Who can forget the victorious song in Exodus 15 that Moses and the children of Israel sang when they were led out of captivity? What a great day of rejoicing they must have had together as they witnessed the demise of Pharaoh’s chariots. They declared the might and power of their great God as He shattered their enemies before their very eyes. They sang of His great exploits and realized His great love that had redeemed them out of the hand of their strong enemy.

“They set out from Elim, and all the congregation of the people of Israel came to the wilderness of Sin…after they had departed from the land of Egypt. And the whole congregation of the people of Israel grumbled against Moses and Aaron in the wilderness, and the people of Israel said to them, ‘Would that we had died by the hand of the LORD in the land of Egypt, when we sat by the meat pots and ate bread to the full, for you have brought us out into this wilderness to kill this whole assembly with hunger.’”

— Exodus 16:1-3

Although this reference to ‘Sin’ is an actual place where the Israelites arrived, not too long after their great escape from captivity, I can’t help but see the connection to human sin here. So often, God frees us from the bondage of sin and we walk right back into the same sinful territory that He has already called us out of. We, too, are like the Israelites in that we are quick to forget God’s awesome power in and through our lives and are instead prone to grumble in the wilderness.

The Israelites had just declared the triumphant power of their God who had rescued them from the hand of their wicked masters, but they quickly forgot His loving care that had provided them a way of escape. They believed such nonsense when they became thirsty and hungry. In their lack, they forgot about the sovereign rescue God had displayed in their lives and conversely, they had regressed into thinking that they would be better off dead.

We, too, readily walk back into old patterns of thinking, or look back into the “Egypts” in our lives -- thinking of the old days, allowing our wrong thinking to form, and inform, our heart-attitudes. We, too, forget to rehearse the history of God’s faithfulness in our lives, and so we lose sight of His sovereign care that has brought us out of bondage, and into a land of plenty where He has every intention of feeding and caring for us. We are prone to wander from the truth that God is good, gracious, merciful and kind toward His people.

We don’t readily perceive times of difficulty as gifts from God but being hungry and thirsty truly are gifts from God.  We grumble against God or bring His sovereignty into question without taking another look at what He might be up to in the process of our difficulties. We give access to the enemy to come back in and wreak havoc in our lives as Paul warns against in I Corinthians 10:9-11.

He is showing them that He will continue to provide for them

Instead of God striking them down for their grumbling, He declares: “Behold, I am about to rain bread from heaven for you, and the people shall go out and gather a day’s portion every day, that I may test them, whether they will walk in my law or not.” (Exodus 16:4) God is so good to give them another opportunity to trust Him. He is showing them that He will continue to provide for them, maybe not like the spectacular display of the parting of the Red Sea, but in the day to day faithfulness of their needs. God uses His chosen leaders to shed light on the situation as Moses and Aaron declare in Exodus 16:6-10:

“At evening you shall know that it was the LORD who brought you out of the land of Egypt, and in the morning you shall see the glory of the LORD, because he has heard your grumbling against the LORD. For what are we, that you grumble against us? … When the LORD gives you in the evening meat to eat and in the morning bread to the full, because the LORD has heard your grumbling that you grumble against him- what are we? Your grumbling is not against us but against the LORD.

Then Moses said to Aaron, “Say to the whole congregation of the people of Israel, ‘Come near before the LORD, for he has heard your grumbling.” And as soon as Aaron spoke to the whole congregation of the people of Israel, they looked toward the wilderness, and behold, the glory of the LORD appeared in the cloud.”

Isn’t that just like the LORD! He appeared to His people in the midst of their sin so that they would know Him! Jesus did that for us too! He saw us landlocked in our sin and heard our cry and He condescended to us, in our lowly grumbling state, so that we would KNOW Him as LORD!

He humbles us by letting us grow hungry and thirsty so that we will feed on His faithfulness

He always has a purpose when He allows us to go through difficulties. He humbles us by letting us grow hungry and thirsty so that we will feed on His faithfulness and in so doing come to know Him in a much greater capacity than we ever imagined was possible. God in His graciousness gives us opportunities to walk in His ways. He disciplines us because He loves us. He takes care of us through the difficulties of our lives so that we will walk in His ways and fear Him, knowing that we cannot live without the Bread of Life.

Through Christ, we are now in that good Promised Land where we have access to the veins of His glory! If we will just mine through the difficulties, we will excavate the reality of the goodness of the glory of our God. We must keep our eyes on the Prize and not on the past; we must leave behind grumbling and continue to declare His great acts, so that we will continually be reminded of His faithfulness in our lives. We have every reason to sing the high praises of our King -- He has triumphed gloriously over the wilderness of sin! And in allowing us to be hungry and thirsty, He is actually giving us an opportunity to see Him more clearly, know Him more nearly, and love Him more dearly.

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Karen Savage wants to live in a world where Christ is Glorified. When she's not serving her family, you can find her serving others. Her favorite Scripture is John 15:7-8 ESV.

Our team journal was written for you today by our Team Lead, Natalie Herr.

At the end of 2017, I asked God to give me a word for 2018. Now, I’m not typically a “word-of-the-year” person, but I decided to go where the Spirit was leading. When I asked, God responded with the word shalom.

“Shalom is a Hebrew word meaning peace, harmony, wholeness, completeness, prosperity, welfare and tranquility and can be used idiomatically to mean both hello and goodbye.”

— Wikipedia

Shalom is an ancient Hebrew word. It’s most often translated to our English word peace, but it carries a much richer meaning than one word can hold. Shalom is wholeness. It’s oneness. It’s completeness. And boy, do I long for it.

Let me back up a bit. God has been teaching me a lot about myself in the past few months. With the help of the Word (and the Enneagram, let’s be real), I’ve discovered that I am not great at handling negative feelings. I don’t like sorrow, grief, or lament. I’m uncomfortable sitting in sadness. Joy and hope - that’s my wheelhouse. I’m an optimist through and through. I always thought that was a good quality to have - like somehow I was doing the Christian life “better” because I was so quick to return to my hope in Christ - but what I’ve found is that it’s actually NOT Christ-like to ignore my negative feelings.

Now, I’m not saying I don’t get sad (I do) or I don’t cry (I definitely do), but I don’t know what to do with it. I don’t know why it’s happening and I want it to be over it as soon as possible. I think things like: Why stay there in sadness when I can run straight to the truth and hold on for dear life? Why extend the grief when I can jump right to the promise? Why hang out in the middle of the story when I know the happy ending?

This problem I have with sadness became glaringly obvious as I read through Job in our DWITW 365 plan. If I’m completely honest, I was slogging through those middle chapters. I was wishing Job would stop repeating himself and the friends would get with it and God would just SHOW UP ALREADY. I know the end of the story. I know our faithful, Redeemer God. Come on with it, Lord!

I needed to sit and read the words of Job’s friends

But, God. Our good God designed the book of Job for short-sighted people just like me who need to do some walking in darkness before they see the light. I needed to sit and read the words of Job’s friends. I needed to realize that “DUH! I AM THE FRIENDS.” I am the person who struggles to be compassionate and rushes to the truth. I am the person who can’t always weep with those who weep. I am the person who has wounded others in their times of grief with my untimely words.

God asks me to love Him with my whole heart, mind, soul and strength (Mark 12:30). He wants me all-in. He wants me whole; complete; resting in SHALOM. And what I’ve come to realize is that I have not been loving God with my whole heart - I’ve been loving Him with just the happy half of my heart. Jesus came and died so that I could have life to the full (John 10:10) - abundance, wholeness, shalom - but I’m missing out on all that fullness if I am avoiding the pain. Pain is part of the human experience. Jesus felt more pain than I ever will. He wept, he grieved, he suffered. And what does that tell me? It tells me that it’s a privilege to suffer because it aligns me with Christ. When I walk with him through suffering, I connect with Him in a different way. I understand more deeply what it means to be human. I become ‘acquainted with grief’ (Isaiah 53:3), as He was. If Jesus needed to be acquainted with grief, then so do I.

“Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies and God of all comfort, who comforts us in all our affliction, so that we may be able to comfort those who are in any affliction, with the comfort with which we ourselves are comforted by God.”

— 2 Corinthians 1:3-4

And what good is it for me to be acquainted with grief? (This is the constant question in my mind when I am escaping my pain). In my grief, I am met with God’s perfect comfort. Paul tells me that the comfort I get from God is meant to be given away to others when they are suffering (2 Cor. 1:4). It’s not just about me. There is a deep, God-reflecting comfort that isn’t possible for me to give if I haven’t worked through suffering myself. If I avoid my pain and refuse God’s comfort, I can’t give adequate comfort to others.

Two roads lie before me now: a short escape route and a long road to shalom. I’ve taken the short road enough times to know that it’s not a path of growth. It’s a path of avoidance and it doesn’t get me where I ultimately want to go. The road to shalom looks dark and twisty and full of danger, but that’s the road I’m choosing to walk down this time, hand-in-hand with my Jesus. He’s walked the path before me and will catch me when I fall. He is my peace (Eph. 2:14) and He will use my trials and suffering to make me complete (James 1:2-4). I don’t have to be afraid. He will also join me in my holy longing for restoration, and for perfect joy and peace. There’s room for hope and expectant joy on the journey, too.

Lord, forgive me for the years I’ve spent running away from pain, escaping from the hard feelings, avoiding sorrow. Show me the purpose in the pain. Show me what it looks like to embrace pain and lean into grief when it comes my way. Remind me that sad feelings are okay and help me to stick with them for a little while. When the trials come, comfort me in a way that only You can, and teach me how I can comfort others in the same way. Grow me in compassion and protect me from hurting others with insensitive words. Redeem the years that the locusts have eaten, Lord! Create in me a clean heart, a heart of flesh, a fearless heart that is not afraid to feel pain. Take me down the road to shalom and teach me what wholeness looks like. I long for the day when tears are no more, but until then, show me how to honor You with my feelings. Amen

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Natalie Herr is the founder and team leader of Dayton Women in the Word. She is a servant of God, a wife, a mom of four and a God-sized dreamer. She loves teaching and equipping women with God's Word.

Sometimes opportunity is a reward for hard earned efforts. Other times it comes as a shocking and incomprehensible surprise. It can make us squeal with delight, or it can cause us to squirm with discomfort. But there is one thing opportunity never does. It never leaves us the same.

Our reading this week gives us the privilege of a bird’s eye view on the topic of opportunity: Moses’ opportunity to participate in something bigger than himself, the Israelites’ opportunity to step out in faith (quite literally), and Pharoah’s opportunity to learn that there is only one true God. However, these are only the “famous” opportunities awaiting us within these chapters. While I was reading this week’s section of Scripture, I almost overlooked a lesser known opportunity in my haste to get to the “good stuff.” But something about it called to my heart. Perhaps it’s because it resonated deeply with something I’ve recently experienced.

Before I get too far ahead, let me review. At the end of Genesis 45, we saw Joseph (once sold into slavery by his brothers, but had since risen to be a ruler in Egypt) reveal his identity to his brothers who came from Canaan seeking relief from a terrible famine. Joseph loaded them up with provisions for both the journey home as well as the journey back with their families and their father, Jacob. When Jacob learned his son Joseph was not only alive, but also a ruler in Egypt, his heart became numb. He was so shocked and surprised by the news, he couldn’t believe it. At the close of the chapter, Jacob in his old age was being provided an all expense paid trip to Egypt with untold delight and surprise awaiting. And that is where this opportunity began.

“And Israel said, “It is enough; Joseph my son is still alive. I will go and see him before I die.””

— Genesis 45:28

When I read these verses leading up to Genesis 46, my heart stopped short. Just a few days prior I learned that my husband and I won an all-expense paid trip to Cape Town, South Africa. We would be boarding a plane in less than ten days to travel on a tour with a group of strangers. As I watched the live drawing on Facebook, I prayed: “Lord, if You want us on this trip for divine purposes of Your own -- for the furtherance of your Kingdom -- may our names be drawn.” Seconds later, our name was drawn.

Opportunity! Delight! Squeals of joy!  (You should have heard me!) I knew beyond a shadow of a doubt that God wanted us on this trip. Even if our plane crashed into the ocean, I knew we were in the center of His will. But then, much like we read in Genesis 46:1-4, shock and wonderment morphed into worry.

Perhaps Jacob was worried he would not survive the trip to Egypt, and all this good news would be for naught. Perhaps he felt insecure leaving his home to live in a new place among a different culture. While we don’t know the specifics behind his worry, we see God spoke to him in a vision at night saying, “Jacob! Jacob!... I am the God of your father...Do not be afraid to go down to Egypt… for I will go down to Egypt with you…and Joseph’s own hand will close your eyes” (v. 2-4).

While my opportunity was much different, I found myself standing in Jacob’s shoes. “Lord, what if I mess this up? What if I don’t represent you well, and instead of drawing people to you, I repel them? What if we get the flu that’s going around and can’t make the trip? What if. . .“ Interestingly, I took all the pressure of success, performance and outcome on my own shoulders. And did it help? No. Absolutely not. Just six days prior to flying, my husband came down with a bad respiratory flu. “Lord,” I cried out, “You want us on this trip, so You’re just going to have to work this out.” He did. My husband made a miraculous recovery and was perfectly healthy two days before flying out, and the Lord kept me from getting it!

“I am God, the God of your father. Do not be afraid. . .”

— Genesis 46:3

But that same day a snow storm came, threatening to ground our next day flight to New York to catch the plane to Africa. “Lord, I know you want us on this trip. This is Your problem to work out!” We followed the weather reports closely, and before going to bed the night before leaving, we saw the weather pattern being diverted. We received only a fraction of the snow and ice predicted, and by the time our flight was scheduled to board all the runways were cleared and the sun was shining. Only God. Opportunity to trust.

Not only did I have to trust God with the logistical details of this opportunity, I had to trust Him with the emotional and personal ones too. I wasn’t being called to reflect my own light; I was being called to reflect His. And He would just have to work His love and light in and through me. And you know what? He did just that -- once I gave Him the opportunity to work. My heart is full with stories of hearts He stirred, lives He touched, and conversations He was in the midst of. It would take a dedicated post just to recount the half of it.

There’s one last opportunity I forgot to mention from the beginning. This tour group was comprised of Orthodox Jews which happens to be a dedicated people group in the world we committed to pray for (our Affinity Block with Apex Community Church). Only God could orchestrate such an opportunity.

As you read this week, look for moments of “opportunity to trust” in the text and ask God to show you those moments in your own day. They come in all shapes and sizes.

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Jackie Perseghetti wants to live in a world where every human realizes they are walking wounded and in need of God’s grace. Her heart is to be God’s person at God’s time in the life of another and she looks for God-given moments to breathe life and encouragement. When Jackie is not going on adfuntures with her hubby (adventure with fun at the center) or teaching drums or the art of papercrafting, you can find her digging in her garden, storytelling to her grandkids, or sharing the stirrings of her heart at  www.smallstepsintofreedom.wordpress.com  She takes great comfort in her favorite Bible verses: Isaiah 41:10 and Isaiah 46:4.

I walked into the Chinese hotel lobby for the second time in my life and the familiar smell of powder, chlorine, and a faint hint of smoke flooded my mind with so many memories. The humidity hung in the air we breathed, even in the midst of winter, and the fluent Chinese conversations between our travel guide and the hotel attendant brought me profoundly back to our first adoption three-and-a-half years prior.

I looked down at my jet lagged yet inquisitive little girl, and I said to her, “This is where we first met.” We slept hard through the night, and woke up in the morning to enjoy fried eggs, dumplings, and yogurt drinks for breakfast. I told my daughter, “This is where we shared our first meal together.” We relaxed in the hotel room, and I prepared the crib with a handmade quilt, taggie blanket, and a little ladybug plush animal. I told my daughter, “This is what we did while waiting for you too.” We waited in anticipation, knowing that our family would grow by one in the next few hours.

I sit here now in this very hotel room gathering my thoughts and lifting up prayers of hope as we wait. When I learned that my first blog post as a contributor to the Dayton Women in the Word blog team was due on Monday, January 8, I figured that God had a special plan to include our family’s adoption story as a part of this week’s reflection. My husband and I have been entrusted by God with two biological children, and two children by adoption -- one of whom we are about to meet.

He needed to be rescued, to be pulled out of the darkness of this world. . .

What we have learned through adoption is that we all come from trauma of some kind, whether it be profound or seemingly minimal. Jesus’ family is full of flawed human beings with long track records of rejection, injury, and brokenness. Joseph was no stranger to such history, as his own biological family disowned and abandoned him in the ultimate way by throwing him into a cistern to be left for dead (Genesis 37:18-24). I am confident that Joseph felt a sense of hopelessness, lack, and longing for connection that most of us cannot fathom. God’s story written for this man, who was in the family of Christ, included a deep sense of being separated and hurt by the very family that was supposed to care deeply and unconditionally for him. He was cast into a pit so deep that he never would have been able to be brought out by any means of his own. He needed to be rescued, to be pulled out of the darkness of this world, and provided a life that only another could offer him.

This is our story - every one of us. Our daughter, yet to meet us today, is not the only orphan in a fatherless state. We are all fatherless and in need of rescue and adoption by our heavenly Father. We all find ourselves in cisterns, without hope, and without what our souls need to be free and whole. Little did we know at the time what God had promised Joseph to be true is what He also promises us: that what the enemy intends for evil, God intends for good (Genesis 45:4-8).

God redeemed Joseph from the cistern, and He gave him a hope and a future. He took him from the lowest place in earth where he found himself lonely and afraid, and He brought him into a life of honor, abundance, and glory. Christ offers each of us this life through His sacrificial death on the cross for our brokenness and sin -- and for the needs in each of our hearts to be loved, connected, and never left.

“And now do not be distressed or angry with yourselves because you sold me here, for God sent me before you to preserve life.”

— ‭‭Genesis‬ ‭45:5

Our precious daughter is coming to us today from a history of trauma. Her cistern has been very deep and her need for connection is profound. We are humbled and blessed to be a part of God’s mighty rescue of her heart. As David Platt says, “We adopt not because we are the rescuers, but because we have been rescued.” God redeemed Joseph from the pit, He has redeemed those who have come into the fold in Christ through saving faith, and He is continuing to rescue us in His sanctifying love that will never leave us while bringing others out of their pits.

Our hope in meeting our daughter today is that this one of many steps we are taking brings her closer to her apprehension of the Gospel. She does not yet know that we are preparing this space for her out of love. She cannot yet apprehend the home that also awaits her in Ohio, and the many family and friends who will take her in as a part of our family. She is being pulled from her earthly cistern into a life that will reveal her heart's’ true desire for connection and unconditional love. As our older daughter has experienced, what is very painful and scary at the time, as she leaves everything she has ever known will one day become home to her heart. She will hear the name of Jesus, she will experience the love of Jesus, and she will prayerfully call upon the name of Jesus. As her life moves from the cistern towards the glory of God and the fulfillment of His promise to adopt us in His love by grace through faith, we expectantly await redemption.

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Julie Swain is a follower of Jesus, wife, stay-at-home mom of four beautiful children, and fellow sister in Christ. She is passionate about ministering to the hearts of other moms, especially those who have been called to parent children from hard places through adoption and foster care. No story is too broken for God’s redemption, and she believes that He will use even the darkest of circumstances to shine His glory.  She believes that while God always give us more than we can handle, He does so because He wants us to see our need for Him in every moment of life.

Our team journal was written for you today by our Content Director, Jillian Vincent.

I’m doing it again. Scrolling Wayfair for a bigger dining room table. Peeking at listings online for minivans and SUVs. Considering buying bunk beds for my boys to make room for more kids to find a safe place in our home through Safe Families. I’m making room. It was one of my goals for 2018. I want to create space for more, expectant that God will use our home for safety, refuge, fellowship, feasting, and belonging. I have a vision that God has more purpose for this little blue house with maroon shutters, and our little family inside of it. He intends to use this space, and I’m preparing for the sojourners that God will bring our way.

Lately, I’ve been thinking about sanctification, the change God initiates in us, the way God makes room for Himself inside of us once we belong to Him. I’ve been thinking of that as I make room for others in my home, that maybe He is making room for more holiness in my heart. In Leviticus, as we will soon discover in #dwitw365, the Lord lays out His specific plans for His people’s holiness, and how they can purify themselves. This purification has a purpose, and that purpose is so that the people could dwell with him. Did you know that many of the food sacrifices God instructs His people to make and offer to Him, that they are also instructed to eat the rest? It is a divine meal between God and His people hosted by God Himself (Deut 14:22-29). He prepared a place and provided the meat for His people, purifying them so they could be in his presence and eat with Him at His table (Psalm 23:5-6)!

“For I am the Lord your God. Consecrate yourselves therefore, and be holy, for I am holy.”

— Leviticus 11:44

Yes, I made many a goal for my household this new year. And most of them have to do with hosting others around my still non-existent, large, round, dark, wooden, dream table. But I never once thought to ask the question, “What is God’s goal for me?”? Holiness. God’s goal for me is holiness. Why? Because He wants me with Him, at His table. Because He loves me and made room for me. He has made a home in my heart. He wants abundant life for me, a life where there is no Godless space. Because God is holy, and I belong to him, I must be holy. And when I am with Him, I am compelled to be like Him.

The Bible is clear on the how of holy. As we abide in Him, He does the work of making us holy, directing us back to Him and creating the fruit in our lives. (John 15) So I’ve been asking myself these questions as I abide with Him: What space am I holding back from Him? Where in my life is a Godless place because I have not made room for Him? What have I not consecrated to the Lord? And some scarier questions: What am I making room for instead? What have I welcomed that is not of the Lord? What gods have feasted at my table? What other gods have slept in my turned down beds? Or, used my wifi password? Or, eaten my French toast for breakfast?

“He must increase and I must decrease.”

— John 3:30

And I know it is really the Holy Spirit inquiring about my choice of house guests. Yes, He is here. And He won’t allow any other god to shack up here. Including my old sinful self. She’s got to go. There simply isn’t room. He is the only God worthy of every space in my life, my heart, my breath and my very being. I am in Christ, which means I am hosting Holiness. Why? Because my heart is a dwelling place for Jesus Christ himself, the spotless lamb. When the Lord looks at me, He sees Holiness, because He sees Christ. That old Jillian? That old self? She’s gone. She’s been crucified with Christ. And now, I’m alive again because it is Christ who lives in me! Holiness himself. And I not only host Holiness, I host power -- the power of the Holy Spirit -- and I need to make room for Him.

For the law of the Spirit of life has set you free in Christ Jesus from the law of sin and death. For God has done what the law, weakened by the flesh, could not do. By sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh and for sin, he condemned sin in the flesh, in order that the righteous requirement of the law might be fulfilled in us, who walk not according to the flesh but according to the Spirit.
- Romans 8:2-4

If Jesus Christ walked into my little blue house right now, I would shove all the markers and play-doh and leftover crusty spaghetti noodles off my table to create a clean space for Him to sit. I would place Him at the head of my table and I would make sure all the friends He brought with Him were equally welcome.

Well, the Holy Spirit HAS shown up, and He has brought some friends. A lot of friends. A Holy Spirit soiree of sorts right to my doorstep. But the thing is, this is no temporary stay. I am not God’s “airbnb.” And you! Sister, YOU ARE NOT GOD’S HOSTEL. WE are his forever home. It is not, “Make yourself at home!” It is “Welcome Home!” WE are his dwelling place. We are his temple. He has moved in! Unpacked his bags! But He has not put up his feet. No, He is making us His Home.

“But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control; against such things there is no law.”

— Galatians 5:22-23

And no, we didn’t come cleaned up by any housekeeping service, all the nooks and crannies in our lives were not spiffed up for Him before He arrived. But GOD! He himself, tender to us, because He has lived this human life and has known intimately its nastiest places, came to renew and restore everything. He is making all things new. Without condemnation towards our brokenness, He is redesigning, until every tile of backsplash and wooden floorboard has his signature touch.

So what does that mean for my life right now? Simply this: I’m sitting down to eat with the Lord at His table. I’m exposing my unfinished parts to Him, and I’m listening when He convicts me of trying to kick Him out of His own house! (It happens a lot.) I’m loosening my idolatrous thoughts of a better designer or a better design, because He is revealing His ultimate glorious one to me! And, sister? There is no comparison. God’s design is always better. And finally, I’ve stopped fashioning a guest room for him, because I’ve given him the keys entirely.

Lord, help me to host holiness, knowing it is you who does the work, and rejoice that though you are a come-as-you-are God, you don’t leave this house foreclosed. As I prepare my home for guests, would you prepare my heart for holiness? Leave no room untouched, and help me keep in step with your Spirit as you fashion a glorious temple for yourself.

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Jillian Vincent loves Jesus. She's a wife, mother of two boys and a Dayton enthusiast. Jillian currently is a stay at home mama and spends nap times writing and discipling other women. She would (almost) die for an avocado, a cup of coffee made by her husband, a novel that makes her cry, and a bouquet of sunflowers. 

So Sarah laughed to herself. Whenever I read this part of Sarah and Abraham’s story, a resounding, “Girrrrrl, yes!” lets loose from somewhere deep in my belly. I think about Sarah, ninety-years old, having become accustomed to her life as a wife. I imagine after years of trying, hoping, praying... yet never knowing the feeling of growth inside her womb, Sarah had settled into her life, learning to dance with the lack of motherhood. We get used to these things, ya know? We hope. We walk through dry seasons with parched souls, and an ache that feels as if it will never leave, but we often come to a place of, ‘Okay, Lord. If not this, show me what will be.’ I imagine that’s where Sarah was. She was working on getting those cakes ready for the men who were visiting. Her brow was sweaty with the work of kneading, but she persists in the preparation. She’s doing her thing when she hears it, “I will surely return to you about this time next year, and Sarah your wife shall have a son.”
 
Can you imagine what she must have felt? Was there a tremble of butterflies in her stomach? Anger coursing through her veins? Disbelief? A flicker of faint hope? Perhaps it was a blend of all. And so, all she could do was laugh. But can you blame her? I think about what I might’ve said, or felt, or done in a moment like that – it certainly would’ve been less graceful than Sarah’s response.

‘Well, sure. Give me a baby now – as my life is winding down, when I’m too old to sit on the floor and get back up easily, when I won’t be able to chase after a toddler who just won’t sit still. After all my friends have raised their kids and are now great-grandparents, give me that go at motherhood. Awesome. Yeah. Okay.’

I want to believe, when I read through my well-worn Bible, I am better than all those who’ve come before me. I would not become bitter with mourning like Naomi. I wouldn’t question God’s presence like the Israelites. I would’ve stayed away from that tree and its forbidden fruit and, unlike Eve, I’d tell that serpent to get lost. But who exactly am I trying to convince? I think Sarah and I actually have a kindred-spirit sort of situation happening here. We both long for things not readily available to us. We both try to handle situations on our own, blindingly resolute in the belief that we know best. And then, when there’s a taste of what is to come for us, after all this time, we both get shockingly bratty and petulant in our response. I see myself in Sarah as she laughs to herself, kneading the cakes, in disbelief. I’d like to pull her close, lace my fingers with hers and whisper, “I’m with you, sister. I get it.”
 
I read about Sarah laughing to myself and I nod in knowing where she is. But what I love, even more than how much I see myself in Sarah’s response, is how God’s response to her has no lingering reflection of selfish, human flesh.The Lord hears Sarah laugh and mutter under her breath. And let’s be real -  He’s the King, so He was well within His right to say, “Nah, girl. I take it back. If you’re gonna act like a child, I won’t be giving you a child.” Instead, like every wise adult I’ve ever known, He poses a question. He poses a question to which each of us already knows the answer.

“’Is anything too hard for the Lord?’” How often do we each need to ask ourselves this question in the midst of trial? In seasons of wanting, what sorrows might we save ourselves from by reminding our hearts Whom it is we call Father? Do we ever come across scenarios in which the Lord says, “Actually, ya know, I’m not sure that’s within my job description, so I’m gonna pass?”. We don’t.

Is anything too hard for the Lord? 

Again and again, we read experiences and narratives in which the Lord shows up and breathes life into the breathlessness by saying, “I will . . .”

“I will establish my covenant between me and you and your offspring after you throughout their generations . . .” (Genesis 17:7)

“I will bless her . . .” (Genesis 17:16)

“I will not leave you . . .” (Genesis 28:15)

“I will set shepherds over them who will care for them, and they shall fear no more, nor be dismayed, neither shall any be missing, declares the Lord.” (Jeremiah 23:4)

“I will set my eyes on them for good . . . I will build them up . . . I will plant them . . . I will give them a heart to know that I am the Lord . . .” (Jeremiah 24:6-7)

“I will turn their mourning into joy; I will comfort them, and give them gladness for sorrow.” (Jeremiah 31:13)

I can’t find blame for Sarah – her story of waiting and questioning rings similar to my own. She is a woman longing for more. She momentarily loses sight of her Father’s magnificence and capability. But thankfully for girls like us, humans like you, me, and Sarah - we are not known and seen by a King who reacts, decides, and gives like we do. Instead our good Father goes before every last moment of doubt or embittered laughter we have to offer, and He swiftly comes with a word of promise. And praise Him - He is behind every gift we will never deserve, but still receive.

So while Sarah, in her tent kitchen, kneaded dough for cakes and laughed in mocking for what was before her I also imagine the laughter ringing after she gave birth to her boy, and I have to believe it was laced with the peace that comes with knowing God will come through. He will. And He still does.

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Steph Duff wants to live in a world where every human, whether small or regular-sized, learns to use their voice and is seen and known. When she's not traveling and story telling with Back2Back Ministries, you'll likely find her drinking excessive cups of coffee, with her nose in a book, or daydreaming about India. Her favorite scripture is Habakkuk 1:5, and she prays for a world in which Jesus is the name on every lip. Learn a little more about her love for semi-colons, what stirs her blood, and the yearnings of her heart over at www.stephaniduff.wordpress.com.

“Therefore, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us also lay aside every weight, and sin which clings so closely, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, looking to Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is seated at the right hand of the throne of God.”

— Hebrews 12:1-2

There’s something about the book of Job that takes me back to the days I spent in my college dorm room sitting cross-legged on a borrowed extra long twin bed with a spine-split Bible for company. Job was one of my go-to places when I didn’t want to carry the weight of my own emotional baggage. I would think, “Here is someone who has really lost everything, someone who has really suffered.” There was something comforting, almost freeing, about losing myself in the feelings that came with the empathy; the sorrow, the pain, the anger. So I took the opportunity to bury my own hurts in someone else’s suffering.

Throughout the course of exchanges between Job and his friends, the reason for Job’s suffering is questioned. Is it the result of his own wickedness? Is it evidence of an unjust God? Why is it happening? Where is there hope?

I’ve tried to dress up pain with prideful answers born of my own weak attempts at realizing wisdom. I’ve tried to plaster my own cracking facade with shallow-rooted worth I’d seek in the mirror rather than the heart of God. Time can often change circumstances but questions of the heart can remain the same. Where was my hope?

My perspective was limited and finite, yet I longed for control. I wanted to make things better, to make the suffering stop. Sometimes I would even settle for making circumstances worse just to try to prove I had a say in what was going on. I had lost sight of hope and fixed my eyes on pain instead.

Why did I have to suffer? Why do we suffer still? We may never know fully. Perhaps for me, it’s the only way I’ll stand still long enough to see God as He is. Or maybe it’s in suffering that I let go of the things I’ve allowed to become idols. Regardless of the answer, my hope lies not in knowing the why but in being able to trust the One whose sight far extends my own. In the midst of pain, He is trustworthy still. The limits of my humanity cannot contain Him. Job 26:7-14 says:

“He stretches out the north over the void
and hangs the earth on nothing.
He binds up the waters in his thick clouds,
and the cloud is not split open under them.
He covers the face of the full moon
and spreads over it his cloud.
He has inscribed a circle on the face of the waters
at the boundary between light and darkness.
The pillars of heaven tremble
and are astounded at his rebuke.
By his power he stilled the sea;
by his understanding he shattered Rahab.
By his wind the heavens were made fair;
his hand pierced the fleeing serpent.
Behold, these are but the outskirts of his ways,
and how small a whisper do we hear of him!
But the thunder of his power who can understand?”

This is the God I have entrusted with my heart -- the One who suspended the very world on nothing, who can shake the heavens and still the seas. And of whom I know only a whisper. How can I even begin to understand His ways or His thoughts.

“For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, declares the Lord. For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts.”

— Isaiah 55:8-9

Too often I still try to fill spaces of silence in suffering with my words. I misplace my hope in finding the right ones and the temporary comfort they will provide. In the midst of my feeble self-reliant efforts the Word of Life waits for me. As I learn to be still and be present, He is my reminder that hopeful expectancy can exist in the presence of pain, no matter how great.

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Robin Zastrow wants to live in a world where coffee never gets cold and kindness abounds. When she's not discovering the wonders of construction paper and cardboard tubes with her two little ones, you can find her sneaking in another few pages of a book or jotting down bits of writing on scraps of paper.

One of her favorite Scriptures is:
“ Our soul waits for the Lord; he is our help and our shield. For our heart is glad in him, because we trust in his holy name. Let your steadfast love, O Lord, be upon us, even as we hope in you.” Psalm 33:20-22 ESV

Our team journal was written for you today by our Social Media Manager, Kelly Gwin.

“What is happening!?”

This is the question I kept asking myself as I began to struggle.

For a long time I was in a season where I felt like I was flourishing -- God had done something new and amazing, and I KNEW that I was done being defeated by my circumstances. But... they’re called “seasons” for a reason, and God is good to never leave us where we are. Even if it’s in a “good” place. No, He desires that we bear fruit for Him, and that can only happen if the branch is regularly pruned -- which is a bummer, because we are the branches, and pruning HURTS! He always wants more for us. John 15:2 says,“Every branch in me that does not bear fruit he takes away, and every branch that does bear fruit he prunes, that it may bear more fruit,” and it was my turn.

New, more difficult circumstances arose for our family, and my old sinful habits started to come right back with them. This new way of life felt unfair and burdensome. Anger and bitterness began to creep in, and I began to feel that abundance slipping away. This showed me that my joy, my peace, my LIFE, must not be coming purely from the Vine because I had none of those things. My circumstances became more difficult, and so did my attitude. Jesus came to bring life in abundance (John 10:10), and let me tell you, I was NOT experiencing that abundance. 

“I am the vine; you are the branches. Whoever abides in me and I in him, he it is that bears much fruit, for apart from me you can do nothing.”

— John 15:5

Every inconvenience took over my emotions, and every challenge overcame me. God had brought me out of sinful habits before, and I felt  desperate for Him to rescue me again! I was listening to my word, and seeing my actions, and wondering what in the world had happened! “Where did the abundance go? What happened to the fruit!?” I thought. 

I knew I was totally hopeless without my Savior, but I just found myself sulking in that place. I would say, “God, I can’t do this. I need you to change me. This is too much for me to handle. You’ve done it before, just do it again!” I was practically writhing in anger at the fact that I was having to deal with challenges. I want everything to be easy and convenient. I want to be like Christ without suffering with Him. I want to be holy without the process of refining. I was feeling sorry for myself, sitting in my anger, focusing on the negative. I was speaking death, acting out of my flesh, and seeking my own comfort. I cried out to God constantly, but something very intentional was going on. As I processed with Him in prayer throughout this time, and sought His wisdom in the Scriptures, He helped me to see what was happening. I didn’t want to be pruned, but He showed me that it was time, and it was needed.

And I’m not out of it yet. God has begun to take me through that painful, but necessary process in order that this crooked little branch might bear more fruit, and find LIFE in the Vine. It's been a difficult season full of friction, and cutting, and that feeling of death happening in my flesh as I fight all these little daily battles. And fight is the key word here. I’ve experienced triumph, and catastrophic failure. It's been painful and violent, as pruning is, but I’ve seen His faithfulness in seasons like these a number of times before. I know there is a purpose and a good plan that will result in glory for Him and joy for me, real joy.

I’m continually being encouraged by Him as He confirms His intentions and comforts me with His Word every day. Romans 6 says I’m dead to sin, and alive to God. It says I have the power of the resurrection living in me because of the Holy Spirit. Deuteronomy 30 says this is not too hard for me! I have the ability to choose life over death, and when I do my whole family is blessed! Deeper still into Romans chapter 8, He’s teaching me to SET my mind on the things of the Spirit which IS life and peace! He’s reminding me that, yes, I am sinful and can do nothing without Him (John 15:5) , BUT I’M NOT WITHOUT HIM! 

“The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy. I came that they may have life and have it abundantly.”

— John 10:10

I needed a season to really see the magnitude of my sin. I needed to FEEL my need for Him, but I’ve gotten lost in that, and I forgot that I am a daughter of the KING! I need to be transformed by the renewing of my MIND! (Romans 12:2) My thoughts have been holding ME captive instead of the other way around! (2 Cor. 10:5) I have been carrying burdens that do not belong to me! I CAN obey! I CAN change! I CAN overcome, because of Christ! He came that we may have LIFE and have it ABUNDANTLY (John 10:10)! 

My circumstances haven’t changed, but God, in His goodness, is bringing me into a new season where my circumstances and weaknesses are not going to steal the joy that He died for me to have. I’m trusting the Lord’s good and gracious hand in the pruning. I know God does not intend to leave even a fruit-bearing branch how it is, but He is always after a more abundant harvest for His people. He will “give the increase” when I reach the end of this, and let me tell you, I feel it coming. I’m learning to WALK in accordance with the truth that He is dwelling in me, and will keep sin from having dominion over my life. (Romans 6:14)

Are you in that season right now? Are you seeing a pattern of sin and death in your daily life, when God has made it so clear that He wants to give LIFE!? Don’t waste your struggles. Know that God is very intentional and has a good plan for all of it. Every challenge is an opportunity to practice walking in the Spirit, and He is right there, inside you, to help you. I will tell you right now that even as I write that I can feel the friction in my flesh. I don’t want difficult. But man, I do want to be like Him. So I’m in surrender-mode now, friends. I’m saying, “Cut away, Lord.” Because I want ALL that He has for me. I want the fruit. I want all that abundance, and I know it’s waiting for me when the season changes.

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Kelly is a worship leader, treasurer, and all-around multi-tasker at her church, while raising three little girls with her husband. Laughing, time with other women, and a completed to-do list are some of her favorite things outside of her passion for the work and Word of God. If you ask her when Christmas starts, she'll tell you it's before Thanksgiving

January 1. If you are anything like me, your planner is bedazzled with purpose for the upcoming year. We are filled with hope and ambition, and it is displayed in all its color coordinated sharpie and stickered glory in our day planners and gcals. We have some GOALZZZ.

And for some sovereign reason, God prodded you to add “Read the Bible with Dayton Women in the Word” to those plans. Even though we collectively are full, even overflowing from the abundance of the holidays, we are still hungry - ravenous even. But not for something that any cornucopia of company, food, or ritual can satisfy.

I’ve found myself in this place more times than I can count, and I’ve started reading Genesis more times than I count, precisely beginning on Jan 1. It’s embarrassing to me, as a bonafide goal-setter and goal-keeper, and follower of Jesus for over 20 years, that I have never been able to read the Bible all the way through in one shot. It’s become a secret source of shame to me, like somehow I’ve failed this Christian life.

Something has fundamentally shifted in me, however, through Dayton Women in the Word’s ministry. I’ve begun to see the Bible as not something to check off a box. No, far from it. Instead I’ve delved deep into Bible study, to a rich dwelling place with the Lord. As I abide with Christ through His Word, I listen and I learn. Ultimately, God transforms me with His Word, turning the Jillian I once was closer to the Jillian He created me to be in order to most reflect Him.

In His presence, He gifts me not only with knowledge and purpose, but with Himself. With fullness of joy. And He uses the Bible- the whole thing - to do it. Jesus is both living water and the bread of life. This is no empty carb that leaves my stomach still rumbling in an hour. No. Not only am I satisfied, I’m full to the brim. The Bible is a decadent gift, my friends, sweeter than honey to our mouths.

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“How sweet are your words to my taste, sweeter than honey to my mouth!”

— Psalm 119:103

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Now that I’ve been studying the Bible for a few years, I’ve seen how all the Bible fits together in one big story and that all the Bible points to Jesus, the Word who became flesh and felt hunger himself.

Even at the beginning, tiptoeing into Genesis and Job, we need the promise of Jesus. Adam and Eve dwelt in God’s presence. Perhaps unlike any other human being, Adam and Eve experienced the fullness of His joy. They walked with God and talked with Him!

They were tight with God. He was “their person.” He was everything.

Yet, oh my heart sinks when I read the account of Eve consuming the fruit. As I explain this story to my two year old son, I stumble to find the words for all the dire consequences of sin: “Now Adam and Even had to take a very long ‘time out’ from the garden, but actually they would never get to go back. Bees now have stingers and roses now have thorns. Now you fall and get scrapes and need Lightning McQueen band-aids. Now your baby brother pulls your hair and you wallop him in return…”

But the greatest consequence of sin? Separation. From God. From His presence. From His fullness. From His Joy.

Death, and its ache.

For the consequences of sin are death, but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.
- Romans 6:23

God made us to live, and to live WITH him.

In Job, God has allowed his servant, perhaps, the full brunt one can feel of sin’s consequences on earth. Job is not only outside of the garden, he has been stripped of his family, his way of living, his shelter, and his health. Job lost all God’s good gifts to him, all the gifts he might be tempted to worship instead of the Giver. And how does Job respond? “Though he slay me, I will hope in him” (Job 13:15a). All He has left is the Lord, and so He dwells WITH God and receives hope, even in his uttermost pain.

And hope does not put us to shame, because God’s love has been poured out into our hearts through the Holy Spirit, who has been given to us.
- Romans 5:5

And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen his glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth.
- John 1:14

As we begin to read God’s story, we must understand that God had a plan for his people to dwell with him again. He never left us hanging. Although we abandon our best laid New Years plans often, He never abandoned His plan. He never abandoned us. God promised to save us and all the promises of God found their yes in Jesus. From the get-go, God was faithful and He is faithful still.

So what now? God created us to live, and live abundantly, with Him. Because of Jesus, now we can dwell with Him again, through His Holy Spirit and through His Word. So we run to Him, to His Word, eager and ready and sitting at His faithful feet. This year we will live a full life, not because of the gifts God gives us or takes away from us, not because we are living in a garden or in a barren wasteland, not because we are faithful to a Bible reading plan or utter fanciful prayers.

We will live a full life in 2018 because we will live with God.

I am the vine; you are the branches. If you remain in me and I in you, you will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing.
- John 15:5

So why am I reading the Bible start to finish and leading all of you to do the same? Because I want to be with God. In his presence. I want to dwell with him. I want with-ness. Intimacy. Closeness.

I want a city of women abiding with their Savior, because I want you to be full of His joy. I want you to live without the consequence of being separate from Him, which He demolished with His sacrifice on the cross and resurrection from the dead.

We no longer have to wait to be with Him. We don’t need someone to go before God on our behalf. We don’t have to call His secretary and set up an appointment. He’s here, babes. He is IN YOU. With. You.

Nothing is holding us back. We don’t have to. We get to. Not a check on a box, but fullness of joy.

Are ya ready?

“Let’s enter into his gates with thanksgiving, and his courts with praise! Give thanks to him; bless his name!”

— Psalm 100:4

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Jillian Vincent loves Jesus. She's a wife, mother of two boys and a Dayton enthusiast. Jillian currently is a stay at home mama and spends nap times writing and discipling other women. She would (almost) die for an avocado, a cup of coffee made by her husband, a novel that makes her cry, and a bouquet of sunflowers. 

Oh, sisters. 2017 has been a year of IMMEASURABLY MORE for Dayton Women in the Word! We want to shout God's goodness and faithfulness from the mountain tops, "Go Tell it on the Mountain" style! So consider this post an ebenezer (1 Sam. 7:12), or a stone of remembrance (Exodus 28:12, Joshua 4). We don't want to forget all that God has done. 

Here are a few of the many ways that God has shown Himself faithful to us this year:

• He brought women from all over the Miami Valley and beyond together to teach us about discipleship at the DiscipleHER Conference
• He was with us every step of the way in the planning process for DiscipleHER- we had never put on a conference before and He gets ALL the glory for its success!
• He made a way for us to produce our first printed bible study - Beyond Titus 2
• He grew our annual summer bible study in BIG ways: we read two books (Ezra/Nehemiah), two sessions with two teachers, and an all new kids' lessons

• He connected us with Declare Worship Community and allowed us to co-host the public reading of Nehemiah at their Declare Dayton event
• He brought us together with the women of IF:Dayton for a night of prayer over our city
• He brought us a beautifully diverse group of women who encouraged us about discipleship and prayer on the DWITW Podcast
• He blessed our podcast team with a professional recording space at Apex Community Church
• He gracefully took us through our first interviewing process and added many new volunteers to our team

• He gave us the gift of the DWITW Traveling Bible and is allowing women from all over the city to share their wisdom and insights in its pages
• He increased our connection with the women we serve with tools like Facebook Live streaming and Instagram Stories
• He showed up on Giving Tuesday through our generous community, blessing us with $3000 - and continues to bless us financially with year-end giving
• He connected us with awesome partners who provided us with lots of resources to give away during the conference and the Advent season
•  He blessed us with FOUR new baby girls on the team (future women in the Word!): Mara, Pru, Winnie and Moriah

Just typing all of that goodness out for you has me grateful all over again for what God has done! I'm so eager for everyone to know how good God has been. It reminds me of a Christmas tune that's been running through my head:

“Noel, Noel! Come and see what God has done!”

— From 'Noel' by Chris Tomlin and Lauren Daigle

God, we see what you've done and what you are doing and we're HERE FOR IT. We can't believe how good you've been to us. We can't believe what amazing things you've done in our midst this year. We wonder over and over, "God, WHY are you so good?!" And of course, we know the answer. It's because you're in love with us. You want to be with us. You want us to know who you are and to fall more in love with you.

So, we declare right here, right now on this blog that we will remember your goodness in 2017 and we believe that You will not change in 2018. We believe You've got only good in mind for the women of Dayton in the days ahead. We believe that you'll be faithful to grow us all into mighty, awe-filled women of God who know, believe and share your Word. And now we look forward to this time next year when we can give you all the glory again for what you will do! 

Let it be so, in Jesus' name!

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Natalie Herr is the founder and team leader of Dayton Women in the Word. She is a servant of God, a wife, a mom of four and a God-sized dreamer. She loves teaching and equipping women with God's Word.