Devotional Recommendations

With the New Year approaching quickly, I wanted to put up a blog post with some recommended devotionals that I've read through in the last several years, since this is a good week to put in an order for a new daily devotional book and have it ready to go when the calendar turns over.  There is quite a variety in this little group, so I'll put up a little synopsis and link to more information on each one.  All of them were manageable on a daily basis and helpful to spiritual growth in their own way, but depending on your personality type, you will probably lean more towards one then the others.  (I'm an Enneagram 9, so can meld myself into the type of personality that is able to receive each of these different books, haha!)

"Savor:  Living Abundantly Where you Are, As You Are" by Shauna Niequist

The pros: Shauna Niequist has a wonderful sense of God's abundance, His grand redemptive plan, and the gospel and our lives as an interwoven story. On the days where she chooses these kind of topics, she totally nails it and is SO encouraging. I texted these to my friends more than any other devotional I've read in the last 5 years.

The cons:  There were many days (i would say 20-30% of the book) where it felt like "good advice on living" rather than digging into the Bible or connecting with God. Which would have been fine, if it was marketed as Christian living rather than a devotional. But because it was supposed to be a devotional, I felt frustrated on the days where it felt like it was more about how to be a good hostess rather than how to connect with God. There's nothing unorthodox in here, but some of the days felt off topic.

Other:  The tone of this book is very casual and conversational - I don't consider this to be a pro or con, just extra information for your consideration.  



"The Songs of Jesus:  A Year of Daily Devotions in the Psalms" by Tim Keller

The pros:  The Psalms are such a rich, moving, beautiful book of the Bible, that you could get a TON out of just reading them on their own for a year.  Keller's insights and applications take this already rich book and add to it.  I loved learning more about the wide range of emotions and situations that the Psalms cover. 

The cons:  Tim Keller is my favorite modern Christian author, so it's really hard to find anything bad to say about him.  I felt like sometimes the devotionals were a little heavy on logic and analytics and short on emotion for discussion of such a poetic book of the Bible (though this is a big part of what I enjoy about Keller's style, so it's hypocritical of me to hate on it). 

Other:  Tim Keller also has a devotional on the Proverbs, which is what I'm planning to read for 2019. 

"Jesus Calling:  Enjoying Peace in His Presence" by Sarah Young

The pros:  This is a great book for reminders of all the positive promises Jesus gives us - of things like love, peace, and hope.  This would be a great one to read when you're going through a hard time and you 're seeking comfort and strength through the promises in the Bible. 

The cons:  The style of this book is not my favorite.  It's presented as Jesus writing you letters each day.  This initially rubbed me the wrong way, though I got used to it pretty quickly (and I know others who really enjoy this style). 

Other:  This is the most commercially popular book on this list, at least in recent years.  If you're looking for a book that you can find at any bookstore with a religion section, or a book that you might be able to discuss with others who have also read it, this is probably the best choice. 

"Morning and Evening" by Charles Spurgeon
The pros:  This one is a classic devotional, and for good reason.  It's got tons of good theology, biblical analysis, and practical application packed into one page of text per day.  It's encouraging and inspiring, challenging and thought-provoking, and covers a really wide range of the Christian experience. 

The cons:  This is kind of unfair because there are lots of ways to manage this, but I didn't like how there were 2 devotional readings assigned to each day rather than one.  (The idea being that you would read one in the morning and one in the evening, hence the title.)  I couldn't sustain doing two different reading times each day, and I also couldn't mentally handle reading just one and ignoring the other, so I read both each morning, and consequently felt like I got less out of each day than I would've with a really focused reading of just one.  If I could start over, I would make this a 2-year book and read just one per day.

Other:  This has the most formal language.

What daily devotionals have you read that you loved?  Please recommend in the comments!

Advent post 2018: Already, Not Yet

I love the Advent season.  I love the way it pulls together darkness and light, weariness and new hope, waiting and the fulfillment of promises.  I love the way it acknowledges the difficulties of life, from the daily grind to profound suffering, and it meets us in our struggles and breathes life into the pain. 

The struggle in my life right now is weariness.  There is so much to get done in the running of a household with 3 young kids.  There's so much patience, attention, humor, energy, creativity, and oh yes, food preparation needed each day.  There's also all the special needs stuff.  I love my family dearly and consider my husband and children to be the greatest blessings in my life, but man, I am failing them all the time.  They could all use more and better from me, and I just don't have any more to give.  I don't mean to turn this into a pity party - they all know that they are loved and we have many happy moments.  But I wish I was never short and/or anxious with any of them, never chose to scroll Facebook over giving them my full attention, and never felt too depleted to give any of them my full and best self.  (This is not the highlight reel that I put on social media. :).)

I'm very lucky that these are my struggles right now.  I have a few friends who have lost children this year, others who have lost parents, and others who have lost relationships.  I know the holidays are a fresh reminder of the loss, and my heart goes out to all of you.

I made a promise to myself not to make this post political, but we can all think of situations in our country and in the world where there is gross suffering and injustice.  Advent speaks to these situations as well.

Advent meets our personal pain, and the suffering of the world, with the answer of "already, not yet".

The "already" part we celebrate is that God came to earth as a baby.  This brings hope to all the pain and darkness and difficulty on earth, because it gives us a tangible reason to believe that it won't be like this forever.  Jesus already came down to earth, fulfilled a bunch of historical promises, and lived a life, death, and resurrection that changes everything and gives us hope beyond what we see in the here and now.  We can ground our hope in this "already".

The "not yet" part that we celebrate is that the life we live now, which still has suffering and brokenness and world injustice and our own constant messing up, is not how things will always be.  Part of what we look to during Advent is the second coming of Christ, which is when every tear will be wiped away.  The sadness and diagnoses and losses will end.  I will no longer fall short for the people I love most.  Injustice will be righted.

Whatever you're going through this year, whatever is bringing your heart pain, I hope that the great hope of Advent meets you where you are and brings you hope and light.