My Redeemer Lives

Read through the Bible: Job 18-19

Though Job’s friends are miserable comforters, though Job’s family and friends have turned against him, though he feels abandoned and attacked by God, Job reminds himself of this one piece of truth: his redeemer lives.

What a treasure it is to know that I have a redeemer and that my redeemer lives.

Consider what it means to be redeemed – not merely forgiven, but redeemed. “The debt against us is not viewed as simply cancelled, but is fully paid. Christ’s blood or life, which he surrendered for [our sin], is the “ransom” by which the deliverance of his people from the servitude of sin and from its penal consequences is secured.” (Easton Bible Dictionary – Redemption)

God does not merely overlook our sin, having mercy on us. But God has sent His only Son to die in our place, that His righteous justice can be upheld, that we are redeemed by the perfect substitutionary sacrifice, God-in-flesh, Jesus Christ.

Christ is my redeemer, my living redeemer. He died and He rose again to live forever, interceding for me before the Father. He is my all-powerful, immortal redeemer. Like Hebrews 7:23-25 says, “The former priests were many in number, because they were prevented by death from continuing in office, but he holds his priesthood permanently, because he continues forever. Consequently, he is able to save to the uttermost those who draw near to God through him, since he always lives to make intercession for them.”

I say with Job, My Redeemer Lives!

Let’s praise His name together.

Heavenly Father,

I’m overwhelmed by Your grace, that You would send Your only Son to save a wretch like me. You have redeemed me, rescued me, delivered me, ransomed me. All I can say is thank You. You are good and worthy.

Now I pray that You would take my life and let it be consecrated to thee, Lord. Jesus died and lives for me. I pray that I would die to myself and live for You.

In the eternal redeeming name of Jesus I pray, Amen

Feeling Forsaken

Read through the Bible in 2 years: Psalm 22, Job 15

There is so much prophecy about Christ in Psalm 22. The Roman soldiers divided up Jesus’s clothes and cast lots for his garments like David wrote a thousand years earlier in Psalm 22:18. Jesus spoke the very words of Psalm 22:1 as He hung on the cross, “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?” (Matthew 27:46)

My God, my God, why have you forsaken me? Why are you so far from saving me, from the words of my groaning?

Psalm 22:1 ESV

Have you ever felt like God has forgotten you, abandoned you, deserted you?

Sisters, when we find ourselves in that pit of despair, we must speak truth into our hearts, like David did in this psalm.

For he has not despised or abhorred the affliction of the afflicted, and he has not hidden his face from him, but has heard, when he cried to him.

Psalm 22:24 ESV

Here is the truth:

Deuteronomy 31:8 ESV — “It is the LORD who goes before you. He will be with you; he will not leave you or forsake you. Do not fear or be dismayed.”

Psalm 9:10 ESV — “And those who know your name put their trust in you, for you, O LORD, have not forsaken those who seek you.”

2 Corinthians 4:8-9 ESV — “We are afflicted in every way, but not crushed; perplexed, but not driven to despair; persecuted, but not forsaken; struck down, but not destroyed.”

Let’s encourage one another with these words and pray to the Father together. Will you join me in praying?

In Christ, we are the recipient of God’s grace, hidden behind the cross where Jesus absorbed the Father’s wrath that we so deeply deserved. Jesus took the Father’s scorn in our place. Jesus paid the death price, so we don’t have to.

Heavenly Father,

You are worthy of our full trust. Thank You for the sacrifice of Christ who has paid the price for my sin so that I don’t have to. My debt has been paid in full by my Savior, Christ Jesus, my Lord.

Thank You for Your faithful, steadfast love. I can trust without doubting that You will never leave me or forsake me. You are true, though every man be a liar. My own parents might even abandon me, turn away from me in shame, forsake me, but You never will.

In Jesus, You have made me Your child and put Your seal upon me, filling me with Your Holy Spirit, making me Your temple. What purpose and hope and peace there is in that!

In the name of Jesus Christ I pray, Amen.

Better than I Deserve.

Read Through the Bible in 2 Years: Job 11

Before going any further in our study in the book of Job, I want you to know that I’m actually finding it really weird to invest time reading through Job verse by verse and sharing my thoughts with you, because many of the ideas contained here simply aren’t good theology. No one should base their ideas about God and man on the grief-stricken meditations of Job, like “Why did you bring me out from the womb? Would that I had died before any eye had seen me and were as though I had not been, carried from the womb to the grave.” (Job 10:18-19) But on the other hand, it’s actually really cool to mine for truth in this book. Like you can find truth in secular books and movies, you can find truth in the words of Job and his friends, though I still caution you from using them as the foundation for your theological beliefs.

With that out of the way, let me ask you a question – Have you ever greeted someone with the very standard question, “How are you today?” and received the unexpected reply, “Better than I deserve”? There’s TRUTH in those words. All of us are better than we deserve. Like Romans 6:23a says, “The wages of sin is death.”

So, today, let’s ponder these words spoken to Job by his friend, Zophar,

Know then that God exacts of you
less than your guilt deserves.

Job 11:6

Dear friends, I don’t know about you, but I know that I have broken God’s law more times than I can count. I have used His name in vain. I have blasphemed the Almighty Creator of the Universe. I have mocked and criticized His Son and His children. I have hated and dishonored God and His creation.

God would be totally just to spit in my face, call me unspeakable names, slap me across both my cheeks, and apply two-dozen lashings across my back. I deserve to be hung and shot and burned. I deserve it. God has exacted from me much less than my guilt deserves.

Truly, God has had mercy on me, a sinner. God pours out His grace on me and calls me His child. God sent His Own Son, Jesus Christ, to pay the price for my sins – making a way for me to not only NOT be punished, but to receive EVERLASTING LIFE!

I’m not worthy. I’m not worthy. But He has made me worthy. That is indeed Amazing GRACE.

Let’s pray.

Heavenly Father,

Oh the Grace of our Lord God! The matchless, unfathomable GRACE of God! Not only have You not given us what we deserve, but You have given us that which we do not deserve – boundless, eternal abundant life, the riches of glory with You.

Thank You!

Lord, please help us to understand how great is Your goodness, that we will shout from the mountaintops, “Christ the Lord is Risen! Hallelujah! Come to Him! Come to Him!” We have found a goldmine with limitless gold. We have found the living water that never ceases. We have found the bread that is indeed new every morning. May Your love compel us to share this good news with others. Let us not keep these wonders to ourselves. Your love is boundless – it grows as it is shared. Let us share it! Give us ears to hear and eyes to see and mouths to proclaim Your mercy and grace and power and might and goodness!

In the Name of Jesus I pray, Amen.

My Worth is Not in What I Own – Fernando Ortega, Keith Getty, Kristyn Getty

There is a Fountain Filled with Blood

Read Through the Bible in 2 Years: Job 9-10

“If I wash myself with snow
and cleanse my hands with lye, yet you will plunge me into a pit, and my own clothes will abhor me.”

Job 9:30-31 ESV

I feel Job’s pain. Job wants to be right with God. Job desperately wants the Lord to bless him and look well on him, and he can’t understand why He won’t. It reminds me of when Esau cried out bitterly to his father, Isaac, “Bless me, even me also, O my father!”” – Genesis 27:34 ESV

When I first heard and believed the gospel, I went from trying my hardest to obey my own made-up rules in my own strength, to trying my hardest to obey my own made-up rules PLUS God’s rules … still in my own strength. All that did was leave me exhausted and more depressed than ever. I could never keep my own rules, not to mention God’s rules, on my own. Like the Lord spoke through His prophet Jeremiah, “Though you wash yourself with lye and use much soap, the stain of your guilt is still before me.” (Jeremiah 2:22 ESV)

Let me encourage you, friends, this is not the incredible good news of the gospel. Jesus Christ didn’t die on the cross so you could keep more rules. Jesus died to cleanse you fully of every sin you have ever committed and will ever commit and to give you the power by His Holy Spirit and through faith in Him to go and sin no more. As born again followers of Jesus Christ, we can now work out our own salvation with fear and trembling, “for it is God who works in you, both to will and to work for his good pleasure.” – Philippians 2:12-13 ESV

I hope you will take some time today to ponder the finished work of Jesus Christ, what He has done for you, that you can be fully cleansed by the blood of the Lamb and the word of your testimony (Revelation 12:11).

“Come now, let us reason together, says the LORD: though your sins are like scarlet,
they shall be as white as snow;
though they are red like crimson,
they shall become like wool.”

Isaiah 1:18 ESV

Will you please pray with me?

Heavenly Father,

You alone are holy, holy, holy. You dwell in unapproachable light. You are perfect in thought and word and deed. All Your ways are right. You are the very definition of perfect purity.

Thank You, thank You, thank You for the almighty cleansing power of the blood of Jesus, the only blood that can wash us clean, once and for all. Like Your Word says, it is impossible for the blood of bulls and goats to take away sins, but when Christ had offered for all time a single sacrifice for sins, He took His place, sitting at Your right hand, for His work was finished.

I pray for each person reading this who is still trying to make themselves clean by their own works. Teach them, Father, that their own good deeds are nothing but filthy rags in Your sight, that even the most righteous man is nowhere near the level of perfection that You demand. I pray that they will be washed in the blood of Jesus today, that You will plunge them in that fountain full of scarlet red blood, that they may come out spotless and pure, that they will have the power of the Holy Spirit coursing through their veins, giving them new desires and new power to walk in the righteousness of faith, turning away day after day from their sin, and turning toward Your perfect light.

In the good and gracious name of Jesus we pray, Amen.

For more: Read Romans 6-8 and Hebrews 9-10

There is a Fountain – Reawaken Hymns

A Hedge of Protection

Read through the Bible in 2 years: Psalm 20; Job 3

When I was a new Christian learning how to pray, I noticed that people would often pray for “a hedge of protection” around someone. I had never heard that phrase before, but I started using it myself, asking God to put a hedge of protection around my children, my husband, my house.

Yesterday we looked at Job 1:9-11, “Then Satan answered the LORD and said, “Does Job fear God for no reason? Have you not put a hedge around him and his house and all that he has, on every side? You have blessed the work of his hands, and his possessions have increased in the land. But stretch out your hand and touch all that he has, and he will curse you to your face.””

But what about the previous verse, Job 1:8?

And the Lord said to Satan,
“Have you considered my servant Job…”

Job 1:8a

I simply love this verse. Job was a blameless, upright man who feared God and turned away from evil, and yet the Lord said, “Hey, Satan, have you considered my servant Job?”

The Lord removed that hedge of protection, allowing — inviting — the enemy’s attacks on His righteous servant, Job, and Satan stripped everything away from him – his possessions, his children, his health, even his wife’s encouragement, yet “in all this Job did not sin with his lips.” (Job 2:10) Lord, may the same be true of me.

Today, though, my heart broke as I dove into Job 3, reading about when Job cursed the day he was born. 🥹 But if I’m honest with myself, I can relate all too well to Job’s pain.

I’ve gone through the pain of my husband losing his job and our family being forced to move to a new city for a job. I’ve gone through the painful loss of a one-year-old nephew and a preborn son. I’ve gone through the pains of an aging father and more health scares (click here or here or here or here) than I care to recall. Sometimes I have wished that heaven would hurry and get here.

And yet, I can say with full assurance, all of God’s ways have been right and good. He has grown my faith in Him during those times of pain. He has indeed sheltered me under His wings. He has taught me the wisdom and truth of Psalm 20:7.

“Some trust in chariots and some in horses,
but we trust in the name of the LORD our God.”

Psalm 20:7 ESV

So, today, whether you are feeling the glorious hedge of God’s protection (Job 1:10) or the painful hedge of thorny trials (Job 3:23), I pray that you will put your trust in the name of the Lord our God.

Will you pray with me?

Heavenly Father,

Your grace is sufficient for me. Your strength is made perfect when I am weak. Whether I can feel Your presence or You feel a million miles away, help me to trust that You are always with me. Whether I’m on the mountain top or in the valley bottom, help me to see Your rod and staff guiding me. Let me not trust in any man-made rescue plan, but place my trust fully in You and You alone. You are trustworthy. Thank You for the shield of faith and the sword of the Spirit which is the Word of God. The blood of Jesus is my faithful hedge of protection.

In the Almighty name of Jesus I pray, Amen.

The Testing of your Faith

Read through the Bible in 2 years: Job 1-2

"Then Satan answered the LORD and said, “Does Job fear God for no reason? Have you not put a hedge around him and his house and all that he has, on every side? You have blessed the work of his hands, and his possessions have increased in the land. But stretch out your hand and touch all that he has, and he will curse you to your face.” And the LORD said to Satan, “Behold, all that he has is in your hand. Only against him do not stretch out your hand.” Job 1:9-12 ESV

Like I wrote yesterday, “We learn of God’s grace as we are humbled. Surely these afflictions are for our good. It is good to recognize that nothing on earth will ever be enough. Treasures on earth – whether monetary or relational – will never satisfy. Our lives are better because of the thorns that the Lord has in His mercy given us. Our faith grows as it is stretched.”

No one is a better example of this than Job!

In this you rejoice, though now for a little while, if necessary, you have been grieved by various trials, so that the tested genuineness of your faith—more precious than gold that perishes though it is tested by fire—may be found to result in praise and glory and honor at the revelation of Jesus Christ.

1 Peter 1:6-7 ESV

Friends, it’s a blessing to have your faith tested. When your faith is tested, it GROWS and it shows you and everyone around you that it’s REAL!

Let’s pray,

Heavenly Father,

Thank you for the gifts that You have given us – our health, our children, our home, our jobs, all of our possessions. They are gifts.

Draw our hearts to You, Lord. Forgive us for turning to these gifts instead of turning to You.

May we say with Job, “The Lord gives and the Lord takes away, blessed by the name of the Lord.” None of us want to go through the sorrow of losing our children, our possessions, or our own health. But, Father, none of those things can ever truly satisfy.

You are our God, our refuge, our hope, our joy, our strength. Our faith is in You alone. Blessed be the Name of the Lord.

In the Name of Your Son, Jesus Christ, we pray, Amen.

Trusting God when People Hurt you

Read through the Bible in 2 years: Genesis 45-46

"So Joseph said to his brothers, “Come near to me, please.” And they came near. And he said, “I am your brother, Joseph, whom you sold into Egypt. And now do not be distressed or angry with yourselves because you sold me here, for God sent me before you to preserve life. For the famine has been in the land these two years, and there are yet five years in which there will be neither plowing nor harvest. And God sent me before you to preserve for you a remnant on earth, and to keep alive for you many survivors. So it was not you who sent me here, but God. He has made me a father to Pharaoh, and lord of all his house and ruler over all the land of Egypt." Genesis 45:4-8 ESV

I have a quick question for y’all – Have you ever been sold into slavery by your brothers? No? Me neither.

Have you ever been hurt by anyone in your life? Yes? Me, too.

When someone hurts you, it can be hard to forgive them. Sometimes it feels like you can’t “let them off” by forgiving them. You can take on the roll of punisher – wanting them to pay for what they’ve done to you.

But let’s think about Joseph’s words here — what if we saw God’s hand at work even in our pain? How would that change your desire to punish someone who hurt you? Wouldn’t that make true forgiveness a whole lot easier?

The truth is that God is always at work, accomplishing the best ends through the best means for the most people. Sometimes people get hurt during that … And sometimes those people are YOU …

Will you pray with me?

Heavenly Father,

I trust You. I trust Your heart. I trust Your mercy and kindness and grace and power. You have proven Yourself to be good and faithful – in Your Word and in my life. But, Father, sometimes things look really bad to me. In fact, sometimes those things really are bad. It’s wrong to sell your brother into slavery. That is wrong. Yet, Lord, you worked through that unthinkable tragedy to bring great good for a great number of people with fruit still being born even today.

I pray that I would trust You with all my heart, soul, and mind. Help me to remember Your steadfast faithfulness to Joseph and me now and forever.

In the name of Jesus I pray, amen

O Death, Where is your Sting?

Last fall I was interviewed for a podcast called Side B stories. What an amazing experience!

Premier Unbelievable just released an article about my life. Crazy! God is so amazing! If only I could learn to write as well as the author of this article. WOW! Praise You, Lord!

Here’s a brief excerpt from the article. Click the link to read the rest,

“Former atheist, Kim Endraske, seriously wrestled with this existential reality. Fear of death was her constant companion. But that fear wasn’t enough for her to change her mind about God just to soothe a personal discomfort. After all, atheists are the adults in the room, called to soberly and courageously live with realities, such as death and dying, that may be personally unsettling. They are not to succumb to the childish notions of happily ever after in the afterlife. What was it then that changed Kim’s mind about the reality of God, and through that, lose her fear of death? 

O death, where is your victory?
O death, where is your sting?

1 Corinthians 15:55 ESV

“For it was fitting that he, for whom and by whom all things exist, in bringing many sons to glory, should make the founder of their salvation perfect through suffering. For he who sanctifies and those who are sanctified all have one source.

That is why he is not ashamed to call them brothers, saying, “I will tell of your name to my brothers; in the midst of the congregation I will sing your praise.” And again, “I will put my trust in him.” And again, “Behold, I and the children God has given me.”

Since therefore the children share in flesh and blood, he himself likewise partook of the same things, that through death he might destroy the one who has the power of death, that is, the devil, and deliver all those who through fear of death were subject to lifelong slavery.”

Hebrews 2:10-15
Christ is Risen – Matt Maher

Christ is Risen – Matt Maher

Let no one caught in sin remain
Inside the lie of inward shame
We fix our eyes upon the cross
And run to Him who showed great love

And bled for us
Freely You’ve bled for us

Christ is risen from the dead
Trampling over death by death
Come awake, come awake
Come and rise up from the grave
Christ is risen from the dead
We are one with Him again
Come awake, Come awake,
Come and rise up from the grave.

Beneath the weight of all our sin
You bowed to none but heaven’s will
No scheme of hell, no scoffer’s crown
No burden great can hold You down

In strength You reign
Forever let Your church proclaim

Christ is risen from the dead
Trampling over death by death
Come awake, come awake
Come and rise up from the grave

Christ is risen from the dead
We are one with Him again
Come awake, come awake
Come and rise up from the grave

O death, where is your sting?
O hell, where is your victory?
O church, come stand in the light
The glory of God has defeated the night

The Importance of Fleeing Sexual Temptation

Read through the Bible in 2 years: Genesis 38-39

I found it especially interesting to read Genesis 38 and 39 together. Genesis 38 tells the story of Judah, who got his widowed daughter-in-law pregnant, while Genesis 39 tells the story of Judah’s younger brother, Joseph, who successfully resisted Potiphar’s wife in spite of her incredible persistence.

Genesis 38 – Sexual Sin and Human Pride

I mainly want to focus on Genesis 39 today, but before we get there I do want to point out two things in Genesis 38.

"About three months later Judah was told, “Tamar your daughter-in-law has been immoral. Moreover, she is pregnant by immorality.” And Judah said, “Bring her out, and let her be burned.” - Genesis 38:24 ESV 

Judah is the father of this child. Judah is the reason that Tamar is pregnant. Yet Judah is who demands that she be burned. 🥺😭

How quickly we point out the sin in other people when we are guilty of that very same sin! How prone we are to hate lying and pride and sin in other people, while overlooking it in ourselves!

Why do you see the speck that is in your brother’s eye, but do not notice the log that is in your own eye?

Matthew 7:3 ESV

This is part of loving your neighbor as yourself. Somehow we all manage to forgive our own lying and deceit and sexual sin and pride. We make excuses for our own misbehavior, yet we are quick to point fingers at others. May it never be.

I pray that we desire repentance in ourselves as well as our neighbor to repent. May we be merciful as we have been shown mercy. May we not think that we are somehow better than the other person when we are both eating pig slop.

As a dear Christian sister often reminds me, “We are all just beggars looking for somewhere to buy bread.”

The second thing that jumps out at me from Genesis 38 is that Perez, one of the twin sons who was conceived in Tamar through this act of sexual immorality, is the child that God chose to be in the line of Jesus Christ. (Matthew 1:3)

God uses all things, sometimes even sinful things, to accomplish His purposes. Does that mean we should continue in sin? May it never be. But does it mean that none of us are beyond hope and that God is able to use even our sinful past to bring Him glory? Yes. Yes, it does.

I have deep regrets over many things I did in the first 25 years of my life – maybe you do, too – yet those things shaped who I am today. I pray that God would use my brokenness to be holes for His glory to shine out of.

Genesis 29 – Handsome Joseph and Potiphar’s Persistent Wife

Let’s look next at Genesis 29 – a completely different reaction to sexual temptation.

Potiphar’s wife, a woman of authority, the wife of his boss, aggressively pursued Joseph – a very different situation than the one Judah was in – and yet Joseph remained steadfast, refusing to even “listen to her.” (Genesis 39:10)

The scriptures are full of encouragement to FLEE from temptation and sin. We must actively train ourselves – and our children – to FLEE from temptation.

And let us not be like Lot’s wife who kept looking back as she was being forced to flee Sodom. Let us not be like the Israelites who thought fondly about their years in Egyptian bondage. Let’s be women who flee from temptation with our eyes fixed firmly on Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith.

“How can a young man
keep his way pure?
By guarding it according to your word.”

Psalm 119:9 ESV

“For the lips of a forbidden woman drip honey, and her speech is smoother than oil, but in the end she is bitter as wormwood, sharp as a two-edged sword. Her feet go down to death; her steps follow the path to Sheol; she does not ponder the path of life; her ways wander, and she does not know it. And now, O sons, listen to me, and do not depart from the words of my mouth. Keep your way far from her, and do not go near the door of her house, lest you give your honor to others and your years to the merciless, lest strangers take their fill of your strength, and your labors go to the house of a foreigner, and at the end of your life you groan, when your flesh and body are consumed, and you say, “How I hated discipline, and my heart despised reproof!” Proverbs 5:3-12 ESV

“So flee youthful passions
and pursue righteousness, faith,
love, and peace, along with those who call on the Lord from a pure heart.”

2 Timothy 2:22 ESV

The body is not meant for sexual immorality, but for the Lord, and the Lord for the body. And God raised the Lord and will also raise us up by his power. Do you not know that your bodies are members of Christ? Shall I then take the members of Christ and make them members of a prostitute? Never! Or do you not know that he who is joined to a prostitute becomes one body with her? For, as it is written, “The two will become one flesh.” But he who is joined to the Lord becomes one spirit with him. Flee from sexual immorality. Every other sin a person commits is outside the body, but the sexually immoral person sins against his own body. Or do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit within you, whom you have from God? You are not your own, for you were bought with a price. So glorify God in your body.” 1 Corinthians 6:13b-20 ESV

Let’s pray.

Heavenly Father,

Thank you for Your mercy and grace and forgiveness. I don’t deserve it. I have been Tamar and I have been Potiphar’s wife. Like 1 Corinthians 6:11 says, “And such were some of you. But you were washed, you were sanctified, you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and by the Spirit of our God.”

Such was I, Lord! But, Lord, You have washed me clean through the blood of Jesus. You have given me new desires and new power by Your Spirit at work in me. Praise Your name!

I pray that You would protect our husbands and sons. Please, Father, help them to keep their hearts and minds pure. Help them to think about what they’re thinking about and to pay attention to what has their attention. Show them the way of escape when they are tempted and give them the wisdom, strength, and desire to flee.

Please protect my sisters and me – and our daughters – from the temptation to be temptresses. Make us honorable women. May we be found faithful – to You and to our husbands. Create in us clean hands and pure hearts, O LORD. Teach us to that true fulfillment and satisfaction is found only at the feet of Jesus, so that we would not seek it elsewhere.

You are worthy. You alone are worthy. Thank you, Jesus!

In the matchless name of Jesus Christ, Amen.

When I Think About the Lord

When I think about the Lord
How He saved, how He raised me
How He filled me with the Holy Ghost
He healed me to the uttermost
When I think about the Lord
How He picked me up
Turned me around
How He set my feet
On solid ground

That makes me want to shout
Hallelujah, thank You, Jesus
Lord, You’re worthy
Of all the glory, and all the honor
And all the praise
Oh, makes me want to shout
Hallelujah, thank You, Jesus
Lord, You’re worthy
Of all the glory, and all the honor
And all the praise

The Unloved Wife

Read through the Bible in 2 Years: Genesis 29-30

"When the LORD saw that Leah was hated, he opened her womb, but Rachel was barren. And Leah conceived and bore a son, and she called his name Reuben, for she said, “Because the LORD has looked upon my affliction; for now my husband will love me.” She conceived again and bore a son, and said, “Because the LORD has heard that I am hated, he has given me this son also.” And she called his name Simeon. Again she conceived and bore a son, and said, “Now this time my husband will be attached to me, because I have borne him three sons.” Therefore his name was called Levi. 

And she conceived again and bore a son, and said, “This time I will praise the LORD.” Therefore she called his name Judah. Then she ceased bearing." 

- Genesis 29:31-35

So often as women we feel like we control our own wombs. I remember a time of great marital struggles and infertility for my husband and I. Reading this story about Leah is such an encouragement to me. God has purpose both in our fertility and in our barrenness. May we bring him glory in both.

Yet when God gives Leah sons, she views them as tools to try to get her husband to love her.

Son #1: Now my husband will love me.

Son #2: The Lord has heard that I am hated.

Son #3: Now my husband will be attached to me.

Finally, Son #4: THIS TIME I WILL PRAISE THE LORD!

Yet, it’s this fourth son, Judah, whom God chose to father the line of the Messiah, the Savior of the World, Jesus Christ, God’s only Begotten Son. And it’s Leah, the unloved wife, whom God chose to bear Judah.

Are you feeling unloved today? I’ve been there. But so has Jesus. He knows how it feels to be rejected by those who were supposed to love Him. And He loves you. And He is worth more than a perfect husband or a thousand imperfect sons.

Let me pray over you.

Heavenly Father,

You are close to the broken-hearted. You are the God who remains faithful when man is faithless. You love the unloveable, the poor, the lonely, the rejected.

You are the good shepherd who pursues that lost sheep.

I pray that we would praise You when life is good and we would praise You when life is hard. No matter what, You are worthy of our praise.

We offer our hearts, minds, wombs, and lives to You. Father, fill them as You will in Your perfect timing and for Your purposes. Help us to trust You with our hearts and our hurts.

In the name of Jesus we pray, Amen.