Thursday, June 12, 2025

New Testament Reading Plan: 1 Timothy 3

Have you experienced the triumph of getting through a difficult situation when you weren’t sure you could? Or maybe there was a time in your life when things were humming along and you thought you had it all figured out, only to be met with tragedy?

Those are called peaks and valleys. We’ve all experienced them, because our lives will never be perfect. But that doesn’t mean we shouldn’t try to make meaningful changes.

Admittedly, I’ve been stuck in life’s messiness before, doing my best to muscle through, ignore, or downplay it – all because it was easier than doing the work to change it. I can’t say I was happy in the chaos, just comfortable. I knew what to expect. But then I heard something that made me pay attention:

Until the pain of staying the same becomes greater than the pain of change, nothing will change.

I was forced to consider how much pain being comfortable was causing me.

Psalm 138:8
The Lord will work out his plans for my life - for your faithful love, O Lord, endures forever. Don’t abandon me, for you made me.

I thought I knew God. I believed he was cruel and liked watching me do without the things I wanted most. That’s when I learned the difference between God and Santa Claus. Santa wants to give us our favorite toys; God wants more for us. God wants us to grow into the people he created us to be. But we have to trust his process.

When you’re ready to call on God for help, he’ll meet you where you are, but he won’t leave you there! If you think of change as a partnership, it takes much of the pressure off. God doesn’t expect you to BE perfect, because he’s still working on you.

Looking back, God has left his fingerprints all over my life. Every day is another chance to look for more!

So wherever you are today, whether you’re in a season of triumph or tragedy, remember that it’s not about being or doing enough. You don’t have to strive, or work, or muscle through - you just have to show up. You were made on purpose and for a purpose in the hands of a faithful God.

Look for his fingerprints in your life. They are reminders that he has not abandoned you, and he’s still working.

Questions:
Where do you see the fingerprints of God in your life? Are you able to see God working in the lives of others?

Next Steps:
Join a summer Group that will help grow your faith and the fellowship.

Listen to the song “Fingerprints of God” by Steven Curtis Chapman, and reflect on the fingerprints God has left in your life. Consider where he is currently leading you to or away from.

Prayer:
Father, you are all knowing and all powerful! I’m so grateful that you care enough about me to walk with me and teach me the better way. Forgive me for the years I wasted wandering my own path, stuck in the muck and the mire. Thank you for taking my mess and using it for your message. Your ways and thoughts are so much higher, and your promises more than I deserve. Thank you for the gift, the sacrifice, and the loving kindness like no other. Amen.

Series Theme Verse:

2 Corinthians 1:20
For all of God’s promises have been fulfilled in Christ with a resounding “Yes!” And through Christ, our “Amen” (which means “Yes”) ascends to God for his glory.

This post was written by Julie Estep, a Perrysburg attendee and regular contributor to the Daily LivingItOut.