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.