer was yes! He provided absolutely everything that I needed and so much more than I ever thought I would need. He provided an amazing boss who taught me how to listen and lead and love. He placed around me the most intelligent and creative coworkers who helped me along the way and became some of my most treasured friends. And he gave me a Passion, not just for the ministry, but also for the people who would give of their time and treasures to help the children and families the ministry provided for. Through all of God’s provision alone, I was able to do the work He called me to and witness His work in action through His love for the least of these. I’d never done “fundraising” before, but He provided everything I needed because I trusted His call.

God doesn’t call us when we think we have it all together, God calls us when we will fully need to rely on him to give us what we need. He doesn’t call the equipped he equips the called.

God will provide everything we need when he calls us for his work. He sees what we cannot see. He makes what we think is impossible more than possible. If God has called you, trust him. He will not call you for a purpose that he will not provide a way to get there.