Gifts & Guidance: Reflections from 1 Samuel

God’s Gives for his Glory

Inspired by 1 Samuel1-2:11

God gives us gifts of all sorts. Some we ask for, many we don’t. Our responsibility is to use every gift God has provided to worship him. Whether it is praying a prayer of worship for only God to hear, loving others, or spreading the gospel everything we have is to be used for God’s glory.

            

Hannah prayed for a son, she knew he would be a gift from God, and his life would be used to glorify God. God is faithful, he hears Hannah’s desperate prayer, and delights in answering. (More on living for God's glory).

God Lets Us Choose Him

Inspired by 1 Samuel 3

God calls Samuel repeatedly (3 times) before Samuel is ready to listen. God does not force his words on Samuel. He waits until Samuel answers and asks for God to speak when Samuel hears God’s call a fourth time.

God doesn’t force his words on Samuel, he won’t force them on us. We must be ready and willing to listen when he calls. (More on the choices God gives us).

God’s Ways Are Not Our Ways

Inspired by 1 Samuel 8-10

             

Saul is anointed king. He looks like a king, broad and incredibly tall. He is the living image of human strength, but behaves as a coward and hides. God continually shows Israel that they do not know the way. They think Saul is strong, he isn’t. They expect their king to come from some well-established family, he doesn’t. Because, ultimately, God’s ways our not our ways and his thoughts are not our thoughts (Isaiah 55:5-9).

What gifts has God given you? Were they gifts you asked for? Share in the comments below.

*These come from a series of reflections I jotted down as I read 1 Samuel in March of 2013.

About Gospel in the Everyday

Hello everyone! KatieB. here, I am so excited to learn and grow together while exploring the gospel in the everyday!

On the purpose of Gospel in the Everyday

1. I love teaching
2. I love writing
3. I love overthinking things

My hope with Gospel in the Everyday is to put these passions to use learning and growing together by utilizing this blog. You'll see lots of posts about struggling, growing, and reflecting on Christian teaching and living.

On discussion questions
I post discussion questions at the end of each blog post. Please  post your thoughts in the comments or feel free to reach out to me using the contact form at the very bottom of your screen. I'd love to hear from you!
 
On Gospel in the Everyday’s grand reopening
Over Christmas break 2018/2019 I went through previous posts and did a major overhaul. The essential message and content of the posts remains the same but I edited the verbiage. I have just completed a graduate program, and I am pretty sure I wrote more in one semester than in the entire rest of my life combined. Since my writing has improved, I decided to use the improvement to make my older posts more reader friendly before adding new content. I also changed the blog’s name from PrincessandthePete to be more consistent with content.

On adds
P&TP uses adds. I am blogging for the fun of it, but if I can make just a little bit of passive income while I am at it than that is just icing on the cake. I use both Google AdSense, Amazon Native Ads, and Amazon affiliate adds. I have no control over what Google AdSense or Amazon Native Ads display. Some of the adds may be contradictory to the overall message and content of the blog. 

I do choose some but not all of the Amazon affiliate adds. Many of the pictures I use are Amazon affiliate adds. This allows me to have photos relevant to my blog. I also have Amazon affiliate adds at the bottom of individual blog posts that are related to the post. Some adds are books, CDs, or other products that I discuss in the post. Other adds are items I find interesting which are related to the discussion at-hand. 

The Mystery: A Refrigerator Magnet Poem

She is finding mystery in His love
 

Write this story Author of Life

Our romance illustrates you renew the world

My desire is to live for you

Spirit, inspire wisdom and cover my soul

Who wanders, longs, or questions?

Discover every truth through I Am

Jesus, the Long Awaited One: Christmas Reflections

While preparing for a Christmas in July party I had been listening to Christmas music non-stop. While listening to one of my favorite Christmas songs, The Night Before Christmas by Brandon Heath, I started reflecting on the lyrics, "in fear, no faith, no hope, no grace, and no light. But that was the night before Christmas."

I realized these words, although mostly true, weren’t completely true. Many had faith and hope. They had hope in God’s promise to send the Messiah. Throughout the generations, prophets declared his coming again and again in prophecies such as this one:
 
“For unto us a Child is born,
Unto us a Son is given;
And the government will be upon His shoulder.
And His name will be called
Wonderful, Counselor, Mighty God,
Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.

Of the increase of His government and peace
There will be no end,
Upon the throne of David and over His kingdom,
To order it and establish it with judgment and
justice from that time forward, even forever.
The zeal of the Lord of hosts will perform this.” Isaiah 9:6-7, NKJV

This helps to explain why so many of the Jews, who were in Jerusalem right after Jesus ascended into heaven, were so excited about Jesus and 3,000 people became believers after Peter’s first sermon in Acts 2. Jesus was the one they had been waiting for! He had been promised again and again going all the way back in Genesis chapter 3. The people of Israel had been hearing of the messiah time and time again, all through their history.

How cool is it that we get to live with the promise of Jesus fulfilled? And that we get to have faith and hope, because of the fulfilled of that promise?

God has revealed himself to us, to me, through his son Jesus! He is the one that generations were waiting for and he wants us to know him!

“For the Son of Man came to seek and to save the lost.”
Luke 19:10, NIV

“In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.
He was with God in the beginning.
Through him all things were made; without him nothing was made that has been made.

In him was life, and that life was the light of all mankind.
The light shines in the darkness,
and the darkness has not overcome it

The true light that gives light to everyone was coming into the world. He was in the world, and though the world was made through him, the world did not recognize him. He came to that which was his own, but his own did not receive him.

Yet to all who did receive him, to those who believed in his name,
he gave the right to become children of God
— children born not of natural descent, nor of human decision or a husband’s will,
but born of God.

The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us.
We have seen his glory, the glory of the one and only Son,
who came from the Father, full of grace and truth.”
John 1:1-5, 9-14, NIV


How do you live with the hope of Christ in the day-to-day? Share in the comments below.

*originally posted on 7/24/14 and updated on 1/3/19

Created for a Unique Purpose

God made you for a purpose, to the extent that God had planned out all of your days, before you were even born (Psalm 139:16). There is no one else who has the unique combinations of gifts and experiences you have. Your social network is uniquely yours. Your family is uniquely yours. There are lives that God can use you to touch in ways that no one else can. God made you to be used for His glory (Isaiah 43:7), and he can use you like he can use no one else.

My freshman year of college I was really torn because many of my high school friends had gone to college, and were having a rough time. I wanted to be there to support them, but there are only so many ways you can be supportive over the phone from 3 ½ hours or more away. 

In this time I came across a passage in first Thessalonians. In 2:17-20 and 3:1-3 Paul talks about how he had longed to visit the church in Thessalonica. He had even attempted to come to them many times, only to be hindered. Since Paul was needed elsewhere and could not go to the Thessalonians, Timothy was sent in his stead to lead the church. God showed me through this passage that God had placed where I was for a reason, and he would bring others into the lives of my friends who would show them his love, when I couldn’t be there.

The thing that we have to remember is that sometimes you could be an answer to prayer. Sometimes you could be who God is going to bring into someone’s life that will help to show them his love. Sometimes you will be Timothy. God can use you like he can use no one else in all of history. God does what he wills (Psalm 135:6) and he willed you into existence for a purpose and chose to save you for a reason. 

How has God used you in a unique way? Share in the comments below.

Related video:
1. Veggie Tales, A Snoodle's Tale

*This was originally posted on 3/24/13 and updated on 1/3/19 


The thing that we have to remember is that sometimes YOU are the person that someone else has been praying for. Sometimes YOU are the person that God is going to bring into someone’s life that will help to show them His love. God can use you like He can use NO ONE else in ALL OF HISTORY. God does what He wills and He willed you into existence for a purpose and chose to save you for a reason.phone from 3 ½ hours or more away. But God showed me a passage where Paul was writing to one of the early churches (I really wish I remembered what book this was) and He was saying how He had longed to come to them, and had tried to many times, but He kept being needed elsewhere and He had heard and knew that God was bringing other people to them to build them up, which He couldn’t do. And what God showed me through that was that God had placed me here at A&M for a reason and that He would bring others into the lives of my friends that would show them His love, when I can’t be there.

The thing that we have to remember is that sometimes YOU are the person that someone else has been praying for. Sometimes YOU are the person that God is going to bring into someone’s life that will help to show them His love. God can use you like He can use NO ONE else in ALL OF HISTORY. God does what He wills and He willed you into existence for a purpose and chose to save you for a reason.

When We are Faithless, God is Faithful

If we are faithless,
He remains faithful;
He cannot deny Himself.
2 Timothy 2:13 (NKJV)

My Faithlessness
Faithless. Now that’s a loaded word. It’s not a word that anyone would want to use to describe themselves. Yet there have been so many times I have been faithless and absent from my friendships, family, and God. 

However, my faithlessness could be difficult to spot because I may have been physically present with my friends and family. I might also be attending church every time the door was open. However, I would be emotionally and spiritually absent from all of my relationships. There had been times when I could not be relied on to be loving in my relationships with friends, family, and God. I truly have been faithless.

The most recent time this spiritual and emotional absence occurred I was not in a good place in my walk with God. It was affecting every other area of my life, especially my close friendships. 

Thankfully, two of my amazing friends, out of love, told me they were concerned about how different (joyless, defensive, emotional, selfish) I had been of late. It was one of the most loving conversations anyone had ever had with me. So I was able to go into Christmas break with the attitude of, “okay God we need to do some serious open heart surgery on my heart.” I was able to rest in God’s comfort and peace over the break, and as I was rereading Captivating, I was renewed by God's love.

God's Faithfulness
Now I love 2 Timothy 2:13 because it tells us no matter how faithless we are, no matter how far we run, and what we do, God is faithful. “He cannot deny Himself.” Showing us that it is in God’s very nature to be faithful. Being unfaithful would be denying his very nature, to the point where it would be denying himself.

So what do we do when we are unfaithful? The bible also talks about God’s faithfulness in 1 John 1:9 (NIV): 
If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness.

We are also told in Psalm 36:5 (NIV): 
Your love, Lord, reaches to the heavens, your faithfulness to the skies.

When we are unfaithful, run to God, His love for you is never-ending, unfailing, and he is faithful to forgive us of our unfaithfulness. Simply come to him and lay your burdens at his feet, and rest in his love.


A Few Songs about God’s faithfulness:
1. Your Love Oh Lord (Psalm 36) - Third Day
2. God is Able - Hillsong
3. Every Time You Run - Manafest
4. You are I Am - MercyMe

How have you seen God's faithfulness at work in your life? Share in the comments below.
 
*originally published on 1/21/13 and updated on 1/1/19

Helping us See: The Light Christian Community Can Be

Background

A recurring theme in my life this semester has been community, and how much of a need it absolutely vital to the Christian walk. About a month ago, I went on a weekend retreat with my college ministry group. The last night some people had gone off to the basketball courts to play a game while others were starting to get settled in for the night. One of my friends was really not feeling good so I had stayed behind with her when the game group departed. When she called it a night, I went in search of the game group. 

They they weren’t where they said they were going to be, so I set off in search of them. I thought I saw some flashlights in the woods across the lake so I decided to cross the bridge and search for my friends. Now let me set the scene for you. The sky is overcast and completely blocking out the light from the moon and stars. I have no illumination at all except from the little flashlight app on my iPhone. I walked just a little ways into the woods, always staying on the trail that keeps the lake in view, and after walking just a little ways, not wanting to get lost, I decided to turn back. 

I reached the point where I was just positive the bridge was, but it was so dark that I couldn’t see it with just my little bit of light. I questioned myself, knowing I have a terrible sense of direction. Had I passed the bridge? Had I not gone far enough? But, being positive that I was in the right place I slowly walked towards the lake and when I got incredibly close, saw the bridge.
 

The Light of Christian Community
God showed me that night that trying to follow Christ on your own was like me trying to find a bridge- in the woods- in complete darkness- with a tiny little light. I’m a believer. The love and light of Christ is in me. Those in darkness can see light, no matter how small. But trying to find your way through life on your own, with just my your own little light is so difficult. It is far easier to see when you are with a group of people who love God and each have the light of his love shining in and through them. 

If I had been with others with their own lights in those woods I would have been able to see the land bridge- no problem. But on my own, I just couldn’t find my way. So I just want to encourage you, to find a group of believers and shine together.

How has Christian community helped you? Share in the comments below.

*first posted on 11/18/12 and updated on 1/1/19